Support us on Patreon! Love to Sew Podcast

Follow Helen! Blog: Helen’s  Closet Patterns, Instagram: @helens__closet

Follow Caroline! Shop: Blackbird Fabrics, Instagram: @blackbirdfabrics

Follow the Podcast! Instagram: @lovetosew.podcast, Facebook: /LovetoSewPod

Leave us a voicemail with your questions, comments, and feedback: 1-844-SEW-WHAT (1-844-739-9428)

E-mail us: hello@lovetosewpodcast.com

Sign up for our newsletter to get weekly episode updates, special news, and even some exclusive content that you won’t find anywhere else.

Leave us a review! It will help other sewists discover us.

---

Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love to Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics. We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Helen: Join us for today’s topic: surprising gadgets and guidance.

Caroline: Good morning, Helen.

Helen: Good morning, Caroline. Are you saying good morning cause it’s so early for you?

Caroline: It’s so early. I’m not really a morning person.

Helen: It’s 9:15. Okay.

Caroline: It’s not that early. Nobody feel bad for me.

Helen: How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. I have my coffee. Get to see your lovely face. We get to talk about fun tips and gadgets and things. It’s gonna be great.

Helen: Yeah, we got so much good feedback from the community for this episode. We loved hearing all of your cool gadgets and gizmos and guidance that you have around your sewing room, tools you use, tips that you use. We’re gonna share all of those today, but first we have some feedback from listener Lindsie. Lindsie runs the Sew Busty Community and had some feedback for us on our Chest Fitting episode.

Caroline: “For folks who need larger cup sizing, I have a database at the link in my bio of designers who draft for or include cup options above a garment B cup.

As y’all mention, many designers go up to a standard garment D or DD. (I always like to note that Cashmerette and a couple of other designers use non-standard cup sizes; for example, Cashmerette’s H is a standard garment DD.) A few stars have cup options even larger like Porcelynne, Unleashed Patterns, and SEW by Pattern Pieces!”

We’ll link those up in the show notes.

“I’d love to see more resources for folks with chests that require bigger bust adjustments — I’m thinking folks with H, I, J, or K+ sewing cups! Even FBA guides don’t usually talk about adding this much chest space. I’m working on creating some FBA tutorials for folks who need this, but I’d love to see others join in this effort. When the average boob/projected chest-having person is something like a 36G bra, we need to be creating space in the sewing community for those with greater chest needs.”

Helen: Thank you so much for this feedback, Lindsie! We totally agree with you. We wish we had included some more coverage for sewists with very large busts in that episode, and we hope to cover it more in the future. And thank you so much for sharing these resources with us. We’ll have all the companies that Lindsie mentioned linked in our show notes.

We also totally recommend following the Sew Busty Community. They have great articles and resources, including that busty pattern database, pattern reviews, and a bra sewing guide. They also have a growing catalogue of full bust adjustment guides for larger busts.

We’d also like to mention a few great articles on the Curvy Sewing Collective website about dealing with large FBAs, and we’ll link everything that we mentioned, of course, in the show notes. Thank you again, Lindsie.

Caroline: Yeah. Thank you, Lindsie. Alright. It’s time to get to the show, Helen. Surprise! Today’s show is all about the surprising, mind-blowing, can’t-believe-I-didn’t-think-of-that tips and tools that will change your sewing practice! And we got so many ideas from our listeners. We can’t wait to share them with you. Thank you to everyone who shared their sewing secrets! It was so fun to read through them all.

Helen: Yes! Okay. Let’s get right into it with our listener tips. We’re gonna start with some surprising ideas for sewing spaces.

Nina wrote, “There are a few brands of yoghourt or pudding in the United States (one is called “Oui”) that come in glass jars. I have found that these jars make a great place to put my thread, snips, and needle when I’m tackling a hand sewing task like a long hem, or a bunch of buttons. It keeps my thread from rolling all over the place, and I can set it up on any stool or table, listening to a podcast, watching TV, hanging out with family. They’re wide enough to hold all the essentials, and short enough for easy access to the thread. You don’t even need to remove the thread to use it, just leave a small tail hanging out. I’ve even started using these jars near my machine to store some of my long and skinny type tools, like seam gauge, seam ripper, small plastic rulers, etc.”

Caroline: Ah, this is such a great idea. For some reason, I’ve never thought of corralling my hand tools in a little jar like this. I think a small bowl could work too, like maybe a little vintage sugar bowl. And Nina shared a picture of the little yoghourt jar with hand sewing stuff in it. And it’s not only practical, it’s super cute. We’re gonna have that in our show notes for you all to check out.

