Tool Tuesday- Steady Betty(s)

 

One of my most frequently used tools is finally failing on me. At first I was a little mad about it, but then I realized I'd been using the Steady Betty pressing board for almost 10 years now. Just about daily. But unfortunately there are big tears in the material that make the board so useful. 

There are tears on both sides of the board. I don't remember seeing these begin, all of a sudden they're just there. They don't affect the performance of the board as far as ironing goes. But I'm pretty sure I can't just glue these down as it would either not stick well enough, or melt the foam, or make a lump under the pressing surface that would translate to the fabrics I'm pressing. The tears are just going to get worse if they aren't repaired or secured.

Besides the two big tears, there's a lot of little pieces missing, especially on or near the edges. Maybe from using pins and/or scissors on and around the board?

Or...perhaps some of the holes were started by studio assistant claws (as pictured above in action)? That probably didn't help matters.

But I also noticed that the same thing is happening with my Betty Bands, which the studio assistants do not use. I think this grippy foam material is just not endlessly robust. It wears out with use (like most things), which is really not terribly surprising. 

So, Merry Christmas to me...I ended up replacing both the mat and the machine quilting bands. They arrived today with very cute Sharpie-art on the package.

 Hopefully I'll get ten more years out of these. It's so much lighter, and a bit bigger. The edges are a little strange, but it seems like very similar foam. Now to maybe make something out of the old mat. Perhaps I'll cover it with canvas and use it for a surface to have for pressing underneath the wool mat I have in my traveling kit.

 

And unfortunately I didn't notice the redesign of the Betty Bands on their website, they no longer have adjustable velcro, so they do not fit my hands very well at all. I will be doing some modifying to be able to use these!

Palooza Twelve

 

As I mentioned on Saturday, I got all the ingredients cut out and labeled and together for the Patchwork Palooza blocks I missed out on making while I was traveling. The first block is entirely made up of HSTs, so I got out my Seams Easy ruler to mark the sewing lines. It works so well for me when I use it with a mechanical pencil.

And then when I was trimming up the HSTs I got out the 2.5" HST Bloc-Loc ruler, so handy and accurate!

And voilá, block 12 is completed.

Here's all twelve of the blocks in a very random placement.

Sew Magnetic

 

I just received a new tool from Sew Tites, it's part of their new Sew Magnetic products, a rotating cutting mat. It's definitely pretty pricey, but they had a promo of BOGO, so friend Jaye and I went in on two of them, cutting the price in half.

It's a really great size for a lot of blocks and also for fussy cutting smaller pieces. I like the grey and white, it's a nice medium grey which will be great contrast for most fabrics. The cutting lines and markings are very clear..

You use it with these Booster Magnets to hold the fabric or the ruler. They also sell magnetic rulers that work with the mat, the magnets are built into the acrylic ruler.  I wonder if the other SewTites magnets that  I have would work, I'll have to try that out.

I tried it out with the fussy cutting templates from Jaybird Quilts and it really helped keep it stable. You still need to put a finger or two on it as well, but it really helps stabilize things. As my hands start to get more arthritis, I can see how useful this system will be when I need more assistance to cut safely and correctly. The mat rotates really smoothly and it's not too noisy like some of the other rotating mats are, I appreciated that a lot.

What a great product this is! I love being able to spin it around instead of rearranging the fabric and ruler for each cut. That is one of the main reasons I go wrong on cutting things with templates especially. I would definitely recommend getting one of these if you do a lot of fussy cutting, or block trimming in your quilting. Not having to grip the ruler so tightly made it so much easier on my hands and fingers, which has been a problem for me lately. I was able to concentrate on being safe with the rotary cutter, and ended up being a lot more accurate. 

I'm also considering investing in the large mat and big ruler (the non-rotating version) as well because this system really worked well for me.

Product Review: Bulky Seam Jumper

 

Trying out my new Bulky Seam Jumper tool on a clothing repair job. You know when older elastic waistbands just go *poof* *crackle* *crunch* and are no longer at all helpful at hiding up your favorite pajama bottoms? It's worth doing a little un-stitching and inserting some new elastic. It doesn't take very long, and you save a little money on buying new ones.

It goes right under your presser foot and behind your needle on the way up the hump.

And then you place it in front of your presser foot on the way down the bulky spot. This keeps the sewing surface much more level and so there are a whole lot less skipped stitches from making it through all those layers. That means you end up with an actual stitched seam instead of a section of not really held together fabric. So functional, right?

I didn't know if I really needed something like this, but it really works. This is a very useful and functional piece of plastic. I should not that it is two sided as well, so if your bulky seam is only a little bulky, you can just use the smaller sized side. 

Two more features: You can use it for holding a button for stitching on with your machine. And the little hole seen on the front can be used to hold your new sewing machine needle to insert it into place.

 For all that functionality I think it's a pretty good price. 

Tool Tuesday: Clapper Review

 

I've been using the clapper that I bought last month from R0ssieCrafts to iron the folds into the orange bullseye backgrounds. This tool is truly terrific! (so many Ts)  I love the solid and smooth feel of it in my hand, the shape of it  is very pleasing to the eye. The wood itself is just plain lovely as well. Do I feel goofy for having my name on there? A bit yes, I kind of wish I'd just chosen a word instead like: FLAT or STAY or STRONG. 

My Flash opinion: Wow! This thing really really works.  Look at those flat flat folded creases.

The Many Pros: 

• You don't have to leave the iron on the fabric for a super extra long amount of time to get a crease to take in cotton fabric, so no possibility of scorching. 
• It isn't at all heavy.
• It's very easy to grip and move.
• It's low-tech, no batteries required.
• It doesn't take up a lot of real estate on your ironing board.
• The price is not outrageous.
• This thing will definitely outlast you.

A Few Cons: It's an extra step in pressing, which makes that process just slightly more fiddly.It's one more thing to keep track of.

In my opinion it really stacks up to get and use one of these clappers in my opinion.

Tool Tuesday: The Clapper

 

I think I found this new tool via instagram somehow, but don't quote me on that. I mean, that was a whole two weeks ago and I can't recall. 

But...it's a clapper!

Nope, not that kind! (sorry,  just couldn't resist) 

 This is the one made for flattening seams in blocks and other sewn seams. You iron your block and then set this device down on the seam and it holds the heat in and weights the fabric just enough to really make the ironing work better without the risk of distortion.

 I haven't gotten to use it yet, so no performance review from me as of this writing. But this is a lovely lovely tool, the wood is beautiful and smooth, the weight is just right, and there are grooves on the sides for your fingers. And as you can see, the seller offers personalization. 

There's a strike of Etsy sellers ( protesting seller fees being jacked up 30% !!) going on right now that RossieCrafts is participating in, but for next week, here's the link to go check it out. 

If you want to support the strike, the Etsy sellers participating are asking people to not shop on Etsy this week April 11-18. 

FYI: the participating sellers have put their shops on vacation mode.