My Top Ten Favourite Crafting Tools

Let’s be honest, there are a lot of sewing tools out there and it can sometimes be hard to know which are worth investing in and which you’ll use once and then forget about. I don’t have a lot of sewing tools since I don’t have a large crafting or storage space. For today’s blog post, I thought it might be fun to share some of my favourite sewing and crafting tools, these are the tools I use time and again and which, now I have them, I really feel I couldn’t do without.

*This blog includes sponsored content and affiliate links which means that should you choose to purchase something using my link I will earn a small commission without any extra cost to you*

Seam Gauge

It’s a simple one but I’ve found this cheap and cheerful little seam gauge invaluable in my sewing life. The gauge is made from a light metal with markings along the edge and a little marker which you can move to your required seam allowance catching the hem at the marker and ensuring you’re pressing the same distance all along your seam or hem. This tool also serves as a point turner and button gauge too which at it’s super cheap price I think makes it great value for money.

Tailor’s Clapper

This was one sewing tool that was a little bit of a mystery to me until I got one and realised how amazing it actually is. Over the last few years I’ve moved on with my sewing to sew more tailored and more heavyweight garments such as coats, jackets and blazers. The Tailor’s Clapper is like magic for setting bulky seams and making them lie so much flatter than they would just with an iron. You can either finger press your seam open and hover the steam iron over the top or press your seam with a pressing cloth if your fabric will allow. Once pressed in your preferred way, place the clapper on top of the seam, the wood will keep the heat and steam trapped for longer giving the fibres more time to hold their shape while they cool. If you’re a patchworker you might also find a clapper useful for getting crisply pressed seam allowances on your patchwork pieces. I’ve linked similar because I couldn’t find my one, I’ve had it for years!

High Definition Serious Light by Serious Readers (Ad)

My Serious Light by Serious Readers has been an absolute game changer for me. I’m coming into my second year of having my high definition, floor standing light and I really wouldn’t be without it now. I use it a lot for knitting and crocheting on the sofa in the evenings and I love how I can use the standard fitted dimmer switch and beam width function to get the right focus on exactly what I’m working on without having to use an intrusively bright lamp or the dreaded ‘big light’ keeping the rest of the family happy.

Because my light has a lightweight base, it can be easily moved from my living room into my dining room where I do all of my sewing work. The light is fitted with a flexible neck so it can be bent and moulded to exactly the angle I need it and the head swivels too allowing you to control the aim of the beam (I can even get it to focus right on the needle of my sewing machine).

All the close up crafting that I, and I’m sure you, do can be a strain on my eyesight at times leading to headaches and eye strain so it gives me piece of mind to know that Serious Lights are recommended by optometrists as a means of eyesight protection. 

There are loads of High Definition Serious Lights available to choose from on the Serious Readers website and lots of accent different finishes too so you can be sure that your light will not only be functional but pretty too! If you fancy checking out the lights for yourself, here’s a link to the Serious Readers website, you can also use my discount code ‘SALLY24’ for £100 off of any High Definition light. The code includes free delivery and a 30 day money back guarantee so you can shop with confidence.

Quilting Ruler

As the title of this one would suggest, I originally bought my quilting ruler for patchwork and quilting purposes since I used to spend a lot of my time making and selling quilts for a living. Although I’ve moved on from those days now, I still find I’m constantly reaching for my quilting ruler when cutting out a sewing pattern. The straight edge is great for cutting straight bottoms, sides or shoulders as the markings include 1cm increments, but there are also 30 and 45 degree angles marked which I find so helpful when making my own bias binding. I’ve also been known to use the markings and straight edge to help me line up the grainline on a pattern when the selvage edge of my fabric has been lost.

Carbon paper

This is a bit of a love it or hate it one I think but for me, I do find myself using this old classic now and again when I need to mark tricky areas such as curved seam lines, patch pockets and pleats. When marking with carbon paper you’ll need to place the carbon paper ink side down against your fabric (on both layers if you’re cutting double). You then place your pattern on top and use a tracing wheel (or your tracing method of choice) to trace over the lines of your pattern marking. The colour of the carbon paper will transfer the markings directly onto your fabric. 

