Written by Laura Chaney, daughter
This post is part of our Quilter’s Tool Chest where we share our favorite quilting notions, tools and gadgets.
Our first ten posts will focus our top recommended notions, tools and gadgets for new quilters. These are the perfect items to help a new quilter start building her quilty tool chest. If you’re already a crafter these could be great tools to add to your arsenal to crossover and try a new craft.
One notion that is used in so many types of fiber arts is the pin!
For quilting and sewing, it’s usually very important that you get your fabric and seams lined up correctly when you’re stitching two pieces together. Nothing is more frustrating than to finish sewing a seam, open it up to take a look and find that your fabric slipped and your seam lines don’t match. You’ll either decide to live with the way it turned out or get out your trusty seam ripper (a post for another day), remove the stitching and try again.
When I first started sewing, Mom and Grammy gave me a set of white and yellow round-head pins. I still have (and will still use) these today. They’re quite cheap, easily available and come in large boxes.
One downside to round-head pins, however, is the round-head and the way it holds the fabric and pushes against the throat plate when you’re sewing on a machine. If I’m sewing a quilt block where it’s important that my intersecting seams are pulled tight and snug against each other I’d rather use a pin that lays flat against the machine instead of bulging up. It’s a little thing, but I find it makes a pretty big difference in my accuracy (and my frustration in getting that accuracy).
There are a couple of different shapes out there, but the ones I have and love are the flower-head pins. These are also great if you want to make your own numbered pins to help make it easier to keep your rows straight when sewing a quilt top together!
If the traditional round-head pins are all you have available, then definitely use them. But if you’re helping an aspiring quilter or sewer get started with her (or his!) sewing tool chest, investing in the flat-head pins is definitely the way to go.
All product links are Amazon affiliate links which help support Prairie Sewn Studios. No additional compensation was provided for this post, just sharing some products we love to use to sew, craft and quilt!
I love them for attaching quilts to the leaders on the long arm too; since they're flat there's no additional bulk as the quilt is rolled up. Pins are an investment, just like any other tool; as quilters we're as good as the tools we choose to own. Your recommendation is a good one. I keep a variety of pins (all on dedicated pin cushions) for individual purposes. Have you ever tried fork pins? I love them!! Thanks so much for this Tool Chest series.
I've just treated myself to a box of these for the first time, they're great, so long and flexible!