Helen: Yes! As if I needed another excuse to buy, like, thrift store jars and containers.

Caroline: A little like…

Helen: Yeah. Exactly. You know when you’re shopping and you’re like, this little bowl is so cute, but I have so many little bowls. What would I use it for?

Caroline: But you can never have enough little bowls. Really.

Helen: Really.

Caroline: Okay. Next up, Courtney wrote, “One of my tricks I’ve stumbled upon is for cutting knits, especially slippery ones. My husband and I got a chest freezer during the pandemic and I discovered it is about cutting height, so I used it for smaller sewing projects since it isn’t very big. Then one day I decided to see if magnets were still attracted to the freezer through my cutting mat, and they were! So I bought some heavy magnets from Harbor Freight (a cheap American hardware store) and now for knit projects I use my freezer and magnets and there is never any shifting at all and it is a breeze to cut!”

Wow.

Helen: Wow. This one is truly mind blowing. If you already have a chest freezer, I think this is an amazing idea for cutting out stretchy or slippery fabrics. Of course, be careful you don’t wanna be cutting into the top of your freezer. Um, but if you use precaution, I think this is an amazing cutting surface. It’s a good height. And this magnetic business is blowing my mind.

Caroline: Helen, I’m imagining you, like, toting, like, a little pile of knits, like, into your garage where your chest freezer is.

Helen: Right?

Caroline: Like, like, I’ll be back, babe.

Helen: Just going to the freezer. Alright. Sarah wrote, “If you use a chair with wheels, replace the standard wheels with roller blade style wheels! So much easier to clean and they glide along tiles and smooth floors.”

Caroline: Ooh, I didn’t even know roller blade style wheels were a thing. I can just see us zooming around our sewing rooms. I wonder if you go faster with roller blade wheels.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. I bet you do. And I could see them being so much easier to clean. Like, I get so much thread stuck in the wheels of my Ikea chair.

Caroline: Mhm. Oh, yeah.

Helen: It’s hard to get it out.

Caroline: Yeah. Claudia wrote, “I have pretty pencil tins at all my sewing spaces to use as rubbish bins for threads and little off cuts. Helps keep my space tidy and looks lovely!”

Helen: So these are basically, like, little trash cans, but they look a lot cuter. I love this idea. It takes a lot less space than multiple trash cans. Looks prettier. And every once in a while, you can just empty them all into your regular trash can or fabric recycling.

Also, if you have a pet that wants to get into your threads, you can just pop the lid on the tin.

Caroline: Such a great idea.

Helen: Trisha wrote, “I finally got a tray table for a small iron, pressing mat, small mat, cutter and ruler. What a game changer when doing small projects.”

Caroline: This is such a cute miniature cutting station. Trisha shared a picture with us, too. It’s probably more practical for quilting than sewing or making little things like stuffed animals. But I love the idea of taking this to the living room and doing small cuts while a fun TV show is on. Helen, with your quilting obsession, I feel like this is a tip for you because I could totally see you, like, watching a show and, like, cutting out blocks.

Helen: Oh, my gosh. It’s true. When you have to just trim all those half square triangles, this would be amazing.

Caroline: It’s so cute.

Helen: I used to have one of those, like, tray tables with the folding legs. So you can, like, eat breakfast in bed and it had, like, handles and a little edge.

Caroline: Yeah!

Helen: Dang. I should have kept that thing.

Caroline: Yeah. What? You don’t have breakfast in bed anymore?

Helen: I’m, like, such a slob. I cannot eat breakfast in bed. I will just immediately, like, cross my legs and the whole thing will be everywhere. I don’t know. Don’t you find, have you ever actually eaten with one of those things on top of you? It, like, feels very, like, you’re trapped.

Caroline: It, it does. Yes. I’ve only had breakfast in bed once, and it was, like, I wanna say it was last year. Shea made me, like, French toast. It was actually so good and really cute, but yeah, it’s super awkward.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Cause when you’re done, I had to be like, I’m done. He had to come over and, like, take it off of my lap cause, like, I couldn’t move.

Helen: Yeah, it’s not the most practical.

Caroline: But if it was quilting little squares that you were cutting out…

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: it would be a little bit easier. You wouldn’t have to worry about spilling your orange juice. Alright. Next up, Cindy wrote, “I love having this lazy Susan by my sewing machine. I can now easily reach all the things regularly.”

