Repurposing Household Items as Sewing Tools!

Last week I needed to tack through a few layers of pretty tough canvas and denim and to put it mildly it was knackering my fingers.

I don’t as a rule use a thimble for most tacking, but I got the thimble out for this one.  I wear my thimble on the 3rd finger of my right hand and use it to push the needle through the fabric.

Trouble was I started to find that although with the aid of the thimble I could now push the needle through the fabric, I was struggling to pull it out the other side!!

That’s when I began to think,”I could really do with something that will grip the needle to pull it out of the fabric” and because my mind was thinking around the box and had gone to “what do I use when I can’t get the lid off a jar”, I had a lightbulb moment.  I went to “that” drawer in the kitchen, you know, the one where all the useful but rarely used stuff goes that you don’t want to chuck out?  I went in that one and got out one of my old silicone mini cupcake cases and…..

…..problem solved!  Worked like a dream, the needle came through with minimal effort.

The cupcake case is now permanently living in my workshop rather than the kitchen and has gone into “that” sewing drawer, you know, the one where you keep all your useful sewing gadgets…..