The most unusual sewing ingredients

The most unusual sewing ingredients? You know them all. You use many of them every day. But not for sewing. I'll show you how clever it is to repurpose ordinary everyday items for your favorite hobby.

The most important things at a glance

• Many household items are excellent for sewing
• They make tasks easier and help you save money at the same time
• In this post, I'll introduce you to these practical little helpers and explain how you can use them

Very simple household items can turn out to be practical sewing accessories. And you don't even have to go to the fabric store for them. You'll find most of the helpers introduced here right in your kitchen drawer.

Of course, it makes sense to have a basic set of sewing accessories on hand. I've summarized exactly what you should buy for you in my shopping list for sewing beginners .

A collection of the most unusual sewing ingredients

Labello

• If you lightly lubricate a thread with Labello (coat your finger with Labello, pull the thread through), it will be much easier to thread through the needle eye
• Candle wax also works to tame the thread before threading

Toe spreaders

• Perfect for sorting filled bobbin spools
• Tip: choose the right toe spreaders for different color families

Tweezers

• Anatomical tweezers are super cool sewing tools: They can shape corners, help turn fabric right side out, smooth out bias tape, hold fabric layers together, pull loose threads out of fabric, and many other things
• I have my anatomical tweezers^* from Amazon and find them absolutely indispensable
• Anatomical tweezers are also great if you like to sew bags

Wooden spoon and rolling pin

• They will become your best friends when you want to press seams flat: Shape the seam from the inside with the rolling pin and press. Perfect!
• The narrow handle of the wooden spoon is ideal for smaller or narrower sewing pieces
• These little helpers are brilliant when you want to sew and shape curves, circles, and corners

Washi tape

You can use washi tape to:

• attach a pattern to waxed or laminated fabric
• secure seam allowances on waxed fabric
• tape down the presser foot so coated fabrics slide better
• mark seam allowances on your sewing machine's throat plate
• tape patterns together

Soap

• Soap is great as a temporary needle case: It ensures that the needles glide effortlessly through the fabric afterward
• You can also use soap to treat stiff zippers. Rub it over them lightly once, and they will slide effortlessly again
• Tip from the sewing experts on Facebook: Pointed soap or soap scraps work as a substitute for tailor's chalk, especially for marking dark fabrics
• Soap needle cases: Wrap a bar of soap in yarn

Eraser

• An eraser is indispensable if you want to remove firmly stuck lint from your self-healing cutting mat. You can also read here how you can clean and care for a cutting mat
• You can achieve the same with silicone facial cleansing pads

Rubber band

• Similar to washi tape, a rubber band is also great for marking seam allowances or distances you want to maintain while sewing on or next to the throat plate. Simply guide the fabric along the rubber band

Binder clips and hair clips

• Hair clips and binder clips help you hold bias tape in place, for example when quilting a quilt (you can also take a look at how you can easily sew a patchwork quilt)
• They hold seam allowances firmly and are also suitable for quilt sandwiches - everything stays where it is

Pencils

• Two pencils connected with tape help you enlarge or reduce patterns or draw seam allowances. Simply draw along the pattern
• Note: This method is not suitable for clothing patterns, but for things like bags, pillows, stuffed animals, etc. (thank you to the sewing experts on Facebook for the pointers!)

Dental floss

• Dental floss is suitable for sewing buttons and fasteners securely because it is very strong
• Unwaxed dental floss removes thread scraps stuck between the tension discs

Nail polish

• A drop of nail polish on a sewn-on button helps tame thread ends and prevents knots from coming undone

Find your center: Transparent patterns

Use architect paper for patterns? You can!

Architect paper^* is sometimes also called tracing paper. It is a firm, transparent paper that can be drawn on, cut, and ironed. So ideal for our purposes, right?

The paper comes in a roll of usually 10 meters and is 63 cm wide, which is wide enough for most clothing patterns. And since Tesa also adheres well to the paper, you can tape two sheets together for larger pieces.

The roll costs under 10 euros and is thus an affordable solution for frequent sewers!

You want to place the fabric design of your new bag in the center - but the pattern doesn't give you the right overview? Make the pattern out of PVC film^*! Mark the center with a pen and - voilà! Now you can place the pattern exactly on the fabric design - you can also reuse it!

By the way: A cut-open freezer bag also works - it also has the advantage that you can stick it to the fabric.

More tips

• A drinking straw attachment (e.g. from DM) placed on the vacuum cleaner is suitable for cleaning the sewing machine
• A tip from Regina: If the scissors are stiff or squeak: Simply pull the open scissors through your hair (sounds exotic, but it should work!) (a drop of sewing machine oil also works - in case your hair is freshly washed)
• Instead of pattern paper, you can also repurpose wrapping paper from the hardware store, packing paper, or party tablecloths on rolls. I recently discovered Swedish tracing paper^* for myself. But tear-resistant pattern paper^* is also very good. More info on Copying patterns can be found in my post about it
• If you like to quilt: Don't buy expensive quilting gloves! Much more affordable and just as effective are such garden gloves^* made of knitted material with silicone nubs
• IKEA pillow filling as a substitute for polyester batting (washable up to 60 °C!)
• Roasting rack is great as a substitute for crinkle paper in stuffed animals and activity toys. Important: Punch holes in the roasting rack before sewing it in, otherwise there is a risk of suffocation
• To turn over bag handles, appliqués, etc., a vein clamp^* is suitable

• Blog reader Kerstin posted the great tip with the greenhouse film^* in the comments under the post. Brilliant! Thank you, Kerstin!

Do you like my collection of the most unusual sewing ingredients? Then feel free to write me a comment and tell me which household helpers serve you well in your sewing room! ;)

Happy simple sewing, yours Sabine

Frequently Asked Questions