Panay News

Demonstrat­ing standard on sewing tools, aids, supplies, and their functions

- By Cludin P. Fajader, Ivisan, Capiz

ONE of the lessons that students can be introduced to and can learn from Technology and Livelihood Education (TLE) is garments. Garment retail is one among industries that constantly generates i ncome. Demonstrat­ing standard of or on sewing tools, aids, supplies and their functions is the content of garment lessons in high school under TLE. What comprised the sewing tools? What are aids and supplies? How do they function? These will be discussed very shortly below as a briefer for students reading, and for those who dreams to have dresses ramp by known celebritie­s just like what happened to Michael Cinco, Francis Libiran, Rajo Laurel and Mark Bumgarner.

As I am here to demonstrat­e standard, I hereby list the tools, aids, supplies and their functions in order of importance and urgency, and the notions you should get to start sewing comfortabl­y. Sewing tools not on this list are those you can actually do without with no problem at all, it is just that I think some of you already have them in their house and maybe don’t know they can be used this way, so good for you. By all means, use them.

First and most important item is the scissor. To cut your fabric and thread, you must have a scissor. It is recommende­d that you buy the tailor’s scissors and not the ones from the school supplies section, but only if you can afford them. They will demonstrat­e much standard as they can be sharpened when they start cutting less and with that they last nearly forever. Dimensions matter; it is another standard to be set. In cutting fabrics, longer is better. You should have a little scissor too, just to cut thread tails and avoid cutting fabric too.

The second most important tool is the measuring tape. Depending on your preference­s, you can use a measuring tape with centimeter­s or inches or both on both sides. As you might guess, these sewing tools are used to take measuremen­ts, mostly on curvy lines like circumfere­nces and any other body measuremen­t. The third most important tool of sewing standard is the needles. These are needed for sewing by hand which many as of modern times are done due to intricate details adorning elegant dresses. Needles are also needed for domestic sewing machine that comes effective and handy for beginner-students, and which experience will raise the bar in later years. You can recognize the sewing machine ones because the eye is near the tip of the needle and the hand sewing kind has it on the other end of the shaft.

The fourth most important tool is pins and pincushion­s. Pins are meant to keep the fabric in place while cutting or sewing. Here is a standard tip. You can buy the all metal kind or the ones with the colored head: just pay attention to choose the glass head ones versus the plastic head that will melt into your fabric the first time you will press above or just next to them with your iron. There are different sized pins both in length and thickness, to start just choose the regular ones like ballpoint for knits and the thinner

ones for sheers that is good once you master the yellow belt in sewing. Pincushion is used to collect your pins.

The fifth most important tool is the iron and water sprayer. Pressing while sewing makes the difference between homemade and handmade. Seemingly like another job or of another department but when it is standard you aim for, you cannot skip this item and step. The sixth most important item is thimble and threader. The thimble goes on your middle fingertip to protect it while you push your needle while the needle threader is useful for threading any kind of needle for sewing by hand or by machine.

The seventh most i mportant item is the thread! Apparently, you cannot sew without threads. The most used are cotton for woven fabrics or polyester which is better for knits, but you can find also nylon and wooly nylon, metallic, silk and more. The eight most important items is the ruler. You can use any rulers you like as they are perfect for taking straight measuremen­ts like when adjusting your patterns. But for standardiz­ation, the transparen­t is best recommende­d so you can look through and see what’s below.

The ninth most important item is patter weights. Pattern weights are a huge timesaver when you have to cut your pattern shape, mostly on knits, sheer or any fabrics you can’t pin such as leather. Lastly, the tenth most important item that can demonstrat­e standard in garments and sewing is seam ripper and tweezers. A seam ripper will be your bestfriend. Its primary purpose is to cut seams, both wrong seams ( i. e. when you sew together the wrong sides instead of the right sides facing, multiple of times) or existing seams on garments to be refashione­d; you will find it useful to open your buttonhole­s if you’ve made them with a sewing machine: this is one of those versatile sewing tools. You will find tweezers essential to thread your needles and loopers unless you have really tiny fingers. ( Paid article)

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