Helen: This is such a great idea. Cindy sent in a picture of the lazy Susan. It has a bunch of great stuff on it: sewing tools, pins, clips, pencils, thread cones, the Fray Stop. I mean, it’s got everything. If you’ve never seen one of these before, it’s, like, a circular, usually wooden, sometimes just made out of, like, melamine or plastic, thing that rotates and revolves around a centre disc. Um, so it’s super handy. You can just spin it and whatever you want or need is gonna come your way.

Caroline: Also, this is, like, a great setup in general. I’m seeing, like, a really cute, handmade little, storage thing where Cindy has some tools. I’m seeing this, like, cool contraption that’s, like, holding the thread in place, perhaps for hand sewing. I’m seeing some pill bottles that seem to be used for sharps. Like, yeah, creativity up the wazoo. I love it.

Helen: Also, like, a literal gallon of Fray Stop. Like, what are you using all this Fray Stop for?

Caroline: Who’s to know? Cindy, let us know.

Helen: Alright, Christine wrote, “My foldable, standing height, rolling, cutting table by Sew Ready. It was a total game changer in a small sewing room doubling as a spare room/office. It has a grid on it, small storage baskets and I bought a high grade clear cutting mat for the top. It is the bomb!”

Caroline: Ooh. Okay. This table is really cool. It’s on casters. The sides fold down when you’re not using it. And the height is adjustable. This is so good for sewists without a permanent sewing space. And I also love the hack of getting a clear cutting mat for the top. I know you and I have these around at our studios, and they’re so handy when, if you can afford to get, like a, you know, one that’s, like, cut to size or even that fits almost the size of your table. It works so well. And it’s so convenient to have just a cutting surface available all the time.

Helen: Yeah, this is really cool. I did not know that this existed, this folding out business.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: So great for small spaces. It looks like it’s retailing for about a couple hundred bucks Canadian. So, yeah, check it out. Or, actually, American. Oh, there you go.

Caroline: Ah, yes. Love it. Very cool. Okay. A bunch of listeners wrote in with tools they use for turning, poking and holding things down. Denise wrote, “I love my stiletto! It’s especially useful for sewing curved seams, as you can more easily feed the layers together under the presser foot. I use it when I start stitching, too. I hold the thread ends and give the fabric a little push with the stiletto so it doesn’t get stuck.”

Helen: Ooh, we’ve heard about this tool before. Sewing stiletto is like an awl, but it’s not sharp and pointy for poking holes in your fabric. It’s actually a bit rounded at the tip, and it’s, kind of, like having a third finger, but it’s even better. I love this. Wait, a third finger, like?

Caroline: I know.

Helen: You mean, like, an 11th finger.

Caroline: I know I was gonna say, but I have 10 fingers.

Helen: It’s like having an extra finger, but even better because it’s smaller, and if you hurt it, it’s not a big deal. And there are heat-proof stilettos that you can use to hold down folds or open seams while you press. Those can really save your fingers. And, like Denise mentioned, it’s great for getting near the needle when you’re working with the sewing machine. I believe it was Saremy Duffy who was talking to us about how she uses her awl when sewing to just, like, poke things under the foot, um, and keep everything in check.

Caroline: Yeah. Love this.

Helen: Heather wrote, “Cake prodder! It’s brilliant for poking out corners on belts and things!”

Caroline: Yes! A cake prodder is like a long toothpick made out of metal. You use it to test whether your cake is cooked through. I love a double use item like this. This is genius.

Helen: Yeah. But then don’t you find that these tools end up just living in your sewing room?

Caroline: Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Helen: They just get taken.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: They never get returned.

Caroline: Okay. Tash wrote, “My favourite is a big chunky knitting needle (thrifted for 50 cents). The pointy end is great as a point turner (not too sharp to poke a hole but pointy enough to get a nice sharp edge) The chunky end is great for turning loops, straps etc. I just start turning with my finger and then poke the needle in with some encouragement. I turn my straps out in record time!”

Helen: Ooh, so many thrift stores have, like, a bucket of knitting needles, which may or may not be a complete set. This is a great way to use something that might not get used otherwise.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Mary wrote, “My favourite notion is a ‘3rd hand.’ Holds that fabric while I gather, unpick, or just need a little more stability in my fabric while I work with it.”

Caroline: Do you mean a third finger?

Helen: A third finger.

Caroline: So from what I know, a third hand is a tool that clips or clamps onto something to hold it for you. I’m not sure exactly how this setup works, though. Mary, if you have more info, reach out to us and let us know what kind of third hand you use and how to use it. It sounds like a great idea, maybe we’ll share it in a future episode.

