5 DIY tips to improve your sewing space
Sewing is a hobby that can get pretty expensive: a good sewing machine, quality scissors, all those fancy fabrics...
Finding ways to cut costs while improving your workspace, with a few little DIY tricks, can be a total game changer. Here are five super easy accessories to make to keep you company at your sewing machine.
1- To gather your pins
If you pin your pieces before sewing them, you know you have to remove the pins as you go (to make sure your machine needle doesn't hit one and get damaged).
You probably have a dish to hold your pins. But if you're like me, that dish doesn't necessarily follow you around your workshop. I cut my pieces. I pin my stuff. Then I move over to my sewing machine to put it all together. Except my pin bucket stays on my cutting table. So… as I remove my pins while sewing, I've got nowhere to put them and they end up scattered around my machine, rolling on the floor, and making a bit of a mess.
My solution: a magnet on my machine
You can simply stick a magnet (or 2 or 3, depending on the size of the magnets) onto the base of your machine, using hockey tape. You can honestly use whatever tape you want, but hockey tape sticks really well and stretches nicely around the magnets.
It's super simple, but it really does the job.
The only thing you need to be careful about is not placing your magnets too close to the electronic section of your machine (to avoid affecting the circuits).
2- To get a good guide
Your machine probably has lines near the presser foot to guide your seam allowance. But sometimes you might need to sew a seam farther from the edge (like for a hem, for example). In that case, you don't have much of a guide.
There are a few gadgets out there depending on your sewing machine's brand… I've seen little magnetic blocks (which work well especially on industrial machines) or rod-like attachments that clip onto the foot.
But I don't have any of that, and I manage just fine.
I've got a simple little solution: masking tape.
Ideally, you want colored masking tape (like green or blue), so you can clearly see your guide. It's the ideal tape because it sticks and unsticks super easily. That makes it great for a temporary guide.
3- To get a guide that holds up to thick layers
Along the same lines as the tape guide, you can make yourself a guide out of cardboard.
Have you noticed that when you're sewing through several layers (or fluffy fabrics), you sometimes lose sight of the little guide lines near your presser foot (probably because the fabrics don't always line up perfectly)?
My solution: a little cardboard guide to make guiding easier.
Here's my technique (suuuper simple!). You'll need a piece of cardboard (sturdy enough to hold its shape, but thin enough to fold easily)
- Cut yourself a 5cm square
- fold your cardboard in half
- fold it back 1cm from each edge of the center fold
- you can glue the center section to reinforce it
A little tip to make folding easier: score the fold line (with the back of an x-acto knife)
Now you can tape your guide onto your machine with masking tape. It'll hold your layers of fabric back and stay clearly visible even when you're working with a ton of thickness.
4- To stop losing your scissors
I own way too many scissors. And yet, I'm always looking for them…
Tell me if this sounds familiar:
You cut out your pieces. You sit down at your machine. Start sewing. And then, you need to snip something small… and no scissors in sight. Sure, you tell yourself it's no big deal to get up and grab them from your cutting table. That they're just right there. But it's still kind of annoying to always be hunting for them, right? Because we all know that once you're back at your cutting table, you'll be hunting for them all over again.
Personally, I've got a small pair of scissors dedicated to my machine. A little pair I only use for cutting threads, clipping fabric, that kind of thing. Those scissors are supposed to stay by my machine at all times… Well, you know what? I still lose them constantly.
So, I went with a more drastic solution.
My machine scissors are now on a leash.
Yep! They can't run off anymore. I tied them down with an elastic band. So they don't feel too cramped in their scissor freedom. But now, I never have to hunt for them.
5- For sewing leather and faux leather
Ever tried sewing faux leather with a standard sewing machine foot? The foot sticks to the material, nothing feeds through, and you start feeling like your machine has a grudge against you... That's because what you'd need is a Teflon foot. But… you might not have one.
No worries, I've got a solution for you!
The trick is to use Magic Scotch Tape.
And this part matters. We're talking specifically about Magic Scotch Tape. The one with the green packaging. The matte one with the soft texture.
Put some under your sewing machine foot. Make a hole where your needle passes through. And there you go. Your foot will glide over your faux leather just like it would on any other fabric.
This works well with leather, faux leather, super shiny vinyl, and anything with latex in it.
What's cool is that if your fabric also grips hard onto the machine bed, you can put some tape there too (yayy!).
And of course, it works on most feet. Because even if you already have a Teflon foot (or want one even though you know my great trick — no judgment here), there's a limit to how many specialized Teflon feet you're going to buy.
As a bonus, here are a few more DIY ideas for your workshop
To hold your large thread spools
Big thread cones are really handy. They're cheaper in the long run, and you don't need to change spools as often if you always work with the same color. The downside is, they don't sit very well on a standard sewing machine. If you just leave one on your table, it won't stay put.
A super simple way to deal with that: put your cone inside a tall glass.
It's not perfect. Sometimes the thread catches on the rim of the glass, but it'll keep your cone in place and it costs absolutely nothing.
To keep your pattern in place
When you're tracing your pattern onto your fabric, you need to keep the pieces firmly in place, right? If you're like me, you might use whatever's around as weights: your phone, your big sewing shears, etc. But that's not always ideal. Some items are too big for the smaller pattern pieces, and others you'll need for cutting (it's all well and good to weigh down a pattern with your scissors... until you actually want to cut said pattern!).
Easy weights to keep your pattern pieces in place: giant washers.
You can easily find these at the hardware store. They're heavy, but pretty small. And the hole in the middle lets me store them easily on my pegboard. They're not the cutest weights ever made, but they really do the job, and they don't take up any space in your workshop.
To keep your pins within reach
I mentioned earlier my trick for gathering pins near my sewing machine. But maybe you're the type who wants your pins within reach AT ALL TIMES?
A good technique for easy access: a magnet attached to your wrist.
Find yourself a simple bracelet and attach magnets directly onto it. With that, you can be absolutely sure your pins will follow you EVERYWHERE.
The advantage of making your own sewing tools
For each of these solutions, there's a gadget you can buy in stores. Those gadgets might be more efficient, maybe even cuter, but they're also inevitably more expensive. Making your own tools lets you save a little... so you can buy more fabric instead? 😉
But that's not all! The advantage of making your own sewing tools is also being able to test how useful they actually are. Not every tool works for everyone. I've tried tons of things over the years, and I haven't kept them all. Some techniques just didn't work for me. And on my list here, some things might not work for you either. But by trying out a DIY trick, you're not investing much, you just test it and see if it's worth it.
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In the meantime,
Happy sewing! Happy crafting! 🤓✂🐙