 Hi you guys, Lindsay here. Welcome back to my channel, Inside the Hymn. So today we are talking tools. This video is kind of for the beginners that are participating in my sew along, but also for those of you that have been sewing for a very long time. Maybe you don't know about some of these newer products that are out. There's definitely a category where I feel like every sewist should own a tool within this category, but maybe you're not aware of some of the advances that those tools have made. So I'm going to be sharing with you tools today that are not just great tools in and of themselves for sewing, for example, scissors, but there's also scissors that just help you work smarter, help you work faster, help you work better, and help your projects turn out more professional and better and cleaner looking. The first thing I want to talk to you guys about are irons. And I have found an iron recently that is the smartest iron I've ever come across. And you might be thinking, what could be so smart about an iron? Auto shut off? Is that like the best thing we've got? This iron here is made by Oliso and it is designed to wear when you place it down on your ironing board. It has little feet that pop out of the bottom here and keep it prepped up an inch or so away from your ironing board so that you never ever have to turn it on its heel, which is just super cool and a lot of fun. But also it's very ergonomic because you're not doing this motion with your wrist over and over and over again and getting that fatigue in your wrist that you feel when you're lifting that. I mean irons, especially when you have all the water in there for the steam can be very heavy. So having a really great quality iron is awesome. The next thing we're going to talk about is a bunch of different cutting tools. And this is where I'm going to tell you that today's video is sponsored by Kai Scissors. Kai is a brand that I have been using personally for years. I actually purchased my first set of Kai Scissors maybe two, three years ago. They're the ones with the paint handles. You've probably seen me using them if you've been watching my videos for a long time. So I actually finally met Kai whenever Kai is not a person, but I met the representatives of Kai when I was at Sew Expo earlier this year and now we are working together so I can bring you guys a lot of information and a lot of education about their tools and also a coupon code. So be sure to check the description box. Actually check the description box whether you're into Kai or not because all the products that I'm mentioning today will be linked in the description box. And if I have a coupon code for them, which I believe I have for three of the categories, then that will be in the description box as well. And you can go check it out if you make a purchase, save a little bit of money, so on and so forth. So the description box is going to be your friend at the end of this video. Okay, so but back to Kai. So they make a lot of really great quality stuff that can also be interpreted as very expensive. But I feel like they have something for everyone in that if you don't want to spend $100 on a pair of scissors, you don't have to. They have like introductory level type stuff that pair of pink handled scissors that I bought. And it was something I felt like was worth investing in when I got to that certain point in my sewing and has served me very, very well. I still love those pink candled scissors. There's a set of two of them is what I got. But so here, so dressmaking shears is the next tool that I'm going to recommend to all of you a good quality pair of dressmaking shears. And I'm sure a lot of you have scissors that you have gotten and they've been very affordable. And if you're doing, you know, light sewing, you know, not doing it very often, those scissors are going to do you just fine. But if you are sewing every day, if you're doing a couple projects, a month or a quarter, if you are using heavy duty fabrics or very lightweight fabrics, a good quality pair of dressmaking shears is going to make your life so much easier. In fact, I would argue you probably don't even know how hard your life is right now because of your scissors, simply because you've never tried a really great pair of scissors before. But I'm telling you, when you get these, even before you put them through fabric, just doing this in your hand, how smooth it is how quiet it is and how it feels in your hand, you can instantly tell that you are dealing with really great scissors. The other part about having nice scissors that means a lot to me is that you were going to get a longer life out of these, you're going to be able to sharpen them and sharpen them to a degree so that they're similar to when you bought them. The cheaper pairs that you can get just what the blades are made from will never be able to sharpen. It's like a cheap pair of knives. You know, like the knives that you got when you got your first apartment versus the knives that you put on your wedding registry, you know what I mean? Like they are more expensive, but they probably lasted you a lot longer. And when you went to get them sharpened, you probably sharpened them to a place where they felt like new again. That's what good quality scissors are going to do too. It's the same principle, same concept. So like I said, Kai has a couple of different tiers. They have a 5000 series and then the 7000 series. These are the 7000 series. I will say they're worth every single penny, but I get that sometimes we just don't have those pennies to invest. So the pink pair that I have used for a long time are the 5000 series. And like I said, I have loved them. I can tell a difference between the 7000 and the 5000. Just want to put that out there, but they're all leaps and bounds beyond what I got when I first started sewing. Another option for those of you and for all of us are rotary cutters. So this is a rotary cutter by Kai. They have several different kinds of rotary cutters as well, some with a larger wheel. This is a 45 millimeter wheel. They have a 60 millimeter wheel