What is it? – So much of what we do in sewing involves detail work. Quilting, fashion, home decor or accessories all are made better when we pay attention to even the most obscure details in the construction process. But this requires more than just paying attention. It means all of those little points, folds, creases or seams have to be perfect. Unfortunately when we’re sewing or pressing these details into place our fingers often go into harm’s way. Proximity to sharp needles and hot irons can be a real creative buzz kill. And even if we can save our fingers from perforation or pressing, they often obstruct our view of the sewing field and those all important details. But do not despair. Necessity is the mother of invention and over time we’ve developed “pointy” little instruments that substitute for our fingers. A tailor’s awl, crochet hooks, knitting needles, nail files, tips of tweezers, tapestry needles or even chop sticks enhanced with a pencil sharpener (really) have been used. They all perform some function (sort of) but nothing to really write home about. In an effort to enhance your creative process, Clover has developed the ultimate fabric manipulation tool to support any sewing or pressing functions that we might need to implement.  We call it the Hold It Precision Stiletto.

Art No. 7807

Hold It Precision Stiletto

What does it do?– At it’s very essence a sewing stiletto simply keeps us from getting our fingers where they shouldn’t be, in the path of an approaching sewing machine needle or right next to a hot iron.  Clover’s Hold It Precision Stiletto is designed to do just that and so much more. Constructed with a unique polymer resin it is both strong and heat resistant.  It is designed to be held comfortably in your hand. One end has a sharp, curved tip to allow easy fabric manipulation without obstructing your field of view. The other end has a silicon coated “grippy” tip beveled at the precise angle to enhance the friction that holds those detailed pieces in place as they are pressed into shape.  Using the Hold It Precision Stiletto we can position our fabric perfectly when sewing. This is especially useful when we’re sewing blocks together and need to make sure seam allowances lie flat as they feed under the presser foot, or when we can’t or don’t want to use pins to hold our fabric in place or when we’re sewing tiny blocks or when we’re manipulating pleated trims or when we’re matching fabric patterns or accomplishing any number of other sewing functions.  Same for the pressing station.  Because we can hold our fabric with precision while pressing, we can press open seams or press in points, creases. folds or other shapes quickly and correctly the first time.  No time consuming “do over’s” an no burns.

What is it?– Fashion, fashion accessories, heirloom sewing, quilting and home decor. All of these projects are often one time or another blank canvases that are truly enhanced with the addition of the appropriate decorative pattern. Some of these pattern designs are professionally developed while others are original work we’ve created all by ourselves.  Beautiful, often meaningful patterns for sewing, quilting and embroidery. But they’re all usually on paper and we are not sewing on paper. How do we move them to our fabric in a manner that allows us to complete our project just as we’ve envisioned it? And what about fashion construction? All of those pattern markings. You know, the notches and points that help us match up the pieces of our garment precisely. How do we transfer all of them accurately to our cut fabric pieces?  Remember, sloppy is un-seamly. Oh, and don’t forget the darts. There’s nothing worse than uneven darts. So how do we do it, how do we accurately move our designs and marks from the paper source to our fabric destination? It’s easy. Clover has developed “Chacopy” Tracing Paper, a chalk-based tracing paper that allows us to transfer our sewing, quilting and embroidery patterns or fashion construction markings to our fabric with ease and precision. Just trace over the marks. It takes the tedium out of transfer.

Art No. 434

Tracing Paper “Clover Chacopy”

What does it do?- Clover Chacopy Tracing Paper is a single sided, chalk based tracing paper that enables us to easily and accurately transfer any paper based design or mark to our fabric.

Colors – Chacopy Tracing Paper is available as a set of five colors on individual 25 x 30cm sheets. All we have to do is select the color that contrasts enough to show prominently on our fabric. Colors included are: blue, green, red, white and yellow. One of those should meet any requirements we might come across. For complex patterns we can even use two or more colors.

Application – Chacopy Tracing Paper is easy to use. If we are transferring a design to our fabric we just need to lay the tracing paper face down on the right side of our fabric and place the design we’ve selected on the back of that. Using a stylus or a tracing wheel, simply trace over the design, transferring the chalk to our fabric. You may want to tape the design to the Chacopy Paper to keep it from moving while tracing. Keep in mind that if you’re going to hoop the fabric you’ll need to leave enough space around your design to accommodate that hoop. If we’re transferring the marks of a pattern to a cut pattern piece we simply lay the Chacopy Paper face up on a smooth surface.  Then lay the cut pattern piece on top of it.  Now the chalk surface of the paper is next to the wrong side of the fabric. Again, using a stylus or tracing wheel, simply trace over the pattern marks. They will be transferred to the wrong side of the fabric where you want them. Once our designs or marks are no longer needed we can simply wash them away. They don’t smear and they always wash out. One caution though.  As with any chalk based marker, ironing may make the marks difficult to remove. It’s always a good idea to test any marking on a scrap of your fabric before using.