Do you have any tool that you use all the time? Do you recommend it to everyone unprompted? Is it ridiculously specific to your situation, wants and needs? Let every one know how they can make their sewing better!!
I myself don’t have any at the moment, but I have been eyeing a nice pair of left-handed fabrid scissors for quite some time and I might get it some day.
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Something I always feel especially glad to have is those tweezers with the bent ends on them. I use them to thread the machine (especially pulling through from behind the needle), pull up bobbin thread, turn edges under close to the needle, grab stuff that fell behind the desk…. I can’t think of all their uses right now.
Now that you mention it, I regularly get the tweezers from the bathroom (with appropriate cleaning betwen uses of course), I should probably get some sewing tweezers.
Rotary cutter and a cutting mat. Made cutting fabric so much easier, especially since my hands quickly get tired from using scissors.
It looks a bit dangerous to me, I feel like it is easier to cut oneself with it. Maybe it’s just because I am used to scissors though… what’s your opinion on safety with it?
I think the biggest risk with rotary cutters is forgetting to switch on the safety cover when not in use. Otherwise, I’d say the safety risk is the same as scissors: always be mindful of where your fingers are when cutting.
I have a favorite seam ripper. The blade is one end and the other is a curved point that is ideal for poking out corners, flattening seams, etc. I use it more than I care to admit 😀 but when you need to try again there is nothing else that works as well.
The Dritz seam gauge with the different seam allowance widths from 1/8" and above. Not the slide rule-looking one. This is a many-sided shape. It makes marking things so easy. It’s metal, so you can iron over it.
I have another one: A mini iron to press seams open!
(…she wrote, sitting in front of her sewing machine, having sewed a seam that really needs to be pressed open before proceeding, and having spent the last five minutes trying to press said seam open with the handle of her shears, because the laziness is strong with this one, and who can be bothered to stand up to set up the ironing board?)
My dream home have a dedicated ironing station that does not need setting up too!! I have extensive plans in mind for that!