Unusual Tools and Tips You Use
From BuzzWiki
Just to get the mail flowing and get you guys thinking, what do you use or have in your sewing room or studio that was made for something entirely different than what you're using it for?? Here are some great suggestions from our members.
Toilet bowl sweeper?
For example..(and what got me asking the question).... DS came out in my studio and wanted to know why I had a toilet bowl brush sitting on the floor next to my sewing machine. (It's always great when you make teenagers look at you like your crazy and wonder for a minute if you've lost your mind). I explained to him, I use it to sweep across the floor and pick up threads and small pieces of fabric that have fallen. And yes, I explained, it was a clean, never been used toilet bowl brush.
Sally (thanks for the great thread Sally!)
Utility bins
I just bought a big set of shelves with utility bins at Sam's Club. They look like they were designed to hold nut, bolts, car parts, etc. I have them in my sewing room for things like my glue gun, cards of buttons, office supply kinds of things (calculator, scrap paper, etc), small UFOs, yarn,etc. My cutting table is a banquet table from Staples that's up on risers intended for beds. I'm lucky enough that the shelves for the bins can be assembled as two shorter units so they fit right under my cutting table! I'm so pleased and, for now, my sewing room is so neat and clean!I also use the small keychain flashlights when I need to see into the
bobbin area of my HandiQuilter (or any other small, dark place).
Margaret U.
Raised banquet tables, storage bins, and wrapping paper rolls
I have two banquet tables from Sam's Club that are up on PVC piping so they're perfect height for cutting, etc. I have two storage bins (one is wire meant for the kitchen with 6 drawers; the other is four drawers meant for the bathroom) those are chock full of fabric or "stuff". I use left over wrapping paper rolls for rolling up my
seasonal quilts.
Margee in Ocala
Shop vac's take a lickin'
The DH's old shop vac, because I wore out the gears on the beater bar on my upright vac from thread tangling and making it seize up. He graciously gave me a shop vac for upstairs (so he could buy a new one) but how could a woman with two Berninas argue with that?
Joanne
Ruler storage, fabric markers
You can get letter sorter/storer - the kind with two or three slots for mail - I use mine to keep the rulers that don't seem to fit anywhere else. It sits up on a shelf and the rulers stand on edge and don't take up much room. There is also a marking tool used by plumbers to mark pipes that is wonderful for marking dark fabric and it brushes off but not as easily as chalk so the lines stay on a little longer.
Margaret in Reno
Kitchen island is right for cutting
I'd have to say my cutting table - which by other names is also called a 'kitchen island'. I love the counter height cutting table and the tons of storage that I have with the cabinets used to make the island. And it is not permanently put together so it will go with me whenever I move again.
Moira
Electric cord ties from elastic hair ties
I use those covered elastic hair ties with big balls on them to tie up my cords all over the house--my extra irons--hair dryer--myriad of computer cords under my desk, etc.etc.
Ellen in FL
Painter's tape as a marker
The only thing I can think of right now is painters tape. I use it often when I'm working on a quilt and I know I need to come back to that area and rework something. Pins didn't work, I could never find them. Bright painters tape has worked great for me.
Ruth in Reno
Bingo wand needle collector
I have a lot of things from other than sewing stores, but I think the oddest is the bingo wand I have for collecting pins that drop on the floor.
Jackey in MO What's a "bingo wand?" - --ctgreybeard 21:56, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
Kelly clamp, freezer paper, carpenter squares
I use a kelly clamp,the kind of clamp used in hospitals with handles like scissors , to pull needles thru tough spots . Also makes a good tool to clean the threads out of the castors on my chairs. The trusty roll of freeser paper is a staple in my sewing room as it is ,I'm sure in lots of your's. I also have a square /ruler from my DH woodshop .
Ruth
Machine tilt with door stops, computer desk as sewing desk
I have two rubber door stops that I put under the edge of the back on my sewing machine to tilt the machine slightly. It is less stress on my shoulders that way.
My favorite thing is that I use an old computer desk for my sewing machine table. It has shelves for books, space for my small plastic drawers where I keep my sewing machine feet and various other notions handy. The best part is I use the key board sliding tray as a place to lay out my blocks and block pieces that I am sewing together. I slide it out and get what I need, slide it back in so I can get closer to the machine and I sew away.
Debbie Chitty
Pipe cleaners
I use a lot of pipe cleaners. I use the pipe cleaners to keep bobbins and matching spools of thread together. That's different, right?
