Sewing 101 with Cheryl, Tools of the Trade

Welcome to Sewing 101!  Thanks for visiting, and thank you Cheryl for sharing your must haves.

Hi everyone!  I'm Cheryl from a pretty cool life.  I'm thrilled to be here kicking off Chris' Sewing 101 series! 

I'm a stay at home mom to two little boys, ages 3 and 1, and I love making stuff. I sew, craft, assemble, decorate, re-decorate, bake and build on a daily basis. My blog is an attempt to share my projects, show how I make things and maybe even inspire others.

When Chris emailed me about a guest post I was thrilled!

What I'm sharing today is really basic...
My sewing tools that I use every day:

These aren't in any order of importance, just the way I laid them out in the photo.
1.  Cutting mat.  This protects your table and makes cutting easier with a rotary cutter (#10).
2.  Iron.  Pressing seams flat is important for a nice, finished look.  (And I am a total starch addict...I love a crisp finish!)
3.  Pinking shears/pinking rotary blade.  If you don't serge or do any sort of overcast stitch, these will keep fabrics from unraveling.  The pinked edge also is a pretty detail on felt.
4.  Pins.  I'll admit I rarely pin anything, and when I do I sew right over them.  Don't tell my 7th grade Home Ec teacher!
5.  Hem guage.  Just adjust the ruler to the proper width, and seams and hems are easy to keep uniform.
6.  Chalk pencil.  I use this to mark fabric, and it comes off easily with a little bit of water.
7. Seam ripper.  Ah, my best friend!  It makes ripping out stitches easier, but be careful not to rip through your fabric.
8.  Tweezers. When I'm done ripping out all kinds of stitches,picking them out with tweezers makes it faster.  They're also helpful if I need to pull something tiny out of my machine.
9.  Detail scissors.  I use these when I'm cutting out appliques and trimming threads off finished projects.  They're itty bitty and super sharp, so tiny cutting is much easier.
10.  Rotary cutter.  This makes cutting fast and easy.  Instead of scissors, the pizza cutter-like tool cuts fabric in a snap.  Make sure to always use it on a cutting mat (#1), though, and not your dining room table.  Not that I would know...
11.  Tailor's chalk.  I use this when I'm working with a really light or sheer fabric and don't want to use a chalk pencil (#6) to mark it.
12.  Fabric scissors.  These are super sharp and only for fabric.  Cutting paper will dull the blade...my husband and sons are not allowed to even look at them!
13.  Knitting needle.  I think I've mentioned it a million times in my tutorials...a knitting needle is perfect for pushing out turned corners.
14.  Quilter's ruler.  This helps to mark straight lines on fabric and makes cutting with a rotary cutter a breeze.
Naturally, all of these are in addition to a sewing machine with thread, bobbin, and needles. :)
Thanks so much for having me today!  Come and visit my blog or my shop any time!


I couldn't have said it better. Thank you, Cheryl, for a perfect list of must have tools.