Helen: Yes! And pictures, pictures, pictures.

Caroline: Yeah. Okay, Caroline wrote, “I have a tooth scaler tool sitting next to my machine! It has the perfect hook end to fish threads out of the machine – especially useful on the cover-stitch machine.”

Helen: Ooh, tooth scalers are those, kind of, scary-looking silver hooks that are often used to clean teeth, well, pretty much exclusively used to clean teeth, but not anymore. I can totally see how this would work. The hook is much more open than on a crochet hook or something. Um, and it’s super fine detail. So I think this would be really handy.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: @SewYourKidding wrote, “I have a Victorian button hook that I found in one of the drawers on the treadle sewing machine that was handed down to me last year. It’s so helpful at pushing through gathers.”

Caroline: Ooh, another useful hook. Victorian button hooks don’t seem super easy to find, but if you already have one, this is a fabulous way to use it. And now I’m gonna keep an eye out for them at antique stores.

Helen: Ooh. Yes.

Caroline: Okay. Our next group of tips doesn’t require any gadgetry.

Steph wrote, “I like using gold serger thread for any fabric I don’t have a matching colour for. It looks good against almost any colour or pattern! Plus, I save money and don’t have to change my thread as often!”

Helen: Ooh, I love this. It can be so annoying to have to buy multiple cones for new colours. It’s such a great tip to have a “go to” that goes with your fabric stash. I personally love an olive green and find it blends well with everything that I do, but I don’t do a lot of lighter colours, so…

Caroline: I could totally see that. Yeah. I think for me, like, a grey or a brown would do the similar…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Or, like, um, like, a taupe-y colour.

Helen: Yeah. Or you just go bold, and you’re like, I’m always using red or I’m always using rainbow.

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: Deal with it.

Caroline: Love that. Deal with it.

Helen: Brie said her best sewing surprising tip was “definitely the ban-rol method for baby hems. It turns out perfect every. Single. Time. You can see the tutorial on ThePatternLine.com.”

Caroline: Nice. Okay. We had to check this method out. It’s an interesting way to get a neat baby hem. Ban-rol is a waistband interfacing that’s stiff and loosely woven.

So to do the ban-roll hem, you first pull out the lengthwise threads to make a fringe the width of your desired hem. You align the fringe side, the raw hem of your garment on the right side and stitch a line close to the first horizontal thread being careful not to catch them.

Then, you fold the ban-roll all the way around to lay flat on the wrong side of the garment and stitch close to the hem fold. The last step is to pull the ban-roll out. This seems, kind of, fiddly to master, but it does make a really beautiful hem. So thank you so much for sharing, Brie.

Helen: Yeah. In the photos this hem looks impeccable. It looks so good. Definitely gonna try this next time I do a baby hem.

Caroline: Yes. Alright. Ellen wrote, “Tack stitching instead of pinning. A golden oldie but it’s worth it, especially on lightweight fabrics. By tacking fabric in place you can sew straight over it and don’t have any risk of distortion or fabric moving around when you remove pins.”

Helen: Oh, yes! Tack stitching is so great. They’re also known as tailor’s tacks. We talked about this in our marking tools episode, even though it’s not quite a tool, but it’s such a great skill to learn.

The basic idea is that you sew a stitch or two with contrasting thread in the place where you want to mark or to pin, and then you just clip them. The threads are then your marker. You can even do a tailor’s tack through a paper pattern to do really accurate marks.

We’ll link a tutorial in the show notes for anyone interested in learning how to do this kind of stitching. I mean, just hand sewing things in place in general, before you go to the sewing machine can be…

Caroline: Mhm.

Helen: …such a handy tool.

Caroline: Yeah. Especially with those tricky fabrics, basting instead of pinning works so well.

Helen: Sylvie wrote, “My little secret for success is documenting my makes! Write everything from adjustments, how much fabric used, what to do or not do for the next one! Helps a lot!”

Caroline: Ah! This is such a great strategy, especially for making garments. It’s so easy to forget and make the same mistake twice and doing this is gonna help you to learn from your makes and build on your knowledge. And it can also be so nice to look through your notes and be proud of what you’ve made.

I started a notebook a couple years ago, and I love looking back and I also just find it so handy to be able to flip through and see, okay, this is the size that I made, these are the adjustments that I made, especially when I have a work in progress that’s, kind of, been lingering that I’m coming back to. It’s so helpful to go back and look at what were my measurements when I started this project? Is it still gonna work? Anything and any little notes that I have to remember? They’re all in there. So it’s just so handy.