I find this the most visible and accurate method for transferring difficult markings but I must add – please do take care doing this as I have found the colour difficult to remove in the past. Trace on an area that will not be visible once the garment is sewn such as on the wrong side if possible or very narrowly within the seam allowance.

Prym Love Vario Pliers

Oh how I love this Prym tool. It looks a little scary to use at first but once you get the hang of it you’ll be adding poppers to everything in sight! Poppers are great for adding to baby and children’s wear when you don’t want to add a ‘proper’ button either for health and safety purposes or because they can be darned fiddly to do up on a wriggly baby.  They also take the hassle and fear out of sewing buttonholes onto a finished garment. Haven’t we all been there when your sewing machine messes up the final buttonhole on your otherwise perfectly finished handmade garment! 

I love to add poppers to handmade pouches and purses. The examples below show a little notions pouch I made to keep my little knitting bits and bobs safe and a quilted laptop case which I love and use all the time. A tutorial for both of these projects can be found over on the Sew It Yourself website here and here.

Walking foot

Similar to my quilting ruler, I originally purchased a walking foot for quilting quilts. I still quilt now and again but more often these days I find I’m using my walking foot in my dressmaking life. A walking foot helps to feed the top and bottom layers of you fabric through the machine at an even speed keeping the foot in line with the feed dogs underneath. This held to avoid puckering and helps with sewing thick and bulky fabrics which a regular machine foot may struggle with. 

I use my walking foot whenever I’m sewing with jersey and knit fabrics to help avoid stretching out the fabric as I sew and also whenever I’m sewing with thick fabrics such as coating or pre-quilted fabrics. You might also find it helps with very lightweight fabrics such as silks or satins too.

Tailor’s Ham 

It took me a long while to get the hype around the Tailor’s Ham, I always thought they looked a bit odd and I wondered why I’d really need one. However, having owned one for a good few years now I have to say I really love mine. 

A Tailor’s ham is most often used for pressing curved areas of a garment you can’t always get to with a flat ironing board and an iron. I use mine for pressing bust darts downwards, sewing crotch seams and pressing the finished curve of a neckline.

Pressing Cloth

I bought myself this Molaier pressing cloth pack a good few years ago now and they’re still going strong. This particular cloth is made from a mesh fabric and is great for using when you are sewing with delicate fabrics which may pucker or shrink or if you have a fabric that might be prone to scorching or those horrible shiny ironing marks you can get – ugh! It’s always best to test your iron on a scrap piece of the fabric you will be sewing with to see how it reacts to the heat and steam. You can then determine how best to press as you go.

It’s worth mentioning that you don’t have to purchase a specific pressing cloth at all, you can use a light piece of cotton or muslin to get the same result but I particularly like the fact that you can still see what you’re doing through the holes in the mesh.

Pattern folders

If, like me, you’ve been through many a way of trying to store your patterns and pattern pieces safely and tidily without them getting too folded or creased (I’m looking at you giant PDF pieces) you might like to try these A4 and A3 zipped folders from Amazon. I don’t have a sewing room and struggle in general to find space to store all of the sewing paraphernalia that I own, I’ve tried a few different methods but this one has been the best so far.

I have these in both A4 and A3 sizes as some patterns require less storage space than others. So that I can see from a quick glace which pattern is stored in the folder, I either print out the cover photo or line drawings of the garment (you’ll sometimes get this anyway if you print the instructions) or I stick a white label onto the corner of the folder and add the pattern name and designer.  Unfortunately, this method does still involve a bit of folding but I find storing this way takes up so much less space than rolling and keeps everything so much tidier than trying to stuff everything back into a pattern envelope. They never go back in the way they came out do they!

So there’s my little round up of my latest favourite sewing and crafting tools. I’d love to know if any of them are the same as yours. Do let me know what your favourite sewing tools are too in the comments. Oh, and don’t forget to pop over to the Serious Readers website and claim £100 of of your own High Definition light using my code SALLY24.

Thanks so much for reading, happy sewing!

Sally xx