#sewing tools

Just the basics really. Sewing machine, needles, thread, pins, clips, rotary cutter and board, acrylic rulers.

Now, i do have a large variety of all of those things, but if I had to pare it down:

90/14 needles

Gutermann sew all thread

Flat head pins

45mm rotary cutter

24”x36” rotary cutting board

6.5”x24” ruler

Scissors

Seam ripper

Iron

Pencil

You could make do with a smaller board and ruler of course, but I do a lot of strip cutting off yardage, so the large size works very well for me.

My extras, that I’ve collected over time because they come in handy but aren’t necessary would be:

Pair of pliers

Painters tape

Stiletto

Safety pins

Dress pins

Flexible tape measure

Fork

Anti slip mats

Ruler grips

Clappers

Thread net spool saver

Extra thread cone holder

Just learning to Sew? Check this out. Sewing Bee University – Free Sewing Lessons, Tools & Patterns for Beginners — Sew Cute Patterns

Since I've been sewing face masks, I've found that the curves of tailor's ham don't quite fit the mask. So it's been difficult to get the iron in there.

I decided to make a dedicated ham for face masks!

Basically I took the shape of the Jesse Killian Face Mask (free pattern!) and extended it (toward where the ears would be). Once cut of paper, the next step is drafting a base.

I didn't have an elegant method for this. Honestly, I just kinda pressed the bottom of the assembled paper template and traced a round outline, leaving a generous seam allowance.

Once I had my upper fabric pieces cut and prepped, I traced the opening on to the bottom again, just to get an even closer fit; then trimmed the excess. I transferred this shape to my paper template to record it. Pattern drafting, apparently is also about record-keeping!

As with Bentley, the upper is made from boiled wool. The base is cotton twill. Both fabrics were backed with fusible buckram (or similar stiff, heavyweight woven cotton interfacing).

I'm contemplating names for this ham. Strong contenders include:

Nosey

Wedge

Zorro

Cheddar

[the Right Honourable] Vincent Maskey

Domino

In this post you will discover the sewing supplies to avoid as a beginner, smarter alternatives that save time and money. You know that feeling when you start something new and just want everything? The pretty kits, the “magic” tools, the Pinterest-worthy gear that promises to make sewing easy overnight? Well… I’ve been there. And let me tell you—some of those things ended up as drawer clutter,…

Let's make some functional sewing tools and do some scrap busting at the same time!