Hi everyone, Sarai here. So Haley and I recently recorded a podcast based on a post in the Seamwork
community forum titled "Which sewing tools do you wish that you'd bought sooner?" So
in this episode Haley and I share some general tips about finding tools but we also share our
top three tools that we wish that we'd started using earlier. So today I wanted to share those
six types of tools with you guys. Be sure to listen to the full episode of Seamwork Radio on
Apple Podcasts or on Spotify or on Stitcher or whatever podcast platform that you like to use
and if you like this, give it a thumbs up and be sure to leave a comment below and let us know.
So I will start us off with my top three. My first one would be good
specific presser feet for my sewing machine. So for years I, I sewed with
um various machines that you know weren't very expensive, they came with some presser feet
but I didn't use them all that much. You know, I used like the zipper foot and the basic ones but
there were a lot of feet that came with it that I didn't even know what they were, you know.
When I first started out and then um years ago I got my first Bernina sewing machine um and I
just I mean the quality of these machines is just, it's pretty incredible and they have some
really specific presser feet that go with it that just make a lot of things easier and cleaner
and more high quality. So once I started learning more about presser feet and getting presser feet
that really fit the purpose that I was you know for the sewing that I was doing in that moment.
That, that was pretty life-changing as far as sewing goes so I that would be my top one that was
something that I didn't get into right away but I really see the value and now is good presser feet
so and those those Bernina feet are pretty awesome. Yeah I remember I remember once
going to modern domestic here in Portland and somebody there was showing me the catalog of
all the Bernina feet how many there are oh my goodness there are so many. Yeah I think one thing
um like caution with the presser feet is to make sure, there's lots of um universal I'm using air
quotes presser feet out there and that's not to say that that universal foot may not may
work maybe it will work for your machine but it's really a good idea to make sure you're getting one
that's specific to your sewing machine um because they can kind of mess with the machine timing
and get things out of whack if you're using something that's not specific to your machine
so a little cautionary note there specific to your sewing machine but Bernina just has like
I mean it's really Bernina machines are beautiful but really a good reason to buy one if it's in
your budget is those presser feet oh my gosh yeah so nice and I know we're talking about Bernina a
lot we both really love Bernina machines but there are lots of other high quality machines that also
have high quality presser feet as well. Yeah definitely something to think about when you're
buying a machine is you know what kind of feet you can get for it. I love Bernina but at home
I have an old Kenmore some lots of good machines out there besides Bernina but we do love Bernina.
Yeah and then my next tool that I didn't get right away and that I wish I'd bought sooner
is a clapper. So if you don't know what a clapper is
um it's a tool that you use in pressing and it helps you to basically press down a seam
without using the heat of the iron so you can you can basically take your iron and press down
to apply heat and steam but you know you can't press the iron down into your fabric for that long
without burning your fabric so you can take it off and put the clapper on there and press down with
the clapper while the heat and the steam are still trapped beneath it and that will help you to get
a really nice crisp seam especially on things that are maybe like a bulkier fabric that might be hard
to press down completely you know really quickly so a clapper helps a lot with that um and I just
I just love it it's a really simple tool just basically a piece of wood. Yeah that's that's it
it's like the same ideas like when you curl your hair with a curling iron and you hold the curl
after it comes off the curling iron so that it cools down and stays better, same
idea with the clapper as it allows the heat to disperse um gives you a longer lasting
nicer seam. Such a good tool pressing tools in general though. I know that's your jam. Yeah I,
I love pressing tools, I think they're, I think the whole experience of pressing while you're sewing
can be really underrated. I think it can really make a big difference in what your garment looks
like when you're done so i'm real into pressing and you know there's not you don't need to buy a
lot of fancy tools most of the pressing tools are really pretty simple like a clapper, a seam roll
things like that you know they're just very simple things that make a big difference
and they're not expensive either. So that's that's something that I love and recommend
and then my third specific tool um I don't know if this is a tool or notion
or or what you would call it but this is something that I've been singing the praises of for
many, many years because I love it so much, which is spray stabilizer and so spray stabilizer is um
a, it's basically it's kind of like starch, so it's, it comes in a can and you spray it on your fabric
and it makes the fabric kind of crisp like a piece of paper so if you're sewing something that
is not stable like maybe a silk that's really slippery you can spray this on there and then
it becomes just a lot more crisp and stable and much much easier to sew and then you can wash it
out. So the caveat to that is that you have to wash it out and so it has to be a fabric that
you're willing to wash and so if you didn't want if you wanted to dry clean your silk you
didn't want it to have that washed look and feel then you would not want to use spray stabilizer
but it, but most times when I sew a silk I'm going to hand wash it anyway so I will just
pre-wash it, hand wash it, use the spray stabilizer and then wash it again when I'm done and it just
makes sewing with those kinds of fabrics so, so much easier. It doesn't build up on your iron,
it's, it's a great great product and you can find it at a lot of craft stores our local
sewing stores carry it. Um the the brand that I've always used is Sullivan's Spray Stabilizer so
you can, you can look that up online too. I just ordered some of it for a slip dress I'm making.
