Have you ever caught yourself admiring your favourite artists work and wondering what tools they used to achieve a particular finished piece of work? Ever zoom in on their creations checking out certain sewn seams or details? Thankfully you are not alone!
Today I am taking a moment to tell you all about my favourite tools to sew and create with! The "MUST" haves that I cannot live without in my plush making hobby and without these particular items I would feel lost and unable to create. Everything in the above photo I will quickly be touching on today including ALLLLL those scissors. I literally have a "do not touch" pile of these exact scissors that everyone in my household knows are off limits. Why? Because they all have their own purpose and each one is good at it! Where possible I also will explain where I purchased them from too!
So let's dive in!
Pins Vs. Clips
Starting off on the basic of basics - let us discuss pins OR clips? And why I love both! Yup, that's right, both pins AND clips hold a special place in my heart for my sewing career. Usually people who sew only with minky fabric will now be thinking "no way would I use clips on minky". Well let me explain and back up a little bit including there differences and uses first.
Sewing Pins are the most universally known item with any sewer across the globe no doubt. They come in longer lengths, shorter lengths, sharp ends, blunt ends, glass heads, plastic heads, no head at all, thicker and thinner pins. You name it and there is a pin designed out there for any fabric base to suit any needs. They also are super cheap and easily replaceable at local stores such as Walmart or even the dollar store! I personally use pins the most for sewing with minky specifically with my plushies. The most common knowledge with any minky sewer is this: minky slides and slips. The pins help this by forcing the minky the stay in place! As for what pins I personally prefer - just the cheap ones from Walmart! I take the risk and sew over my pins while plush making (Yes, I am aware this is not good for your machine) and sometimes my needles do strike them. The cheaper pins are easy to throw away and replace because of this. In my personal plush making experience sewing over the pins for me creates a nice seam with little to no minky slipping/bunching under the presser foot.
Now comes the question "why clips then?" I used to sew clothing back in the day prior to creating plushies and found a love for these adorable little clips called Wonder Clips. Now mind you with sewing clothes you use knit fabrics usually (or I did anyways for hoodies and such) and serged the edges. The clips worked wonders keeping everything in place! How do clips now translate over into plush making? They do for bulky or thick seams only! Sometimes trying to pin bulkier seams just does not work well. In fact I have discovered it is better to "baste" the thicker seam/area first using wonder clips to secure and removing them as you sew. Then go back across the basting stitches with a regular stitch length for strength thus not needing any pins/clips for that particular area. I also enjoy using clips when making bookbags that involve a stiffer base in between the fabrics. Regardless they are something I use sparingly but still enjoy even with plush making!
Pens
A question I see a lot circulating around is this: "What do you use to trace your pattern pieces onto fabric?" For me I use something very specific known as a friction pen! Throughout the years I have trialed many different items for tracing around my plush pattern templates and the friction pen works best for me but won't be for everyone. Let me explain :)
First of all, what even are Friction pens? These pens are something very nifty that I adore so so much and save me a lot of worry. Friction pens are basically erasable pens with any form of heat! They can be very magical for a multitude of plush making reasons such as: 1) eliminating the risk of darkened areas peaking out around sewn seams on plushies, 2) make a mistake while tracing a pattern template piece? Just hold a hot iron overtop of the fabric for a second to make it disappear, 3) they glide really well on back side of minky due to minky's flat backing, 4) the ink is a light charcoal grey color and 5) the ink lasts a long time in these pens! Literally months and months!
The reason why I say Friction pens won't be for everyone is because like anything it does have its drawbacks such as: 1) You cannot see the ink on dark fabric colors, 2) these pens likely will not pair well with fleece since the pen would just sink into the fleece while tracing pattern pieces, 3) you cannot leave your pattern pieces in any area where they will get hot after traced and cut out. The heat of just the sun on the items will make the ink disappear if they are sitting on your sewing table!
