Reference
All tools
Twenty-eight tailoring and sewing tools, each with a specification table, a technical parameter table, compatible fabrics and stitches, and a safety note. Filter by category or by the stage of work the tool belongs to.
Sewing Machine
A lockstitch machine, mechanical or computerised, that forms the stitch every other technique on this site is built on.
Serger / Overlock
A three- or four-thread overlock machine that trims, stitches and neatens a seam edge in one pass.
Needle Set
Universal, microtex, jeans and ballpoint needles, and the size-to-fabric table that decides which one belongs in the machine.
Bobbin
The lower thread supply. The wrong bobbin class, or one wound unevenly, breaks the stitch before any setting will fix it.
Walking Foot
A presser foot with its own feed dogs above the fabric, so the layers move together instead of slipping.
Zipper Foot
A narrow, adjustable foot that lets the needle sit beside the zip teeth instead of on top of them.
Fabric Shears
Bent-handle shears that keep the fabric flat on the table while the blade cuts. The tool a tailor buys once and keeps for thirty years.
Rotary Cutter
A rolling circular blade that cuts multiple layers at once and needs a mat underneath. Fast, accurate, and unforgiving of fingers.
Cutting Mat
A self-healing mat that protects the table and the blade, printed with a grid for squaring up.
Quilting Ruler
A thick acrylic ruler with a printed grid and angle lines, used as the guide for a rotary cutter.
Seam Ripper
A small hooked blade for unpicking stitches. You will own several, because they evaporate.
Tailor's Chalk
Clay or wax chalk for marking cloth. It lifts off the surface instead of staining the fibre.
Steam Iron
The single most important tool in the room after the machine. Heat, moisture and pressure set the shape of a garment.
Tailor's Ham
A firmly stuffed curved cushion for pressing seams that are not flat, like darts, sleeve heads and hips.
Clapper
A block of hardwood you press down on a steamed seam to trap the heat and flatten it. The most underrated tool on the bench.
Pressing Cloth
A thin cotton or silk cloth laid between the iron and the garment to protect the fibre from scorching and shine.
Seam Roll
A narrow cylindrical cushion for pressing a seam open without imprinting its allowances on the right side.
Cotton Fabric
The beginner's fabric: stable, easy to cut, forgiving to sew and simple to press.
Linen Fabric
A flax fibre with a distinctive slub, superb drape and breathability, and a tendency to crease the moment you move.
Wool Fabric
A protein fibre that tailors like nothing else: it moulds to shape with steam and holds it. Also it shrinks if you treat it badly.
Interfacing
A hidden layer that gives a collar its roll, a buttonhole its strength and a waistband its body. Fusible or sew-in.
Buttons
Two-hole and four-hole buttons, and the shank that lets a button sit over a buttoned band without pulling.
Zippers
Nylon, metal and concealed zips, and the difference between a zip that disappears into a seam and one that is meant to be seen.
Dress Form
An adjustable torso for fitting and pinning without a body inside it. The difference between guessing at a fit and seeing it.
Measuring Tape
A flexible dual-scale tape. The tool that starts every project and checks every fit.
French Curve
A flat drafting template with the curves a body actually has, for drawing armholes, necklines and hips.
Tracing Wheel
A spiked wheel that transfers pattern markings through to the fabric below by pressing, not by drawing.
Pattern Weights
Flat metal weights that hold a pattern down without pinning, so the paper and the fabric both stay put.
No tools match those filters. Try clearing the search or choosing a different stage.