Go2Girl Studio Essentials & Favorite Notions

Welcome to the studio tool rack (or drawer)!  These are the tried-and-true, perfectionist-tested notions we reach for every single day.  No fluff, no gimmicky tools sitting in a back corner somewhere–just the reliable gear that makes piecing smoother, pressing flatter, and sewing a lot more fun.

Snips & Cutting Tools

Havel's Snip-A-Stitch Scissors
Why We Love Them: If these ever vanished from the cutting table, a replacement pair would be ordered within hours! WELL...that's not the whole truth.  A replacement pair, still in the package, is waiting in the wings–BUT if I open it, a replacement would be ordered that day.  

The tiny, hooked blade glides right under individual stitches without snagging foundation paper or slicing into underlying fabric. Unlike a traditional seam ripper that forces me to yank and pull at stitches–which can pull or distort bias edges–now I can make a tiny, clean snip with zero stress on the fabric.  An absolute game changer for unpicking tiny FPP mistakes! For quick, less delicate seam ripping, it saves my eyes and gets the job done fast.

Martelli Rotary Cutter

Yes, I am such a studio diva that I keep three of these red-handled beauties in my clawed-back bedroom workspace—and they are the only rotary cutters I will use!

The offset handle actually does let my hand rest and my arm do the work. Instead of creating fatigue and forcing pressure in my wrist, I can cut longer and more precisely.

Having three isn't just an indulgence, I have a whole cutter rotation system (insert eyeroll here). Seriously, my used blades are basically just shiny discs:

  • Fresh & Ultra-Sharp: Reserved strictly for fabric and multi-layer cuts where accuracy is everything.
  • The Reliable Standby: Good for single-layer cuts, almost ready to rotate out, and—uh-oh, was that a skip?
  • The Utility Cutter: Ready for the sharps container, which makes it ideal for paper patterns, templates, zipper tapes, and gummy things.

Studio Fixes & Helpers

Washi Tape
Why We Love Them: It’s cheap, incredibly versatile, and hands-down the hardest worker in the studio!

  • Fix Torn Foundation Paper: If I ever have to unpick a seam and accidentally tear a stitch line, I just slap a strip of light-colored Washi tape directly over the tear. I can see the printed line right through it, sew straight over it, and—best of all—it will not melt onto a scorching hot iron!
  • Highlight Acrylic Ruler Lines: I use low-tack Washi tape to mark specific measurement lines on my acrylic rulers so I don't have to search for the right grid line over and over during a big cutting session. When I'm done, it peels off without leaving a trace or sticky residue.
  • Save My Janome Thread Cutter: I stick a piece of tape right over the automatic thread cutter button on my Janome as a visual speedbump so I stop hitting "CUT" when I actually mean to hit "REVERSE". Okay... so maybe that last one is just me, but am I right?
  • Track Rotary Cutters: I slap a strip of Washi tape on the handles to keep my cutters straight: GREEN for Cutter #1 (Go! Best Blade), YELLOW for Cutter #2 ("You need to change this blade"), and RED for Cutter #3 (Dead: because anyone else would have retired this blade!). Whenever someone complains about a blade, the handle gets yellow treatment!  

Fire Power

My Vintage Rowenta

Why We Love Them: Reliable & HOOOOOOOT!

I’ve never tried a tailor's clapper—I just set my trusty Rowenta to "surface of the sun" and let super-high heat do 100% of the work.  No steam necessary.

(I did buy one of those tiny irons that looks like a curling wand thinking it would be fantastic for FPP and ironing in tight places, but it currently lives at the very bottom corner of an incredibly full drawer.)

A heavy, ultra-hot dry press is all I use for my quilts, handbags or other projects.

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