Yeah I, I it's like one of my favorite things ever, my favorite tips ever when it comes to sewing. Yeah
it truly is Sarai's number one sewing tip. I feel like yeah it is I love sewing with silk. I really
like silk and it as we all know it can be a pain to sew, so anything that makes that easie. Oh yeah.
What about you, Haley? What are your top three? Okay well this was hard because I
I do love a good sewing tool, but number one for me has to be a rotary cutter,
maybe more just like a rotary cutter set up - a mat and a rotary cutter.
I hate sewing. I think a lot of people hate, or not not hate sewing. Oh god. Oh no. Oh no.
The truth comes out. I hate cutting, I love sewing. I hate cutting, it's my least favorite part of.
Oh my gosh, of the sewing process. Sewing muslins, I think it's fine. Fitting, I like it, but something
about cutting just feels like this obstacle and as soon as I upgraded my cutting setup to a rotary
cutter and a mat, I feel like it just changed my life. So much faster, so much easier, I personally
feel like I can get, once I got over the learning curve, a lot more precision. Um and so that's my
number one thing that I would recommend to anyone who hates cutting, not sewing, but cutting like me
maybe consider a rotary cutter or at the very least some better um shears for cutting with.
Yeah I think that number two would have to be a magnetic pin cushion because
I'm, I just, I'm a very fast sewer and I need something to catch my pins for me
or else they're gonna end up like in my hair, on the floor, my toddler's going to be running around
with them, so magnetic pin cushion definitely saves me a lot of cleanup after I'm done sewing.
I love them. I think they're so handy. I just want to like throw my pins in the general direction
of the receptacle and yeah that, like physics will take care of the rest for me.
Yeah I've tried a lot of different pin keeping solutions, I've tried like the
wrist pin cushions and all different kinds and I think magnetic is definitely the way to go.
It is the way to go for sure, in my opinion um and then lastly I love
wash away adhesive tapes. I didn't discover this stuff until I'd been sewing for maybe like
10 years but for me it's changed the way I install zippers especially things like zipper flies,
oh my gosh if you don't have to pin that stuff if you can just tape it down and go
a huge difference, totally life-changing. I know that Taylor um she uses it for buttons
before she sews her buttons on she just tapes them down with some adhesive. Isn't that so clever? So
she told me that now I do that too, just one more reason to love wash away adhesive tape and if
you haven't used it before um it comes on like a little roll and there's paper that you peel away
and it's this double-sided adhesive tape um and you can sew it like right into your
garment and then when you wash it, it'll wash right out kind of like the spray stabilizer. I
guess there is the caveat of that you have to I suppose wash it out at some point but
uh that's never been like an issue for me usually i feel like i use it on like pants or
jackets and things like that so um those guys get washed and usually it's hidden away places
you don't even have to wash it before you wear it no one's gonna know that tape's in there but you.
Yeah that that's really smartYyou know I've used actual like tape to tape in zippers in the past
and I have never actually used wash away adhesive tape to do that but that
is so smart. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that. Yeah especially um lapped and centered zippers,
it makes, I mean, I sew mostly invisible zippers unless I'm sewing a fly these days but
you can make like the cleanest centered and lap zippers with wash away tape. Amazing. We should
make a YouTube video about that. Yeah we should and spray stabilizer. Here are all the adhesive like
things you can use. That's that's a great tip, i love that.