Use Pipe Cleaners to Clean Your Sewing Machine

You can probably guess from the name "pipe cleaners" that they are more than just a tool to do arts and crafts and that, at least at some point, they were used to clean things (probably pipes). It probably comes as no surprise then that they can also be the perfect tool to clean your sewing machine. The sewing machine has so many little nooks and crannies that can be hard to reach and a pipe cleaner can help you to reach them.

The bobbin case especially can be a very difficult piece of the machine to clean...and yet it is one of the most important to keep clean. Pipe cleaners to the rescue!

Never Underestimate the Power of Stay Stitching

Sewing can be a very time consuming hobby. It isn't something that you can usually whip up in just a day or so and it often takes a few days or even weeks to complete a project. The length of time that it takes to complete the project is also directly correlated to how much effort you want to put into it. If you are looking for a very professional result, one of the best tips is to not forget about how powerful stay stitching can be.

Stay stitching does take a little bit of extra time but it can be so helpful to make the piece have a professional end result, especially around tricky curves.

Pin Your Pins Perpendicularly to Save Your Machine Needle

Pinning takes up a pretty big portion of the time that you spend sewing. Not all of the work is right on the machine and so much of it is actually in the world of pinning. It seems sometimes that you are endlessly pinning and unpinning. An easy way to help with the time that is taken in pinning and unpinning is to place your pins perpendicularly when you put pieces together.

This helps because you don't have to remove all the pins while you are sewing and don't have to worry about them breaking the needle on your machine.

Tie Your Scissors to One Place

There is a battle between pins and scissors in the world of sewing when it comes to which one is more essential and is used more often. At the end of the day, both of them are extremely important and you probably wouldn't be able to complete any project without both of them. It can be frustrating sometimes when you are in the middle of a project and suddenly lose your scissors.

A simple solution to help with this is to tie the scissors to the sewing table or the machine itself with a long string so that you can still use them and don't have to worry about losing them.

Use Steel Wool to Sharpen Your Needles

It has already been discussed that having sharp scissors is one of the most important things that you can do to make your sewing life a bit easier. Maybe the second most important thing to do is to have sharp needles. Sharpening a needle is a bit less common of a task than sharpening scissors, however, so in case you weren't sure how to do it, all you need is a little steel wool.

With the help of steel wool you can make sure that your needles are kept sharp and ready to use. This will also help to make sure that your fabric doesn't get snagged in the sewing process.

Keep All Your Pins Together With a Magnet

In case you haven't noticed the theme yet, pins are (as you probably know) a very important part of sewing. And they are also one of the most annoying and frustrating things to deal with while sewing as they are hard to keep all in one place. A very easy solution for this is to simply use a magnet. Since pins are made out of metal, this will keep them all together easily.

You can buy pin containers that are metal so that you don't have to worry about them falling everywhere. It also makes picking up any stragglers very easy!

Recycle Old Blankets as Batting

There is nothing better than recycling old materials and finding a way to repurpose them. After all, you may still love the product or the piece and would love to make something out of it without just throwing it away. If you have old blankets that are past their prime, don't throw them away! They can be used as batting for future projects and you'll save some money at the same time.

Batting usually isn't that cheap, so this is a perfect way to save the globe and also save a little bit of money. Recylce a little bit and find a great new purpose.