Helen: Yes! It’s such a good one. I think we have a whole episode about documenting your makes. And there’s so many templates online, too, that you can find to just print out multiple sheets that have little spots to fill in. So it’s like, here’s where you put your measurements and your adjustments and even a little swatch. So you can just create your own notebook, and it’s such a good journal to look back on.

Caroline: Yes.

Helen: Okay. Next up we have some tips from tape fans. Renee’s surprising gadget is: “Painters tape! If the fabric is at all similar on both sides I place a piece of tape on the right side of the fabric. That usually works well, and I take it off when I hem it. Only once has this backfired! I sewed the Myrtle cowl neck shirt from Seamwork. Both the inside and outside are the right side of the fabric, you assign one side as the inside. Unfortunately, I picked the side with the tape, but I wear it anyway!”

Caroline: I’ve heard of sewists using painters tape before it’s low tack, so there’s less of a chance of it leaving a mark. But as always test, test, test on this watch of fabric, please. Or don’t and live on the edge, you rebel.

Helen: I mean, you can always just put the tape on the wrong side that way if there is any kind of mark it’s on the wrong side.

Caroline: Yeah, exactly. Okay. Tash wrote, “Regular cellotape for making sure buttons stay put while you machine sew them on.”

I totally do this. It works so well.

Helen: Yeah. This is a really brilliant way to keep buttons from shifting around when you sew them on. The needle can just pierce through the tape and you can pull the tape right off afterward. If you’ve ever tried to stick a button under that foot and, like, sew it on using the button setting or just the zigzag stitch, sometimes it just slips and pops right out and you break a needle and…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Tape is your friend.

Caroline: Yeah, totally.

Helen: Next up are some paper-related ideas. Melissa gave us a couple of tips! “Tip 1: Quadruple your thread when sewing on buttons, and you’re done super quickly! Tip 2: Use a piece of paper when beginning to sew the first few stitches. I use silk paper used for packaging I have laying around! You will never have your thread loop up or your straps eaten up by the machine ever again.”

Caroline: Ooh, so smart. So it’s, kind of, avoiding those thread nests.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: This is a great tip for hungry machines, Melissa. Thank you. I think this works because the paper is less flexible than fabric and it’s wider than a thin strap and you can just pull it off when you’re done. It’s so true when you’re sewing straps sometimes if they get, like, eaten inside into the little, like, throat plate thing, it’s so stressful.

Helen: I know it really is. This is a great tip.

Caroline: Alright. Steph sent this tip: “Using rolls of exam table paper for tracing patterns. It’s practically endless!”

Helen: Yes. Exam table paper, meaning that crunchy, thin paper that you sit on at the doctor’s office. And Steph is right; a huge role of this is very affordable, and it’s the right thickness, and it has some transparency. I mean, it’s got it all.

Caroline: Mhm. Yeah, it really does.

Helen: Danielle wrote, “I use 8×8 grid paper as filler for any fitting adjustments where I’m increasing, so it’s easy to add the desired amount of 8ths of an inch – just gotta make sure it’s lined up with the slash line before placing the other piece along the adjustment line.” Whoa.

Caroline: Yeah, this one blew my mind. We always talk about how nice it is to have a grid on pattern paper but never thought of using such a tiny grid for adjustments. It would make it so easy to be exact. I love this tip. Thank you, Danielle.

Helen: Yes! I always just use, like, the off cuts of the copy shop paper when I add paper to my adjustments, but having the grid on there would make it so much easier. I’m gonna get me some.

Caroline: Yeah. Alright. Genevieve wrote, “I made a dress with satin for the first time. The most slippery, stressful 3 hours of my life. What made it better was to place the fabric on a piece of paper. I used parchment/tracing paper to stabilise it. Sewed like a breeze.”

Helen: Yes. Stabiliser makes sewing with delicate, shiny shifty fabrics so much easier. You can use parchment paper, tissue paper, wonder tape, spray starch. These things all help to keep the fabric from shifting and getting pulled into the machine like we were talking about earlier. And with paper, you can just pull it away afterward. Brilliant.

Caroline: Love it. I am getting ready to sew up a bias cut Sicily Slip Dress…

Helen: Ooh.

Caroline: …out of a very shifty satin fabric, and I’m really nervous. So I’m, like, eating up all these tips. I feel like I’m gonna have success with all these great tips we’re getting.

Helen: Yes! Cathie wrote, “Using the inner cardboard tube from a roll of fabric for easy pressing seams on sleeves but most importantly trousers.”

