What are your favorite Notions to use with your projects? Rotary cutter, rulers, mats, needle threaders, etc. Would love to know about the many notions in use.

i use the follow that you mentioned

Rotary cutter, rulers, mats

and to this i would add

a seam ripper and crane scissors


everything else i can do without

Seems like it is always the seam ripper I am going to!!

I like olfa cutters with the green cutting mats.I use Omnigrid rulers,Add a 1/4 inch ruler,Coats&Clark thread.I'm getting tired of that thread.But for a long time that's all you could get.Same oh same oh.

scissors, seam ripper. tape measure

adding to the list clover needle threader, Fons & Porter stilleto and good Gingers snips.

June Tailor paper for paper piecing that disolves in water. I also love the Harbor Freight rotary blades for $1.00 each. It isn't really a notion, but I love Pandora.com on my laptop for non-stop music when I quilt.

thread snips- I have 3 or 4 of them scattered all over.

I use most of the ones mentioned and Clover leather thimble, Roxanne 11 hand quilting needles.

Coming from an industrial sewing environment, I would eliminate seam rippers and include a few pairs of "snips" or "nips". I use blue painters tape wrapped around my rulers so that I don't have to buy multiple sizes. I buy my rotary cutter blades at Harbor Freight when they are on sale. 10 or so years ago I bought a manual blade sharpener for around $15.00. It has more than paid for itself. I would not hesitate to buy this as a gift for a quilting friend. I own a pair of Ginghers, but my Fiskars cut better. I owned at one time a Rowenta Iron that I spent over $100.00 for, but I love my Sunbeam yard sale find that I got for two or three clams. This might sound crazy, but there is nothing that I own that can not be replaced. (Unless it will come over and wash the dishes.)

My magnetic pin cushions!

love my purple thang!

I love my retractible 120" measuring tape, my 8 1/2" square ruler, my Purple Thang, and O'Lipfa rulers with the lip to grip my cutting mat. I also like my Olfa 17" square revolving mat for trimming blocks and my long thin Clover flower pins. I've always liked gadgets.

This is what I have and I need it all. I don't have anything I could do without.

Cutting mat and rotary cutter
6x24 ruler
12.5x12.5 ruler
tape measure
safety pins
pins
tomato pin cushion
scissors
sewing needles - betweens, sharps, embroidery
needle threader
beeswax
rubber needle grabber
seam ripper
water soluble marking pens
thimble

rotary cutters, scissors, rulers, seam ripper, lint brush, purple thang

Amen, sister!! :)

Rotary cutters (x4), scissors (too many to count), cutting mats (x5), marking chalk / pens, rulers, rulers, and more rulers, and templates.


Whats the "purple thang"?

My "always handy" items:

Thread snips - 3 of them. One at the machine, one at the ironing board, one on my cutting table. All three are different. A crane, ginghers, and a tweezer type.

4 1/2 square ruler - use it for squaring up, finding a straight edge, measuring - lots of stuff and it's handy.

Regular lead pencil - I'm always jotting notes and doing math.

then the usual as needed items - rotary cutter, cutting mat, iron, pins, and various rulers.

I have lots of specialty notions that some may think are a waste of money to have. If I use one once for a project and it saves me time I think it's worth having. Right now my favorite item to use is my Go die cut machine. I use it much more then my rotary cutter.

June Taylor ruler to cut all my strips...can not live without it.

It pushes, pokes, pulls, fudges, turns, stuffs. It makes its own uses! Great for turning appliques, tubes and more. You can thread a ribbon through the slot to pull through a casing or wear around your neck. Made of heavy purple plastic.

http://www.everythingquilts.com/brow...hang-Tool.html

add to the main supplies;
my sprial bound graph paper; long orange strips for the underside of my ruler,
rotating 12 inch mat, and I could not do without my 120 inch yellow tape measure.

Rotary cutter, 6"x24" ruler, and seam ripper

what's a purple thang ?

June tailors rulers for fabric cutting. Fabulous.

I admit I was sceptical about how useful the Purple Thang could be. My daughter got me one for Christmas and it is really the handiest little thing. I use the regular tools, rotary cutter, olfa matt, omnigrid rulers, scissors and snips, flat flowerhead pins and lately my fons and porter chalk pump marking pencil and my Frixion pen. I also have a peg board full of once in a while tools that are great for specific jobs.

I use blue painters tape wrapped around my rulers so that I don't have to buy multiple sizes.

Love this hint.
Robin in TX

All of the above but really can't do without my snips that slide on my ring finger and magnetic pin dishes. Have several of each.

I just got the Angler 2 from Pam Bono. I used it to make my binding and I can't bellieve how much faster it was. I love it.
Mary in TX

I would love to find one of the Fiskars rotary cutting rulers that Eleanor Burns uses, until I get my hands on one of those, my June Tailor Strip cutter thing, templates, rotary cutters, cutting mat are on the cutting table. When I sit down to sew; a comfortable chair at the right height is vital, sewing machine that's functioning well, pins, threadcatcher/pincushion, Clover awl and seam ripper. One of the most important things for me is to have an iron and a small ironing mat on a small table to my right while I'm sewing so all I have to do is swivel my chair and press the seams, I also have a small rotating cutting mat and a rotary cutter beside the ironing pad. I also use a Clover double-ended needle threader a lot. Forgot one of the most used items, I use Gingher snips constantly when I sew, I have a pair at the machine and another in my sewing box for when I'm embroidering.

I love, love, love my pin cushion with the velcro strap that fastens around my wrist.
Also, stiletto, small curved scissors, and Clover brown seam ripper.
Roller tape to pick up tiny loose threads. But, the wrist pin cushion with the velcro cloth strap is my baby.So handy and comfy.

Small Gingher scissors for ripping seams, OmniGrid ruler, my dry iron from Vermont Country Store, Guterman's thread in 1000 yd spools (thank goodness!), a little wood pressing tool for flattening small seams, culd not do without my 30" x 36" cutting grid which now sadly needs replacing, rotary cutter (yay Harbor Freight!), marking pens in various colors.

Whats needed are lower prices! Rotary cutting blades cost the earth if you can't get them from Harbor Freight, ditto for OmniGrids and cutting mats. I am guessing that the market is small so the manufacturers have to price high, but for quilters just starting out, its a really expensive hobby. Also things like charm packs and jelly rolls - yes its great to have precut strips but really - $30+ for a jelly roll? Fabric by the yard is certainly cheaper also even fabric is getting pricey.

I have most things mentioned but really I couldn't sew without my bendy bright light (best $50 investment ever!) and my 1/4 inch foot. And if sewing curves on drunkards patch, 1/4 inch double sided tape that washes out is really useful. I probably wouldn't have tried curves without learning that technique.

I really do like the tool for a "perfect binding miter" and

also Fons & Porter's binding tool. This gives such a nice flat joining of the binding ends, that one wouldn't know where it begins and where it ends.

andddddddddd, with arthritis knees and the dropping of pins, the magnetic extension "picker-upper" is a must !!!!!

Pin cushions in every room.

Machinger gloves,teflon slider,Ott lite,and all the info from this board.

I'm not understanding how you use the tape in a way that would limit the number of rulers you need. Am I the only one who hasn't the imagination to understand? Duh!

I have something to add. How about reading classes? I have to have at least two pairs, one for regular sewing and one for close up. :D

Johanna

I'm not understanding how you use the tape in a way that would limit the number of rulers you need. Am I the only one who hasn't the imagination to understand? Duh!