10 Sewing Room Essentials – For Me…

Everyone has their own favorite tools – the ones you just couldn’t live without.  And the ones that make you extremely cranky if your family “borrows” them

I’ve been thinking lately about what sewing tools I use the most… and which ones seem to stay in their drawers and never get used.

So in no particular order, here are my top 10 sewing room essentials:

1. My good fabric shears – I love my Gingher scissors, they make cutting out fabric so much easier… just remember that good scissors and paper, faux leather or fleece should never meet.
2. My sewing machine – it’s sturdy, reliable and can do everything I need from sewing delicate sheers, quilting or mending blue jeans.
3. Task lighting – you don’t need to strain your eyes when you’re being creative.  Adding extra light to your sewing area can really help.
4. A cutting table at the proper height – I’m a couple inches shy of six feet tall, so it improved my life a whole lot to add some extra height to my cutting table.  Voila – no more backaches from cutting out fabric!
5. A thread and notion organizer.  I will freely admit to not being to most organized person ever, but having a small set of drawers – each with their own set of notions – makes my sewing room a happier place.
6. Gridded quilting rulers – they’re not just for traditional quilters, I pull mine out for lots of different projects.
7. A rotary cutter – while I don’t usually use my rotary cutter for cutting out clothing, it’s a handy addition to my sewing tool box.  Just remember that a dull blade is a dangerous blade!
8. A sewing machine cleaning kit – this doesn’t need to be fancy, just a brush and some sewing machine oil.  Keeping your machine clean in between tune-ups will keep it running happily much longer.
9. Safety pins – yes, the lowly safety pin makes the cut for me.  I use a big one for coaxing elastic through waistbands and smaller ones for basting items as I sew them.
10. This one is going to sound a little odd, but I love the knee lift on my sewing machine.  It makes sewing so much quicker and smoother for me.  If you don’t know what one is, it’s a lever that hangs down off the side of your sewing machine.  You drop the needle, press your knee against the lever and it lifts the sewing foot.  No more having to grab the lift on the back of the machine.

So what are your sewing room tool essentials?

image: Stock.xchg