Caroline: Yes, this is a really handy substitute for a sleeve roll. Very cool. Those rolls are made of really sturdy cardboard. And I bet you could ask a local fabric store for one that would otherwise go to the garbage or recycling.

Helen: Yeah. Do you got any tubes lying around, Caroline?

Caroline: We definitely do, especially broken tubes. The ones that are intact, we keep and reuse for when we do inventory or whatever. But yeah, the broken ones just go into the recycling, so if anyone ever needs a broken tube, hit me up.

Helen: We got ‘em. Okay. We had to have a whole section for tips we got from former guest Rachael Gilbert-Burns, AKA Minimalist Machinist, and her followers on Instagram! Rachael has a whole story highlight of unconventional sewing tools, and we’ve collected some of our favourites. Definitely check out Rachael’s account for lots of fabulous sewing info and style inspiration, and check out our interview with her. That’s Episode 140: Toiles and Tribulations! Rachael also has a Patreon where she fosters a really great community and has extra guides and articles. Thank you, Rachael. We’re gonna go rapid fire with these. Here we go.

Caroline: “Mini binder clips instead of pinning or quilt clips – cheaper and I already had them!”

Helen: Nice. “I use old matchsticks from my grannie’s sewing kit to sew on buttons with more ease”

Caroline: Ooh. So cute. You would put the match stick in between the button and the fabric so that the button isn’t sewn too tightly to the fabric. Then, there’s enough room for the fabric on the button hole side after you button the garment up.

Helen: Yeah, it’s the perfect size.

Caroline: “Double sided tape! Great for stripe matching!”

Helen: Ooh. Good idea. If you have wonder tape, that would work well, too. Definitely wanna line up all of those stripes when you can because it’s so satisfying.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: “A dental floss threader to thread my serger!”

Caroline: Ooh. These look kind of like regular needle threaders, but made of plastic, and they’re usually used to floss around braces. Super cool.

Okay. “3M Magic Tape on the bottom of my presser foot to glide over tacky materials like vinyl”

Helen: Ooh. Yes. It sounds like a great substitute for a teflon foot. The only issue is that the presser foot might get, kind of, sticky, but you can use an acetone to remove any stickiness if that happens.

“A mini paper notebook I use as a hump jumper to sew smoothly over thick parts.”

Caroline: Ooh, this is great. A hump jumper helps the foot get over a thick part of fabric by levelling it out. So you would just slide the mini notebook under the back of the foot. Genius.

“Dental floss for gathering fabric”

Helen: Yes. This is one method for gathering fabric that some sewists just absolutely love. You zigzag over a piece of dental floss, and then you can adjust the gathers before you sew them in. And it just creates, like, a really nice flat surface to sew on, too.

Caroline: Ooh. Okay. I actually tried this cause I’ve been doing a lot of gathering for various summer-y dresses. And first of all, I used mint dental floss, so my garments smelled like mint after, which was, kind of, funny. But I also found, I found it difficult to, like, pull out the zigzag threads after I sewed that seam cause, like, part of the zigzag stuck out the bottom. So I’m curious if anyone has tips for that. Let me know.

Helen: Ooh.

Caroline: There’s any tricks that I’m missing because you would be, like, sewing your seam along where that dental floss is so the zigzag pokes out the bottom on the right side of the garment. So, yeah, it just took a while to take out those stitches, but still I saved a lot of time with the gathering. So maybe it evened out in the end.

Helen: Maybe. I was just thinking about unpicking zigzag stitches, one of my least favourite things to do.

Caroline: Yeah. Yeah. It’s not that fun. So I don’t know, but maybe there’s a trick that I’m missing.

Helen: Okay. The next tip is “a little soy sauce pourer that I use to refill my iron” Ah, this is so cute.

Caroline: I love collecting little vintage, like, cream pourers for my water, and I keep them around cause I use one in my diffuser and I use one in my iron, and they’re really cute little decor pieces. So I love this – the idea of using a soy sauce pourer is right up my alley.

Alright. “Rolled up hand towel – because I do not have a tailor’s ham”

Helen: Yes! This is also a good substitute for that cardboard tube. We were talking about you just roll up a towel, stick it in the sleeve, and you can iron all over it.

“My collection of beach stones as pattern weights and heatless seam pressers.”

Caroline: Ah, Helen, this is right up your alley. This is a cool way to use a rock collection. You know, all those rocks that you collect at the beach.

Helen: It’s true.