So like anything it has it's pros and cons. I personally only use lighter color fabrics so these work great for me! However, it doesn't hurt to have a fine black sharpie on hand for darker fabrics AND a metallic silver sharpie for black fabric ;)
Poking Sticks
Everybody HAS to have some sort of stuffing tool right? Sure I enjoy using my hands/fingers where able but having an extended version is THE BEST. Not only does it save my fingers but it allows me to stuff smaller pieces/places and pack more stuffing in if needed. My ride or die tool is definitely my hemostats! They are basically like extended fingers with the grip of god lol I mean when you clamp them shut they are not budging! Which is great for turning plush pieces right side out ;) as well as stuffing/poking! I prefer the ones with the longer neck to them personally. Thankfully amazon has these in a multitude of sizes!
My second tool that is so random but one I use A LOT is a small flat headed screwdriver. Some plush artists I suppose might use a chop stick? Which also can work well but I love the nature of this smaller screw driver. Overtime a chop stick can weaken and break where as a mini flat head screw driver will last you a long time! I use it a lot as a literal poking stick and ream it in and out of the stuffing to move it more densely into areas that may need more stuffing/heft. Definitely an underrated plush tool! Mine came from a small snap set since I often use snaps over Velcro for clothing item pieces for my plushies. I believe though there is actual stuffing sticks made for stuffing plushies too!
Slicker Brush
Another finishing tool that is a must have for me in my plush making hobby is a pet wire slicker brush! I bought a small one from Walmart and use it solely for crafting purposes obviously. I like clean looking plushies once finished and thus I pick the minky out of the seams! Each and every seam gets a going over with either a needle or my wire slicker brush. It truly makes your projects appear higher quality by completing this small detail! It also adds that extra "soft factor" to your minky plushies by making them appear even smoother and softer. The best way I can explain doing this is to use the pet slicker to go against the fur nap upwards - kinda aggressively and then brush the fur in the proper direction downwards. I do this only over the sewn seams. Then brush with my fingers in the direction of the fur to eliminate any separated minky fur fibres from the wires on the brush. Here is a photo below of how this makes a difference! I swear by this small detail upping the quality of your finished work :)
Scissors
The last ride or die item on my must have plush making list is MANY, MANY, MANY scissors! Scissors that are each different and fit your different needs :) Make sure to hide these scissors from your whole family as they will misuse them I can assure you and likely ruin them. The first two scissor types I'll just touch on briefly first: 1) regular craft scissors for cutting paper patterns and 2) a cheaper set of smaller Walmart fabric scissors for cutting smaller fabric pieces in general. These first two scissors are just "okay" quality and can be replaced super cheap anytime. The other two scissors though have my heart! And here is why.
The magical blue pair of scissors! I originally received these scissors with my very first embroidery machine from the brother company and they are still going great to this day! Literally like 10 years old and they are my favourite. I might order a few more to keep on hand as extras just in case someday. That is how much I swear by these babies! What do I use them for? I solely use them for clipping appliqué pieces while doing embroidery AND snipping jump threads. I have never found a set of embroidery scissors that cut quite like them for such a cheap built set of scissors - hence why they are magical! They are used for NOTHING else ever. Good news is - many brother machine part shops still sell these scissors! I would hope a new pair would work just as well as mine do.
Finally my last ride or die item that also carries themselves in a pretty way - my 8" fabric shears by Tula Pink! These puppies I use to cut out most of my plushies from minky. They are heavy but in a good way and SO sharp - like watch your fingers sharp. They slice fabric like butter - I kid you not! Back in the day I bought them for SO much from a fabric shop for $75. I recently found them on Amazon for way cheaper. Now whether or not Amazon carry the authentic Tula Pink - well I can't be sure but regardless I will post the link below. Most Tula Pink Scissors definitely work great as I also have the embroidery ones as well for snipping embroidery threads. Regardless I always go back to my Small Brother scissors for embroidery purposes though!
I hope this little blog will help you pick out some tools that might just help you along the way! And remember - just because they work for me doesn't mean they may work for you :) The best thing about being an artist is finding your own way. Don't be afraid to experiment and try different techniques until you find something that works for you! Now get out there and get creating <3
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