Six items you will need to sew lingerie
Aside from the big guns of a sewing machine (and overlocker) there are six items that I’ve always used to sew lingerie (spanning back twenty years).
I have linked each picture to the product.
Cutting board
If you are using a Rotary cutter, you will need a cutting board, I use to have the massive green board but because I often bring my work into the house to work on I found it cumbersome to haul down the stairs from the outdoor studio - and yes I could have made two trips with my patterns and fabrics and board but who is that girl? So I ended up buying a smaller grey one (insert sizes) which ends up doubling as a background now for when I want to take pictures for social media (the green one always looked so dark). I would also recommend a self healing board, as this allows future fabrics cut on the board not to catch or snag on what you have cut previously.
Shears
If I’m cutting out more than one size I double up the fabric and cut it all out together, also there is something lovely about the sound of shears and when cutting fabric off the rolls of fabric you need big scissors for that task. There are two types I use (black pair) which I find accurate and a good weight to use and I also have the (ornage pair) which are the ones that get moved from studio to house, these are brilliant if you have kids as the rule they know is don’t use any scissors with orange handles. They understand this rule to the point when my daughter was in my studio and came back and found locks of curls of my desk and asked if she had cut her hair (just a trim apparently) she proudly told not to worry she didn’t use the orange handle ones! The orange ones pictured I’ve had over twenty years.
Rotary cutter
This is perfect and quick when you only have one sample to cut out, I tend to use the 60mm blade or the 45mm blade, the 45mm blade is easier to control when going around tight small curves of lingerie patterns.
Fabric weights
Before I bought actual fabric weights I used anything, pen pots, kids animal figures etc, but I’m so glad I invested in actual fabric weights as they are small enough to put on lingerie patterns and stay in place (dinosaurs do have a tendency to fall over). I got mine handmade by ‘Retro Handmade Jewellery’ who were brilliant, I could pick my colours or if I wanted pairs of boobs rather than single ones. I would recommend getting fabric weights that make you smile as it makes work far more fun.
Little scissors
These are perfect for snipping threads off lingerie and also for unpicking stitches (we all have to go there), I have a couple of different ones as it makes unpicking quicker (even if that’s in my head). And again why have boring scissors if you can have fun ones.
Tape measure
Usually hung around my neck whilst I sew, so It’s handy to check measurements or if I need to cut elastic. Just remember to measure the tape measure against a ruler every now and again as it can stretch over time.
FYI - some of these links are affiliated links and I may receive money if you were buy from the links, but as you can see from the pictures they are all things I use.
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