At guild we have a "free table" that members can leave fabric and things they no longer want. It started out as one table. Now it's three tables in the center of the room. It always reminds me of a town square. Members circulate around the table chatting with each other and enjoying the happiness of free sewing things.
The last meeting was filled with a variety of gadgets, notions, and tools that members don't use (some still in the package).
When we look at the history of quilting, we do find lots of fads and our modern times are no different.
Who could forget the yo yo craze of the mid 20th century?
Crazy quilts another fad that has endured but not like the fad of the late 19th century:
And of course, who could forget redwork?
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During the last 40-50 years, a number of new tools and techniques have been introduced and all of them tend to make our quilting work easier. We attended workshops or demonstrations on how to use so many different things. New techniques were shown on Simply Quilts. Good tools make a huge difference and so do good gadgets.
I've been clearing out my sewing room and I still have many things that were big fads. You probably have some too.
*Yo-yo makers
*A variety of rotary cutters with special blades that created unique edges to the cut fabric.
*Fusible appliques, already to iron on and yet--still unused.
And that doesn't include all the rulers, cutting mats, and ironing gadgets.
What kinds of gadgets have you kept that you find useful or can't bear to part with yet?
Have a safe and happy day!
I think my favorite notion is my thimble. Just a plain, run-of-the-mill, unpretentious thimble.
ReplyDeleteI remember when seam rippers first came out and how my mom used one to slice through a seam (and ended up slicing through part of the fabric, too!). I would not want to give up my seam ripper.
ReplyDeleteI also remember when I was first introduced to rotary cutters and I would not want to give those up, either. Or the rulers I use with them, including two for angles.
I'm not a big gadget person....
We all embraced "template-free" quilting and then all the specialty rulers came on the scene. They are actually a form of template, especially the ones that cut one size of a particular shape. Somewhere I have a couple of loop turners, just the thing for spaghetti straps y'know, a buttonhole spacer (a gizmo that's a kind of accordion), and a pocket corner thing to ensure that a patch pocket has perfectly rounded corners.
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