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Snag Repair Needles
What is it? It’s always your new sweater, coat, blouse or pants. The dreaded snag. An unruly thread pulled free and right there for everyone to see. You can pat it down but you know it’ll come back. Cut it off and you leave a hole in its place. That’s no answer either. How can we make it better? Come to think of it, are there other occasions when we face the same dilemma? A loose thread that doesn’t belong? Yup, sewing in general. Sewing is full of circumstances where…
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Ultimate Quilt ‘n Stitch Presser Foot
What is it? Sometimes a new sewing notion, a tool designed with one very specific purpose, comes around and we think, “Huh, why hasn’t someone thought of that before?” Case in point, sewing parallel lines of stitches for quilting, home decor or even fashion. Quite a chore, right? Measuring and marking all of those lines can really take all of the fun out of creating. Maybe we even let this daunting task influence the extent of our creative vision. And when it turns out that the lines of stitching we…
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Bias Tape Makers
What does it do? Bias binding tape has been called “the duct tape of sewing.” Why? Because, like the actual duct tape, it’s just so handy. We can use it to join raw edges of fabric in any fashion that suits our creative vision. Bold fashion accents, button hole loops, draw strings, bag straps, elastic casings, edges of hot pads, placemats, bibs, quilts, blankets, pillows, necklines, arm holes or for just decorative appliqué embellishment. The list of bias tape applications is truly endless. Well, those are some ideas of what…
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Straight Pins
What is it? What do we think of when the topic of straight pins comes to the fore? Usually we think of those sharp little devils that find us when we’re not looking for them. You know, the one that’s hidden in that quilt top that we’re folding (but is now in our finger) or perhaps the one that we dropped earlier in the day and is now lodged in our favorite pair of socks (that we’re still wearing) or maybe the one we forget to remove and hit with…
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Hand Sewing Needles Extra Credit
Did you miss the hand sewing needles Tool School? Or maybe you just want more! Watch Tool School Extra Credit for some additional tips with Clover’s Hand Sewing Needles by the Shibaguyz. To Watch Tool School an Overview of Hand Sewing Needles click here Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the dynamic DIY duo known as the Shibaguyz, and the creative geniuses behind Shibaguyz Designz Studio.Their award winning crochet & knit designs have been featured in and on the covers of both US and international publications. Their craft, portrait,…
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Rotary Cutters
What is it? -Everything we do in sewing starts with cutting larger pieces of fabric into smaller pieces of fabric before we can reassemble them into larger pieces of fabric fitting our creative design. Fashion, quilting, home decor and a whole host of accessories for all of them. It all starts with the cut. And it makes sense then that the more precise that cut, the more precise our finished project will be and the happier we are with what we’ve accomplished. So what do we use to make these…
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Hand Sewing Needles
What is it? -No tools are more basic to sewing than needles are. They existed even before thread and fabric as our ancient ancestors used pointed objects to perforate hides so they could be laced together with leather cords. Centuries of technology later we have highly advanced, modern hand sewing needles that do basically the same thing. But they do it so much better now. Few tools are more useful. This primordial sewing tool has evolved into virtually every genre of sewing specialty including general sewing, appliqué, embroidery, ribbon…
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Scissors Extra Credit
Extra credit with the Shibaguyz Scissors Both of our mother’s and grandmother’s were sewers. It was never a question of “if” something was handmade, but “what” was being made today? Every afternoon would find Jason’s mom in her sewing room making clothes for the family or dolls and toys to sell. And often Shannon’s grandmother and great aunts worked on fine garments or quilts. Even as adults a favorite Christmas memory for both of us was getting to open a package containing new boxer shorts from Jason’s mom……
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Scissors & Shears
What is it? -Because of that they have enjoyed the natural evolution that comes with the application of developing technology. The scissors and shears we use today bear but a faint resemblance to those used by our ancestors. In high-quality scissors the blades are extremely sharp and are positioned to increase the cutting and shearing tension at the exact point where the blades meet and the fabric is cleanly cut. A true performance test of any scissor or shear necessarily focuses on how cleanly they cut both multiple layers…
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Curve Ruler
What is it? -All right, we’ve decided to do a little fashion sewing. Cool. We’ve visited our local shop and poured over the pattern catalogs or perhaps searched favorite sites on the internet. In either case we’ve found a pattern that’s just what we’re looking for. We’ve reviewed the instructions on the back of the pattern envelope and acquired all of the required notions as well as the correct yardage of that killer fabric that will really make our project pop. Keep in mind we’ll also want to make it…