This is the latest post in this year’s series on tools for Textiles. ( You can find previous posts here, here, here and here). Today I’m showing you the scissors I keep in the studio.
First up are a few different pairs of shears. The first pair is made by Fiskars and is comfortable to use. They are reasonably lightweight. I use them for cutting out large pieces of cloth or for cutting a length of wadding off the roll.
I also have this pair of tailor’s shears which I bought the year I made my daughter’s wedding dress (plus five bridesmaid’s dresses). You can read about the process here They definitely served me well although I find them heavier to use than the pair above. They would be my choice for cutting a thick fabric such as wool.
These scissors (endorsed by Patrick Grant) are a very lightweight pair which cut well. I reach for them when cutting pieces of cotton fabric as they are so easy to use.
It is useful to have a pair of pinking shears. I have photographed them open so you can see the teeth on the blades. If you want to neaten a seam in cotton fabric, cutting the seam allowance with these shears provides a quick and effective finish. NB keep a second pair for cutting paper!
These are my paper scissors. I use them often in the studio and keep them right next to my fabric shears so I am never, ever tempted to cut paper and card with the fabric shears!
Below you can see one of the sets of snips that I have in the studio. If I am piecing fabric for patchwork. I keep a pair right next to the sewing machine. When I have pieced, say, two small squares together for a block, once the seam is sewn, I cut the threads to half an inch at each end of the seam with the snips and put stray threads in a thread-catcher. The snips are quicker to pick up and use than scissors.
These are embroidery scissors with fine, pointed, curved blades. They trim threads very neatly on a surface (for example, when you are ‘burying’ quilting threads on a quilt) and they can also be useful if you have some particularly tricky unpicking to do.
There are several sets of small embroidery scissors in the studio. It’s good to try a few different pairs of scissors like these to see which feel comfortable to use and which remain sharp. These work well:
These fit helpfully into their plastic cover (good for travelling) and the shape of the handles is comfortable:
These are scissors which are beautiful but are actually quilt un-comfortable to use! They belonged to a set of three owned by my mother, so I shall keep them, especially as the smallest one of the set was confiscated by an airline official during a trip to India when I stupidly packed them in my hand-luggage! I still feel sad for the loss.
Take care of your scissors and they will serve you well. If you ever discover someone who sharpens scissors, make a careful note of their details. -it is such a helpful service.
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Here’s a quilt pattern for a fabric roll to keep your full set of scissors in order. I made mine in strong colours of red, yellow, grey and black, but it would also look good in tones of green or a blue.purple combination or…
Get the pattern here
Amanda Jane Textiles 