I don't know about you, but cutting fabric is one of my least favorite parts about sewing. I love having a design idea in my head and I LOVE sewing it together, but the cutting......not so much.
I was reading my most recent issue of "Sew News" magazine and they had a great idea that I thought I would share with all of you. Typically when you are working with a pattern, you will pin it to your fabric and then cut it out. Well, their tip was to use washers (like the kind your find in the hardware store) to weight-down the pattern pieces. Genius, I say!! Why didn't I think of this?! This helps to stabilize the pattern pieces so that they don't move during cutting.
So now I simply weight down my patterns onto my fabric and use my rotary cutter to cut them out. And if you don't use a rotary cutter to cut your patterns, you must! As painful as I find cutting patterns to be, it makes it go 10x's faster.
The next time you are sewing from a pattern or even if you are trying to simply trace something, grab some washers.........it is a seriously good thing!! Pin It
Okay, this is genius! I'm sooooo doing it. I HATE pinning!!!! Thank you for this tip!
ReplyDeleteI totally could have used those while tracing the patterns out of Carefree Clothing for Girls. My hubby-honey might have some washers...
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Looks like a time-saver and I'll be raiding my hubby's shop soon :) I shared your idea on my blog here. Thanks!
ReplyDeletehttp://mamalusco.blogspot.com/2010/04/simple-pattern-weights.html
How do you cut patterns with a rotary cutter if its not all straigh edges if that makes sense at all?
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Kellie
brilliant! i love this! i hated my rotary cutter bc of all the shifting but if I use weights i bet it will be super easy! great tip!
ReplyDeleteThanks for this tip. The other day I tried securing my pattern pieces with a tiny bit of painters tape and it worked like a charm. I was able to use my ruler and rottary cutter that way without any problems.
ReplyDeleteI cover these little weights with cutesy details. This past week I made a Raggedy Anne set to sell in my Etsy shop! I already have apple pattern weights in my shop. Love them! They are so useful for us who sew with large patterns!
ReplyDelete