Sewing Room Accessories - SAVE TIME and MONEY
Many sewing accessories may not fall into the category of "necessities", but when they add to the effectiveness of a procedure, the beauty of the completed garment, or the convenience of working, they do become very important to the quality and ease of workmanship.
Consider the following list of crucial questions to determine the value of certain sewing room accessories.
Will it lessen the risk of damaging the fabric or miscutting it? Yes to the seam rippers with a safety ball to protect fabric from cuts; a cutting board (the kind that folds easily for storage) that includes special bias-lines and one-inch graph lines; and a definite yes to sharp shears (without nicks) that will easily cut the fabric and not make "pulls" in the fabric.
Will it save time? eyesight? strain? A definite yes to something as simple as a wrist pincushion which will keep the pins where you can reach them without stretching. A good magnet that can be used to gather up pins, needles, snaps etc to eliminate having to pick them up one by one would be great to have. How about the needle threader with magnifier to help find the ever illusive eye of the needle and the easy-threading needles for those with hand-eye coordination problems, arthritis or eyesight problems.
Will the accessory make an entire procedure easier and faster? Yes to a curved ruler that duplicates natural body curves to use when altering or making patterns, a T-square for straightening the grain of the fabric and for use in original pattern designs. A buttonhole spacer makes for easy and quick placement of buttons and buttonhole locations, and an E-Z hem guide that permanently attaches to the sewing machine for an easy guide for sewing hems, trims, waistbands, etc.
We have not covered all the accessory/tools that are available on the market, but have simply skimmed the surface in order to get you thinking of what you already have in your sewing room, as well as items yu may have been wanting to buy. Before buying or ordering the next gadget that comes out, give it the "usefulness" test to determine how it may fall into place when considering the above questions, as well as how the item will relate to the type of sewing or craftwork that you may do.
Consider the following list of crucial questions to determine the value of certain sewing room accessories.
Will it lessen the risk of damaging the fabric or miscutting it? Yes to the seam rippers with a safety ball to protect fabric from cuts; a cutting board (the kind that folds easily for storage) that includes special bias-lines and one-inch graph lines; and a definite yes to sharp shears (without nicks) that will easily cut the fabric and not make "pulls" in the fabric.
Will it save time? eyesight? strain? A definite yes to something as simple as a wrist pincushion which will keep the pins where you can reach them without stretching. A good magnet that can be used to gather up pins, needles, snaps etc to eliminate having to pick them up one by one would be great to have. How about the needle threader with magnifier to help find the ever illusive eye of the needle and the easy-threading needles for those with hand-eye coordination problems, arthritis or eyesight problems.
Will the accessory make an entire procedure easier and faster? Yes to a curved ruler that duplicates natural body curves to use when altering or making patterns, a T-square for straightening the grain of the fabric and for use in original pattern designs. A buttonhole spacer makes for easy and quick placement of buttons and buttonhole locations, and an E-Z hem guide that permanently attaches to the sewing machine for an easy guide for sewing hems, trims, waistbands, etc.
We have not covered all the accessory/tools that are available on the market, but have simply skimmed the surface in order to get you thinking of what you already have in your sewing room, as well as items yu may have been wanting to buy. Before buying or ordering the next gadget that comes out, give it the "usefulness" test to determine how it may fall into place when considering the above questions, as well as how the item will relate to the type of sewing or craftwork that you may do.
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