How to Use Sewing Hand Tools

Sewing basket.

A wide variety of sewing tools and notions are available to assist the person who is sewing by hand. They range from specialty items to common items that every sewing kit should have. Most people who sew acquire most or all of these items over time; often a small sewing kit will be passed to a beginner when a sewing person graduates to a larger kit with more pieces inside.

Things You'll Need

• Needles and thread
• Needle threader
• Scissors
• Pinking shears
• Embroidery scissors
• Thimble
• Seam ripper
• Pin cushion
• Pins
• Gauges
• Tape measure
• Tracing wheel
• Dressmakers carbon
• Dressmakers chalk
• Pencil
• Rotary cutter
• Rotary board
• Bodkin
• Safety pin
• Hooks
• Snaps
• Buttons
• Stop fray
• Super glue
• Utility knife
• No-sew iron-on tape

Instructions

Assemble A Basic Sewing Kit

1. 

   Needle and thread

   The sewer's basic kit should include general-purpose needles and threads. Needles are sold in packages and range in size and shape from small to large, depending on their purpose. Thread is sold by the spool and in packages; the latter are often of lesser quality. Buy black, white, tan, gray and beige in larger spools designated for hand use, and packages of mixed colors on smaller spools, as you will not use them as often. Add to these items a needle threader, a small device that looks like a coin with a wire. The wire is actually a loop that inserts into the eye of a needle and expands for inserting a thread end. Purchase sewing scissors that fit your dominant hand---they're designed for cutting fabrics and threads. Only use these scissors for sewing, as cutting anything else with them will ruin their edges.

2. 

   Thimbles are made in varied shapes and sizes.

   Pinking shears cut in a zig-zag and limit fraying on fabrics. Thread scissors are small with a very thin point, allowing you to trim close to fabric. Thimbles protect the fingers during hand sewing, and can be worn on your thumb or first two fingers, depending on design. If you inherited a hardened leather device which straps to the wrist and includes a cup over the thumb, keep it. This larger thimble is like gold in protecting your fabric-holding thumb from needle punctures. Place your standard metal thimble over your index or middle finger and use the thimble dents to guide the path of the needle.

3. Seam rippers look like polished metal forks with one tine longer than the other. The longer tine picks at the thread, the saddle between the tines cuts the thread. Not only do seam rippers assist in tearing out seams, they are often used to guide fabric when sewing on a sewing machine where the fabric is tiny and close to the needle.

4. 

   Pin cushions keep pins and needles from getting lost.

   A pin cushion holds your pins and needles safely. Sewing pins are sold as flat heads (very plain), ball tops, and T-pins (much larger). Purchase flat heads for general sewing by hand. A sewing tape measure is fexible and often backed with fabric to keep it from slipping. Gauges are used for precision measuring for crafts like quilting where measurements are critical.

5. If you move on to sewing whole garments, add tracing wheels, dressmakers carbon, dressmakers chalk and pencils. These tools are used when transferring guide marks from patterns to cloth. The wheels make small perforations in the pattern and allow fine traces of chalk to filter through the holes, leaving lines which can be brushed off later. Dessmakers carbon allows you to trace onto some types of cloth and the chalk and pencils will also leave removable marks on fabric.

6. Rotary cutters have a circular edge that's rolled over the fabric. Cutting boards are placed underneath the fabric and can be reused many times as most are considered self-healing. These items can reduce cutting time and are often used by quilters. Rotary cutters should be handled only by adults or trained young persons, as they are extremely sharp.

7. Additional tools to consider include bodkins, safety pins and an assortment of snaps, hooks and buttons. Bodkins are used to pull drawstrings through long pockets. Safety pins are used for all kinds of quick repairs as are snaps, hooks and buttons. Other good items to keep on hand are a small bottle of stop fray, super glue, no-sew iron-on tape for hems and a small, retractable utility knife.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your sewing kit together in a single container to make simple repairs to damaged clothing quick and easy. Teach your children how to properly use each item in the kit so they can fix their own clothing as they get older.

• Don't allow children under age 12 to use sewing tools unsupervised.

References

• Fiber Images: Free Information Sewing Tools