Caroline: Um, and you could keep them in a cool pottery bowl or a clear vase when you’re not using them. I love this – things that can double as beautiful decor and sewing tools.

Helen: I mean, we’ve talked about substitutes for pattern weights before on the show, and I don’t think rocks ever came up, but duh.

Caroline: Duh-doh.

Helen: Perfect pattern weights.

Caroline: Totally.

Helen: Okay. “[A] white plastic spoon to hold behind the machine needle to SEE the eye for easy threading!”

Caroline: Ooh, this is a great idea. Okay. Gotta try this.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: “Using clear nail polish as fray check.”

Helen: Ooh. Yes. Our assistant Lisa does this. She says it lasts through the wash, too. It’s great for sealing the ends of ribbons and drawstrings as well. I mean, test, test, test on your fabric because we don’t want a situation on the front of your lovely shirt that you just finished.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: But I could see this working really well, and I mean, it’s pretty secure, clear nail polish.

Caroline: Yeah, definitely.

Helen: Next one. “[I] never have the tiny screwdriver for my sewing machine so I use an American dime.” Oh, classic.

Caroline: Ooh, classic.

Helen: It’s just the right width for getting into those tiny screws, and yeah, I mean, who doesn’t lose that screwdriver, like, immediately.

Caroline: I know. Yeah. They’re so tiny.

“A suction cup handle or pop socket for rulers”

Okay. This one was from Rachael. If you have super short nails or otherwise have difficulty grabbing flat rulers, you can add a handle this way. I love the idea of using pop sockets. They come in so many cute designs. And side note, a handle is more ergonomic, so might be a good idea if you wanna save your wrists a little bit, especially if you’re using that ruler a lot.

Helen: Yes. I love my ruler handle – such a great tool. Okay. We also wanted to share a pattern assembly tip that Rachael has shared before on her Instagram. Instead of trimming the pattern, you just fold over the corners so that you can see where the lines are supposed to match up.

Then, you tape them together that way. It’s, kind of, hard to explain, but we’ll post Rachael’s video in our show notes. So you basically don’t have to trim at all. You’re just overlapping the pages and that’s good enough. You can, kind of, see through and see the lines in between.

So if this hasn’t convinced you to go follow her yet, I don’t know what will please go and do it. Her account is one of the best places on the internet. Thank you, Rachael.

Caroline: Yes! Thank you, Rachel. Okay. Our final group of tips is a miscellaneous group. Reiko wrote, “Crayola markers. I use them to do all of my marks and notches. It washes out of everything. They’re cheaper than fancy special marking tools and don’t rub away like chalk. I use them to draw in hems (especially for knits). I just fold to the line and sew.”

Helen: Ooh. Yes, we’ve had several sewists recommend these as their favourite marking tool. They’re definitely cheaper than specific fabric marking tools, so def, you know, get yourself a pack.

Caroline: Ooh, I’m gonna have to try this out cause when I did my shirred dress, I marked all of my lines with chalk and that chalk really, like, is just gone with the wind once you start working on the project. So I had to really squint to see my marked lines, and I kept thinking I really need some kind of pen situation that’s gonna work. So I’m gonna try this out and, obviously, test on my fabric first, but very great tip. Thank you.

Helen: Tilly wrote, “Snips… I only started using them a few months ago, and they are such a game changer. I use them to mark notches, trim threads, unpick seams, and so much more. I was lucky enough to receive some beautiful Cohana ones for my birthday this week, and they are gorgeous and soooo sharp!!!”

Caroline: We love our snips, too. I have maybe four or five different types of snips and definitely have my favourite ones.I don’t know about you, Helen, but I have the ones that I reach for, but it’s great to have options cause some of them are pointier or sharper. Some of them are good for trimming certain types of seams. So it’s great to have, great to have a snip, or several snips, in your sewing toolbox.

Helen: One of my favourites is actually one that a listener sent us a while back. They sent us a set of fishing tackle snips, and they’re red, and they are, like, the ones that reverse snip. So you have to push them down to snip and then they snap open when you’re not using them. Love them. I absolutely love them. They’re so great.

Caroline: Uh, yeah, these are also my favourite snips, and they’re the ones I always reach for first. They’re the ones that are always next to me, and I love them so much. So thank you to that listener who sent us those snips.

Helen: Yes. Okay. On a related note, Morgan wrote, “On the question of unusual sewing tools, I use a retractable badge holder to keep my snips close by when working and switching between machines.”

