Okay, so maybe only if you’re a fabric-aholic…

Picking up your favorite pair of fabric shears, the ones that cut fabric like butter, are beautifully balanced – should be a happy experience.

But with most tools, there comes a time when even the best pair of scissors will need a little maintenance.

There are lots of things you can do to keep your shears as sharp as possible, for as long as possible:

• Make sure you’re only using them for fabric – and train your family too!
• Don’t use your best shears to cut polar fleece, felt or vinyls.  They’re hard on scissors, so keep an extra pair of scissors around for “tough” fabrics.

When it does come time to sharpen your scissors, there are a few things you need to know.

• First of all – don’t let just anyone sharpen them!  Scissors require a very particular sharpening style and that means that the average knife sharpener is not going to do a good enough job.
• Ask your hairstylist or dog groomer where they get their shears sharpened.  Think your scissors are expensive?  Hair stylists can pay hundreds of dollars for one set of scissors.  They know the safe places for scissors.
• Be wary of scissor sharpening events at big craft stores.  There are no guarantees about the quality of the work.
• Check and see if your scissor manufacturer does sharpening.  Some of them offer their own sharpening services – you just mail your shears to them.

image: Stock.xchg

Post from: Blisstree

Care & Feeding Of Your Scissors

So what works for you?

Are you a hard-core rotary cutter fan?  Or do you go old-school fabric shears all the way?

What do I like?

Well, it depends on what I’m cutting out.  For clothing and most craft projects I rely on my trusty Gingher shears.  They’re lovely to work with, sharp and well balanced.

I wouldn’t use them on polar fleece or vinyl though… that’s a sure way to trash a pair of good scissors!  That’s a good reason to have a “second best” pair of fabric scissors – an older pair of scissors that still work well is a good choice.

For quilting or when I need to be really accurate, I like to pull out my rotary cutter and gridded ruler.  It allows me to make very precise cuts – handy when an extra 1/8″ can throw a pattern off.

image: Stock.xchg

Post from: Blisstree

How Do You Cut Fabric?

Simplicity Patterns is offering a special deal on their 8″ German steel fabric shears – but just until Mother’s Day!

You can save 25% off the scissors and get free shipping anywhere in the USA, just enter the code “MOM2009″ at the checkout.

And remember… good scissors are for moms – make sure the kids can’t get a hold of them

image: Simplicity

Post from: Blisstree

Treat Your Mom to a New Pair of Scissors

I have to admit, I’m pretty obsessive about my good scissors – I even have my DH trained… If the scissors have my name on them, don’t touch!

But even the most meticulous care won’t keep your fabric scissors from going dull eventually (especially if you’re cutting polar fleece!)  Do you trust your lovely scissors to a mall kiosk?

Ask your hair stylist or your dog groomer where they get their scissors sharpened.   Their scissors can cost hundreds of dollars, and you can bet that they’ll send them to the best place in town to be sharpened!

image source 

Post from: Blisstree

tip of the day – sharpening scissors