Transcript
Hi, I’m Cynthia Mann and we’re here today at Birch Fabrics in Paso Robles, California. This is also the home of Fabricworm.com. Hi, I’m Melissa Lunden; I’m the resident seamstress here at Birch Fabrics. I teach sewing lessons here, prepare blog tutorials and sew samples of Birch’s line of organic cotton. And I am here today to talk to you about sewing. So, we are going to talk about choose the right tool for sewing. There are so many different things out on the market. If you go to a sewing store, it’s probably be overwhelming. So, I just wanted to talk about my favorites. The first things are my snips. These are awesome. They are very sharp. They are not for cutting big pieces of fabric but for cutting a little tiny threads. And you get so close. It’s perfect. They’re awesome. The second thing, I suggest getting is really good, sharp, pair of fabric shears. They’re wonderful. They cut perfectly. And do not cut paper with them, only fabric. They’ll dull up and they won’t cut as well. The next $1.50 investment that is essential is a sewing gauge. You have one like this a little slide. Or you can get one like this. It’s another type of measuring gauge. It has different measurements. These are so important for when you are checking your seam allowances. They are also great for making sure that when you’re placing things in different spots on a piece of fabric that they are in the same place. You can measure from the outside going in. They are just awesome. The next thing is your seam reaper. It’s your friend not your enemy. If you need to use a seam reaper use it. It’s a good thing. Take the time to reap out the stitches and do it again right. It’ll go so much faster. And then, my last favorite piece is a magnetic seam guide. You use this guide for making sure that you have consistent seam allowances which means that your garment looks great. Everything is nice a straight. Your machine is going to have a metallic plate with some pre-marked seam allowances. So, what you do is place your magnetic seam guide here and then you use your gauge to measure exactly what your seam allowances from the needle position. This is also helpful if your machine has different needle position in that way you make sure you’re sewing exactly where you need to be. And so, those are my favorite tools.