Caroline: I love that it’s retractable. I’ve heard of people wearing their snips on a string around their necks before, but it seems like if it’s long enough to use, it might be a little dangerous, like, maybe poking you in your lap or your belly when you’re working. So the fact that you can pull on it and use it and then it’ll retract is amazing.

Helen: So smart.

Caroline: Erin wrote, “One of my fave tricks is to use wrinkle release spray on yardage before cutting instead of ironing it all…it works well as long as fabric isn’t super wrinkled to start with!”

Helen: Ooh. Cool. I love that. If you have a small bathroom that gets steamy, when you shower, you can also hang your fabric up in the bathroom while you shower to help with the wrinkles. It really works.

Caroline: My bathroom’s too small for that.

Helen: I mean, you hang it outside the shower. You’re not like showering with the fabric. Just to be clear.

Caroline: Great tip. I love this. Okay. Kate wrote, “I keep a telescoping magnet at my sewing machine for hard to reach dropped pins, a spilled pin dish, etc. My grandmother turned me onto this one. Serious game changer.”

Helen: Yes! A telescoping magnet is basically a magnet at the end of an extending rod. I love that you don’t have to get down on your hands and knees to use it to pick up your pins. And it’s so fun when you drop your pin cushion or knock over your, like, magnetic pin cushion and everything goes everywhere. And you just, like, whip out the rod and you’re like, I got this.

Caroline: Yes. I think I’ve told this story on the show before, but I had a teacher in college who would always have one of those, like, telescoping magnets, just on her person. And if ever someone would drop their pins, she’d just, like, whip it out and go like, whew. And just, like, pick up all the, all of the pins, and it was so handy. I really need to get myself one of these cause I feel like I’m cursed. I think I drop my pin dish almost every time I’m in my sewing room. It’s a real pain.

Helen: Alright. Allison wrote, “Buttonhole chisel! So fast and clean and I never end up accidentally cutting my threads like I did with my seam ripper.”

Caroline: Yes, we love our buttonhole chisels. This is a sharp tool that you can press into your fabric to cut out a buttonhole. It’s so handy. Once I got one, I never looked back.

Helen: Yeah. And also you don’t have to get a buttonhole chisel. You can just go to the hardware store and get a chisel. It’s the same thing.

Caroline: Oh, really?

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: Oh, great tip, Helen.

Alright. Mandy recommended the Clover Dome Threaded Needle Case! She sent us an Instagram story of her using it, saying that it’s great for storing thread scraps for later use. It’s a round needle case with an opening in it. You put a threaded needle in one of the slots with the thread lying in the opening. Then, you turn it to wind the thread into a case underneath the needle part. When you want to take a needle out, you hold the needle and thread and gently pull it. It’s pretty cool! Maybe a little hard to visualise. So we’re gonna link up that Instagram story, hopefully, in the show notes so you guys can see.

Helen: I love this idea of preserving thread scraps like that end of the bobbin roll. You’re like, I don’t know what to do with this.

Caroline: Yep.

Helen: Sophie recommended the Singer 20-inch Steam Press. She wrote, “Hi! I bought this fabric presser to fuse my interfacing, and it has been life changing! I don’t like fusing, and this tool made it soooo easy!”

Oh, my gosh. I’ve been wanting one of these.

Caroline: Yeah. If pressing interfacing is your most hated step, which isn’t it for everybody? This seems like it would help a lot. I love this. Very cool.

Okay. Former guest, Samantha of Purple Sewing Cloud wrote, “My favourite sewing tip for gadgets – if you have disabilities with your fingers and find small tools like seam rippers or point turners hard to use, get some Sugru or plasticine moulding clay and wrap it around your handle. Then, mould it into something more ergonomic for your fingers!”

This is such a cool way to customise the handles of your gadgets. Thank you, Sam.

Helen: Yes. Love this tip. Surprise! That was our last one.

Caroline: Ooh!

Helen: And thank you for listening. Let us know if your sewing life was changed by any of these tips, tools, and gadgets. If you’re in your garage, cutting on your freezer. If you’re out selecting rocks for pattern weights, we wanna hear about it. Tag us on Insta. We love hearing from you, and thanks for listening.

Caroline: Yeah, thank you.

Helen: That’s it for today’s episode of Love To Sew. You can find me Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com. And we’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com.

Helen: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For just $5 a month, you get a full-length bonus episode and weekly behind-the-scenes pics. For $10 a month, you get all that plus a mini-episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Caroline: And thanks again to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening and sending in your amazing tips and gadgets. We’ll see you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Bye.

 

Related Episodes