If you know me, you know that I’m a minimalist when it comes to sewing tools. My sewing spaces at home and at the studio are small, and I’m not going to clutter them up with non-essential gadgets. For example, I’ll always keep my pins in a small metal tin. I’ll never own huge, plastic, motorized pin dispenser. That’s just how I am.
Because I’m so picky about the tools I use, I often have difficulty finding exactly what I’m looking for. Part of the reason is that the number of manufacturers of good, high quality dress making tools is decreasing year by year. The other part is that I want to use the best tools I can, and often the tools that are most readily available aren’t of the highest quality. I hate nothing more than fighting with my tools when I’m trying to get a job done. For most of us, sewing is a relaxing, leisure activity. It takes some of the pleasure away if you have to contend with a dull rotary cutter blade or a wobbly tracing wheel.
That’s why I’m happy to announce that we’ve added a new section for supplies and tools to the Oliver + S Shop. We’re going to begin carrying a small, tightly-curated selection of some of my favorite tools and supplies that you can’t readily find elsewhere.
We’re opening this section with the four items that I use most often and that I think you’ll find useful, too: waxy carbon tracing paper, in blue and yellow, and beautiful bamboo-handled serrated- and blunt-edged tracing wheels.
In thinking through my favorite tools, these were at the top of my list. And because they are not easy to find, I’m really glad we can finally offer them to you.
I’ll publish additional posts here over the next few days about why I find these tools indispensable and how you can use them in your own sewing.
In the meantime, leave a comment to let me know what other essential or hard-to-find tools you would like to see us carry.