My Top 5 Tools of the Trade

Cicada Daydream (who has some really lovely items in her Etsy shop) blogged about her “Top 5” tools of the trade yesterday, and inspired me to do the same! Ivy & Mae and Fog and Thistle also blogged about their Top 5, and I found it pretty interesting to read about the tools each of them love/use the most.

1. Baby Lock Creative Pro – I love this sewing machine. I sew almost every day, and this new machine handles fabric more smoothly than my old one ever did.  If I had a top 6, I would probably also mention the walking foot, which I bought separately. The walking foot makes sewing stacks of fabric together so much nicer than I ever thought it could be!
2. Fiskars 45mm Rotary Cutter – I almost always cut my fabric with a rotary cutter. My lines end up straighter and I can cut through several layers at once. Not to mention it’s so much faster than scissors.
3. Westcott Titanium 4″ Curved Embroidery Scissors – I use these little scissors all the time to trim threads close to the fabric.
4. Olfa 18″x24″ Self-Healing Cutting Mat – A rotary cutter isn’t much good without a mat. I love the grid and diagonal lines on this mat. It is large enough for most of my projects, serves as a ruler, and also helps me to mark diagonal lines I use when quilting some projects.
5. Donna Dewberry 6 1/2″ x 24 1/2″ Easy Read Ruler – Large enough to easily measure out pieces for card wallets, which I make frequently, transparent, and with clearly marked half inches. This ruler also came with optional stick on feet to keep it from slipping on fabric, which made a big difference for me.

These are the 5 tools I use most often and would be lost without. I’m not sure they are all the coolest tools I own, though (Baby Lock excepted), so I may have to do another top 5 of my coolest tools. What are your top 5 tools of your craft?

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