and they also have one that has like a chunkier, more ergonomic handle. So if you need something that fills up your hand more, they have an option for that as well. I wanted to show you guys this one today because it has a really cool extra little function that is just really smart and kind of like the iron. It gives the rotary cutter a different purpose other than just cutting out along the pattern. You know what I mean? So you take this little thing, it's nothing super special, but it's a little piece of plastic with little notches all along this end and a ball on this end. You put it into this hole at whatever measurement you need. You lay the ball on a line that you've measured and you can cut out strips of bias tape or bias strips nice and even or regular strips nice and even. You could even, if you are like drafting your own pattern and you need to cut it at half an inch seam allowance, put this on the edge of your pattern piece and you cut out even half inch seam allowances all the way across. So it goes all the way down to, I guess that's like a quarter of an inch. So I just thought that was really smart and like I said, gives your rotary cutter kind of like a dual purpose. Yes, it will cut around anything you need to cut around, but also if you need it to have a pre-measured even amount of space, you can do that too. So I thought that was cool. So if you're into rotary cutters, check them out. Same concept with the blades here. Kai sells their own blades. So in the same vein of good quality scissors and good quality blade, this blade is going to be similar. It's going to last you longer. You have to replace it less often. And it's also going to do a better job, especially on those really lightweight fabrics that personally I love to use rotary cutters for the most. Okay, so rotary cutter is the third tool that I'm recommending. Next on the list, inevitably, we are going to need a seam ripper. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. So if you're going to have to rip something out, let's do it in a way that's not frustrating or irritating, right? Those little plastic ones that are like this big that maybe came with your sewing machine are great and they work really well for like 30 seconds and then they don't work well anymore. I ended up getting this one right when I started sewing and it served me very well. This is now dull and doesn't work anymore, but that took maybe five years for it to wear down. And trust me, in the beginning especially, I was using this puppy a lot. It's very ergonomic. It feels good in your hand and the end of it it's like an eraser and it erases the little itty bitty threads that are left over. Again, smart, thoughtful, lots of good ways to use this seam ripper. Basic, but better. If you want to try something new, these are like the hottest, coolest things to hit the sewing world lately. And if you saw, gosh, was it late last year maybe early this year? I talked to you guys about those like nose trimmers that you can use to cut your threads and your seams, but a lot of you commented, be careful, be careful. I cut into my fabric that way. These are actually designed to not cut into your fabric. If you can see, there are little there, that's better. There's little plastic things in between the blades that prevent it from cutting your fabric and only cutting the thread. Again, these are sold by Kai. They come in a variety of colors. They're very affordable. They aren't intended to last forever, like your scissors or your rotary cutter. You're intended to need to replace these. I mean, you can't really sharpen that. So buy a bunch of them, but these are the cool new things. Everyone's loving them. I personally really, really love them, especially if I'm ripping out like a straight seam or like, you know how I'm doing all of those refashions. This is great to get in and get them cut really easily. I don't have to be super precise with it. I really, really love this one. If I'm doing something that's a little bit more delicate and a little bit more precise, I will repurchase this and use something that I can control a little bit better. Okay, seam rippers. The next thing is thread snips. Now this is separate from your dressmaking shears, mostly because cutting threads is a very delicate and precise process that can result in you cutting your fabric if you're not careful. So you've just sewn a seam, you've just done some top stitching, whatever it is, and you've got some threads hanging out and you want to cut them. I recommend embroidery scissors. These are very, very small. I want to say they're four inches to tail. And if you notice the end of the blade is going up. It's like bent on the end. And that is so that whenever you are cutting your fabric, let's say this is it, and you go to cut the thread, the tip of the scissor is going to always turn up and never risk going into your fabric and cutting your fabric. So you can just cut away the thread like so and not have to worry about, I mean, you don't have to worry about it to a degree, but never cutting into your fabric if you're paying attention and trying not to. So I really love that if you do any other kind of thread art, whether it's hand embroidery or cross stitch or any of that kind of stuff, a good pair of embroidery scissors will be very nice to have in your toolbox. Again, these are made by Kai. So all the same stuff that I've been talking to you about about the quality of the the metal that is used to make the blades and how they can be resharpened and all that stuff still applies to even the little list of scissors, which is so nice. So a good pair of embroidery scissors for cutting your threads, I think is a tool everyone should have. So that covers all of our cutting tools. Next up, we have marking tools. And again, as I started sewing, I started collecting a bunch of different types of these. And over the years, I found that I like certain tools, certain marking tools for certain things. And so now I have a collection that I use depending on what I'm making. So you have your triangle chalk like this. I love this for