Basic Tools And Equipment for Your Sewing Room

These are the basic tools and equipment you will need in your sewing box. As you develop more and more skills, you will add more to your sewing box.

First and foremost you need good scissors. We have a call in our home "NOT THE GOOD SCISSORS". No one but no one, apart from me that is, is allowed to use my good dressmaking scissors. These are only used to cut fabrics. They are kept sharpened so they will always give me that very nice cut on my fabrics.

Get yourself a second pair for cutting patterns and another smaller pair with good sharp points for clipping and notching around curves and into corners. There smaller ones, you should keep for these jobs too, never use on anything else.

Dressmakers pins, buy the longer ones with the glass heads. They are usually finer than the short ones and will not damage your fabric. You also need less of these when you are pinning.

A good tape measure. I always have two. Make sure you have inches and centimeters on them.

In the measuring area, it is a good idea to have a yard rule, a curve rule and the normal 12 or 15-inch ruler. A 'T' square is always handy too.

Tailors chalk or pencils. The pencils often have a little brush on the end to brush out the marks, white, blue and pink are the usual colors.

A Seam Ripper---who can survive without an unpicker. Buy a good quality one, I have had mine for over 30 years.

Sewing needles in various sizes. These you need for your machine as well as hand sewing.

A needle threader, the one I use came with my machine and I would be lost without it.

A thimble. You can customize your own thimble now with the new leather ones. I have several different ones and they are always there if someone needs one. I think I was behind the door when the thimble lesson was on. I put the thimble on my finger and then proceed to hold that finger out of the way and get small holes in the top of my next finger from pushing the needle through. Mind you, that next finger has toughened up over the years.

Threads. You will find over time you will build up a good selection of threads. You need cotton as well as polyester threads. By choosing the correct thread for the fabric you are sewing, your results will be so much better. You will avoid tension problems with your machine. We do cover thread sizes and what needle to use in another chapter.

When starting out or learning a new technique, it is a good idea to do a practice or sample of each technique. Keep some plain cotton fabric for these and when you perfect the technique, file it away in a plastic sleeve for future reference.

When you see cotton thread on special, buy a few spools and keep them for tacking and basting, saves using your good threads.

I like to have on hand eyelet kits, hook and eye sets and press studs in various sizes and colors, like silver, clear and black. Button kits are very handy too, many times it is hard to find just the right color button, no problem when you have a kit on hand, just make your own.

A tracing wheel and tracing paper are essential for marking your pattern onto your fabric.

There are lots of other tools you can add as you go along, like: -

· Seam Ripper (Unpicker) · Point Turner · Button Gauge · Bodkin · Loop Turner · Chalk Wheel · EZY Hem Gauge

Manila folders are very handy to keep in your kit. The folder is a good weight for many things, including making a hem template or a template for pockets. Then there is the filing away of all your future projects you cut out of magazines.

Now you have your kit assembled you will need something to store it all in. This is one area where you will find so many options. Storage containers come in all shapes and size these days. One with a combination of drawers and compartments would be ideal. Don't forget to check out the 'boys toys', often times their tool kit boxes are just the thing.

If you can gather these tools, most of what you need to do you will have the necessary equipment to handle the job.

CTBaird is an author of many articles and the Sewing eGuide “Sew More For U” http://www.sewmoreforu.com

Copyright © 2005-2006 CTBaird Rights Reserved Sew More For U