-Laura
Clothes hanger storage
I use clothes hangers with wrapping paper tubes to hang large pieces of fabric. I usually tie 2 plastic hangers together then break the bottom rung and slip heavy cardboard tubes on, cover with fabric tucked in the ends and glued inside. The tubes roll but also keep fabric or backings from setting the folds. Easy to see what large pieces I have when hanging in the closet.
Paula
Pants hanger storage
I put large pieces on pant hangers, the kind that hold three pair. It just slides over the "hanger".
Jean
Clothes pins keep small things together, toy magnets
Great idea for a new thread! I don't have anything very unusual to report. There are some plastic clothespins that I use to keep small pieces together. There is a magnet in a little red stick that was part of a game the children had...Doodle Bug, I think. That is handy for finding pins in the gray/blue carpet.
Mary in MA
Shoe bag hanging storage, upright file for CDs, shoe boxes
I have a shoe bag hanging on the back of the door in my studio. I keep the pockets filled with marking tools, glue sticks, plastic bags, embellishment stuff, other small bits of things, and chocolate! With the door wide open most of the time, DH has never found the chocolate. I also use a desk top upright file holder for the cds of my embroidery designs. I have shoe boxes for the strips Bonnie Hunter style. Laptop, printer, and stereo all help with inspiration!
Peggi
Lint brush pick-me-up, Amish baskets
I have been trying to think of something that I use and can only come up with my lint brush and the many baskets I have. When I visit my parents I always buy baskets from the Amish folk, and have them all over the room and use them to store stuff in. As for the lint brush - I use one of those rolling tape lint brush things for picking up threads, picking up tiny threads when I am "unsewing" and picking up pins. I just love them and always have to have one.
Laura
Portable light as "underneath" light
Well, a light is almost always used for light, I guess, but I saw a friend of mine using one this way and adopted her idea for my own use. My machine has a clear "surround" in its cabinet with a few inches of space under it. I got one of those battery powered tap-on lights and set it under there for help when doing paper-piecing. Also works well to set under my portable machine table for use as a light box.
Heather
Sewing room? Whole house is sewing room!
Sewing room? Some of you have rooms? I have two tall tables I got at IKEA that stand behind the couch in the living room that I store fabric under, and cut and iron on top of. Then I have a table in the other corner of the living room with my sewing machines and lights on them with a small bit of storage underneath. I have a small plastic bin of fabric next to the table. This table is also near the entrance to the kitchen so I can watch my cooking while I sew. The rest of my fabric is in the garage and some of my works in progress are in a closet in my bed room which is on the same level as the living room and kitchen. The kids bedrooms another living room and the laundry room are downstairs. Right now I have about 10 different pieces of fabric to make dresses out lining the wall on lined up chairs.
Monique in AZ
Another magnet/lint roller/clamp/shop vac Happy Quilter!
I use a magnetic metal bowl from Harbor Freight and a telescoping magnet tool to hold pins and pick any spilled pins up quickly. I use a rinse off and use again lint roller that has an extension handle for the threads. I use a shower curtain ring to hang quilting stencils and rulers. I have several pairs of medical clamps to use to pull thread snippings that are forever getting trapped in my office chair casters. Also have a 2 gallon shop vac that I love!
Jody
Foam pipe insulation for rolled storage
Today I decided I would roll - not fold - some of the wall hangings I've made lately because they do not fold well. I saw someplace that those long foam tube things for kids to play with in the pool were good for that but summer is over - I guess - as I could find none so my DH took me to Home Depot and got me some of the foam pipe insulating tubes. They work like a dream. First I cover them with muslin, roll on the quilt, then cover with muslin and label. No more fold creases.
Margaret in Reno
Major workstation built from dressers and enhanced
In my sewing room, I bought to large long dressers at garage sales. Took off the mirrors, put them back to back, up on concrete blocks to my elbow height. Then used a piece of plywood 4'x6'- cut it in half, covered one side with ironing board padding and fabric and put formica on the other side where my cutting mat is. When I need it total it is
all together on top of the dressers. The drawers in the dressers and the space underneath are all great for storage.
I used 2 25 pair shoe holders like you can buy at Target every once in a while. They are white, wood. I stacked them on top of each other and now have rows 5 spaces across, each row a different color,8 colors with black and white also there. Great for fats and smaller,
easy to see.
Beth
