Now that my dressmaker shears saga is settled I've moved on to embroidery/applique scissors and snips. You wouldn't think there could be so many options for clipping a little thread but there are different shaped scissors and snips with different features.
The first pair I bought were these blue, spring action snips. They come with a protective case (which I don't use so they are ready to go when I am - I just store them in my Ott Light caddy). They work well by just pinching them closed (they remain in the open position) and were cheap - under $5. These are great to have by my sewing machine to cut threads when I chain piece or when I want to cut closer to the machine and can't reach the built-in thread cutter on the side of my Horizon.
Once I started thinking about the quilt frame and watching a lot more long-arm quilting videos, I noticed that quilters liked curved scissors to be able to clip really close to the quilt top. Also, with the angle of the blades it is easier to get under the quilt to cut the bobbin threads. I added this pair of ToolTron 6" applique scissors to my Connecting Threads order for about $11. They are sharp and work well, although I have to get used to that weird angle!
When I went to the big fiber festival to investigate long-arms, many of the demonstrators all had small embroidery scissors attached to an elastic coming from a pulley either pinned to their shirt or around their neck. I thought that was an excellent idea (the HandiQuilter lady said to me "oh, you'll get one of those if your buy the {$9,995} machine!" lol!) and
the next time I went to the
local chain fabric store I found this nice set of scissors on the pulley for under $5!! They are really nice and I can attach them to my pocket and always have my scissors nearby.
When I took Cindy Needham's 'Design It, Quilt It' Craftsy class, she recommended spring-tension Snip Eze embroidery snips. I really liked the look of these smaller, slightly curved snips - they had the spring action I was used to and gentler angle than the big applique scissors. I found them at JoAnn's and they sat in my 'shopping cart' for a while
but I never ordered them because they would cost me quite a bit to ship to Canada and I was making do with my cheap, blue snippers just fine. When I went to the fiber-festival I found some similar snippers to the Snip Eze but they looked like they were not well made and I passed them up. When I purchased my new Janome 1600P I was browsing around the shop while they prepared my machine and lo-and-behold, there on the peg board was a pair of JANOME snips! They were beautiful AND came with a Janome lanyard! They are very well made and super sharp with a perfectly angled tip. I snapped those puppies up - VERY excited! I thought the $17 price tag was more than fair...and to top off my excellent find, my dealer threw them in for free!!!!! Now I love them even more!
And as if I didn't have enough scissors and snips, I have an upcoming project (more about it in a later post) requiring duck-billed applique scissors. These specially-shaped scissors have the duck bill to hold up the fabric next to the applique to help avoid cutting into the background fabric. I picked them up at my local quilt shop for $12.99 - so not too bad of an investment for a specialized tool. I think they will make cutting around applique much easier!
There you have it! My round-up of scissors and snips - always great to have the right pair and really fun when you find them at a good price!
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