BEST FOR HOMES - Great ideas for transforming your home: Tips and Techniques

Here is a quick reference guide to some of the materials involved in the projects in this blog.

Basic kit

These items form a basic set of sewing equipment:

Dressmaking scissors

Tape measure or steel ruler

Iron and ironing board

Pencil

Tailor’s chalk/pencil

Pins and needles

Sewing machine

Cottons and threads

Scissors

It is important to have a good pair of dressmaking scissors for cutting fabrics. You can now buy both right and left-handed pairs. Scissors range from the small embroidery type to large dressmaking shears. A pair about 20-25cm (8-10in) long should be fine. It may also be helpful to have a small pair of scissors for trimming and clipping.

Tape measure

It is worth having a good tape measure that extends to about 3m (3¼yds) for curtains, and a smaller soft one for measuring around corners and difficult curves. A ruler is also very useful when you are measuring out a perfect square on fabrics for cushions and other projects that involve square pieces of fabric.

Needles

You may need a selection of sizes, lengths and thickness depending on the type of fabrics and cottons you are using.

Pins

Good, sharp pins work in both fine and heavy fabrics. Look out for pins with glass heads as they can be easier to handle and are easily seen in the fabric and they tend not to hurt your fingertips when pushing them into the fabric.

Iron-on hem tape

This is a great device which can be used as an alternative to sewing hems. You will need to follow the manufacturer’s instructions but normally you will need to use a damp sponge to help fix it along with an iron

Eyelet kits

Eyelet kits can be bought in packs which contain eyelets and the device you need to fix the eyelets on the fabric. You can find eyelets in a range of sizes and finished such as silver and gold.

Tailor’s chalk

This is a useful way of marking fabrics as it is only temporary and won’t stain or mark fabrics permanently. It is comes in several forms including flat or pencil shaped.

Cottons and threads

Matching colours are only really necessary for stitching that will actually show. The advantage of using a cotton thread is that can be ripped out if you make a mistake, whereas polyester thread will need to be snipped or unpicked because it is so strong that it could tear holes in fabric.

Sewing machines

A sewing machine is the best way to achieve quick and effective results and can save you a great deal of time. It’s always a good idea to try out different stitches on scraps of fabric before you start, to make sure the tension is correct. Most sewing machines have a wide range of stitches that you can use so you can be versatile with the effects you want to achieve.

Labels: Tips

Nice direction of sewing! I'm interested to learn it more detail. May I get more elaborate discussion with specific instruction of it in your next update? Hope you'll consider it. Thanks!
how to

Posted by Anonymous | July 16, 2012 at 12:07 AM

Wow....really helpful post and great informative tips related sewing machine,Scissors, Needle, Pins, cotton and threads.Thanks for share with us.
Fabric Store

Posted by fabricdepot | November 27, 2013 at 3:13 AM