marking heavyweight fabrics. If I'm making a bag, jeans, or denim jacket or something like that, I love using this as my marking tool, even marking the pattern pieces before I cut them out. Because I like to use scissors on heavyweight fabrics and not a rotary cutter. It's nice to have it already drawn on to your fabric so you can cut it out more accurately. Next up is a fine point like pen. That's really helpful, but it does snag on lightweight fabrics. So if I'm working with anything that is medium weight, I will use this. The one I use the most often is this one here. And it's basically a tube filled with yellow chalk. And then on the end, it has like a little rotary. And then you draw it like so, and it leaves a yellow chalk mark behind. Can you all see that on my hand? It's very precise, very even. This is the one that I just end up grabbing the most often. It works well on heavyweight fabrics and lightweight fabrics. The only issue I have with it is that it's yellow and yellow doesn't always show up on every single color fabric. That's it. So I ended up picking another one. Don't just settle for one product to cover all your projects. You'll inevitably want something different, a different type of marking tool for different types of projects. So I'm the same kind he said for our last and final category today. And that is rulers. So I have come, I have amassed more rulers than one person should know what to do with. But that's mostly because I didn't really know. I thought I knew why I wanted certain rulers. And then I realized I didn't really need that kind of ruler. I was just trying to solve a need. And there are certain rulers out there that solve multiple needs at once, bang for the buck, that I end up just grabbing more often than the other. Typically, if something has one singular use, I'm annoyed. You know what I mean? Like I needed to have multiple functions, especially in a sewing room, when we have so many tools and trinkets as it is. I don't need to junk up my area with something that literally does one thing. Like that's annoying to me. So the types of rulers that I love are, oh god, where do I start? So like a little small ruler like this is really, really nice to either measure seam allowance. This one's super smart because the width here between my fingers is five eighths of an inch. So developed by a sewist, four sewists, they know what we want and we need. But if you need a three eighths or a quarter, those are marked as well. It's also see-through and it's a great bright green color. So it stands out and doesn't blend in. And it's cute with all those little hearts. So I reach for this guy a lot to either measure or to add seam allowance to something small like a shoulder seam, or like a crotch seam or something like that, like crotch this way. Oh, the other ruler that I love is something like this called a curve ruler. It does have one flat area that's basically this cut down. Again, the width of this between my fingers all the way around is five eighths of an inch. So if you're using it to add seam allowances, this is your friend because you can add them on a straight line or you can add them on a variety of different curves, tighter curves, wider curves, so on and so forth. So this one is really great. Again, you do have your eighth, one eighth inch marks marked all the way around. And yeah, I mean I use this to like true up seams. I use this to add seam allowances, take away seam allowances. If I were going to, you know, if I wanted to raise this neckline, for example, which I actually might do, I would, you know, draw a line up to here and then I would need to smooth out this curve. I would use this, not on my body, of course, on the pattern piece, but I would use this to find the right curve to smooth that line out. So a curve ruler is the second kind of ruler that I love. And then there's also this ruler that's called a curve runner. And this measures on this measures curves. So if you are measuring this line again, not on my body on a pattern piece, you can measure this on this curve ruler instead of trying to take a straight ruler and measure like this little bit, this little bit, this little bit and adding them all up and hoping that you're getting an accurate measurement. This will allow you to measure on a curve really easily. So necklines, arm lines, if you're trying to add a sleeve and you want to see it, the sleeve is going to fit into the arm side, you can use this guy. Crotches, the crotch depth and length and all of that. This is great for all of those things. I love these guys. And then finally I have a nice big giant clear ruler. And this is so that I can measure grain lines. So I can make sure my grain line is even all along the pattern piece. This one is 24 inches long, meaning if you have 54, 60 inch fabric folded in half, like most of the time we do, this is going to reach halfway across that. So if you're measuring from the fold or the selvage, you're inevitably able to reach your grain line without having to like butt up two rulers together. For example, been there, done that. So grab a really long clear ruler. They have something longer than this, but they get more expensive the bigger that they get. So feel free to get a bigger one, but I think this does just fine for me. So yeah, so those are the tools, at least the categories and then subcategories within those for some of them that I feel like every sewage should own. But let me know, do you have any categories you think, any tools that you think everybody should have in their toolbox? If so, leave them in the comments below. Otherwise, don't forget to check out the description box for discount coupon codes on the iron, on the cutting tools, and on a few of the rulers that I mentioned. And let me know if you get any this stuff and what you think. And if you like it, I truly, truly love everything that I've mentioned to you guys today. And it's stuff that I use all the time. So if you have any questions about any of it as well, feel free to ask that too. So I hope you enjoyed today's video and I will see you all very soon. Bye.