May Martin’s Sewing Bible: 40 years of tips and tricks. May Martin
Expanding gauge – excellent for spacing buttonholes, pleats and more
19. Button press
20. Button for covering
21. Fabric rubber
22. Fabric glue
23. Tape and binding makers. These are handy gadgets and come in different sizes; the fabric is threaded through and the edges are rolled under to form bias or straight binding.
24. Beeswax – before doing any hand sewing, run the thread through the wax; this will prevent it from tangling and will make it stronger.
25. Rotary cutter – this is a specialist cutter with a rotary blade that can cut through several layers of fabric at once. Use only with its special mat and ruler. Very useful for cutting parallel trims, bias strips, pieces for patchwork and much more.
26. Cutting mat
27. Chisel and block to cut buttonholes
28. Hole reinforcements
29. Weights
Essential Tools 2
Useful Additions to your Kit
The following items, while not essential, can come in very handy for different projects:
Bodkin –for pulling elastic through a casing.
Bridal and lace pins – finer pins for using with delicate fabrics and projects such as wedding dresses.
Sewing gauge – great for spacing buttons and buttonholes without measuring.
Flexible curve ruler – very useful for marking curves (such as for the Man’s Apron).
Rotary cutter – especially useful for quilting, but great for cutting any straight edge with the aid of a ruler and cutting mat.
Craft hole punch – for making holes in leather and card.
Bias binding and tape maker – these come in different sizes and are really useful for making straight or bias tape.
Beeswax – waxing thread prevents tangling.
Fabric eraser – for rubbing out marks on cloth.
Sewing Machine
It goes without say that, for most sewing projects, a sewing machine is vital, and I’ve devoted a whole section to it – see here.
Overlocker
An overlocker is a much more specialised piece of equipment, but it creates a really professional finish to garments – see here for further details.
Iron & Ironing Board
An iron and ironing board are needed at every stage of a sewing project, so it’s a good idea to set them up in a convenient location before you start. The ironing board comes in handy as an extra work surface, too. Put two ironing boards together with a board on the top and you have an adjustable-height work surface!
Other useful pressing aids are:
A seam roll – this is a padded tube, great for pressing seams inside sleeves and trouser. The roll holds the seam edges away when pressing so the indents don’t occur. For a bargain alternative, go to your local fabric shop and pick up a tube from the middle of a roll of fabric. Wrap it in a thin towel – and hey presto, you have a seam roll! The longer length of this tube is excellent for pressing long seams such as the table runner. You could even use a tube of cardboard from inside a roll of kitchen paper or plastic food wrap.
Sleeve boards – a sleeve board is like a mini ironing board on legs – it stands on your ironing board and is great for pressing tubes such as sleeves and trouser seams. They are also useful when pressing children’s clothes, which have small, fiddly seams and shaping.
Brown paper, printer paper, sugar paper – cut into strips and position under your seam allowances to prevent them from imprinting on the right side of the garment.
Tailor’s ham – really useful for pressing darts, panels and shaping, as they mimic the contour of the body.
Needleboard: These are boards with rows of needles that stand up and position themselves in the pile of the fabric, preventing flattening of the pile. They are great for pressing fabrics with a pile. For an effective alternative, place a spare piece of the fabric pile side up on the ironing board, then put your garment pile side down on top and press.
Pressing cloth – a pressing cloth is a fine piece of muslin that you lay on top of your fabric. When dry, it protects the fabric while you iron; when dampened, it aids pressing and shrinking.
Pressing mat – a portable padded mat that can be placed to protect and pad any work surface so that you can press anywhere.
Tailor’s Dummy
While not essential, tailor’s dummies are a great tool for working on and fitting a garment – particularly for checking the back view or if you’re making an item of clothing for someone else. I had my first tailor’s dummy 40 years ago. A friend of my mum’s gave her to me and I called her Gladys. She travelled with us from house to house until eventually she rusted and fell apart. A couple of years ago, I decided to replace her; I assembled the new mannequin in my studio and started to customise her to my shape. As I worked, I chatted to her. My husband could hear me talking and asked if I had a visitor!
Tailor’s dummies come in different sizes and are adjustable. When choosing one to buy, it’s best to go for a model that is either exactly your size or slightly smaller as you can add layers, as I’ll explain here. My weight fluctuates and it is marvellous to be able to peel off a layer from my dummy when I lose a few pounds!
Customising a Tailor’s Dummy
Tailor’s dummies are made up of expandable sections with adjustment wheels that can be operated to increase or decrease the gaps between the sections and hence the overall size. Dummies come classically proportioned, too, so may need some adjustment – mine certainly did! For the best results, it’s a good idea to customise the dummy to fit you exactly. As well as adjusting the individual sections of the dummy, I use padding to create a more lifelike outline.
1. First take your measurements – chest, waist and hips – then adjust the wheels on the expandable sections until they are as near as possible to your size.