weird sewing tips

[yhlee]

What weird but fun/quirky/intriguing sewing tips have you seen in the wild?

I'll start:

My mom always taught me to "grease" a needle by stroking it against your HAIR, which IIRC she learned from her mom; my late grandparents were originally textile merchants. Reactions to this when I recount it to people range from "huh, that makes sense" to "HORRORS, hair oils all over my thread/fabric!!!"

Comments

[nou]

This reminds me to mention glue-basting! I can’t remember where I first heard about it, but I started taking it seriously when I saw David Page Coffin recommending it (his books are very good reading for anyone who wants to make tailored shirts). Basically you just use glue from a glue stick (e.g. Pritt stick) to hold bits of fabric together instead of pins or clips.

I find it particularly useful for holding small bits of fabric in place, e.g. holding down the seam allowance at the end of an already-sewn seam when I’m about to sew a new seam perpendicular to it. The glue just washes out later on when you wash the garment, and of course it’s much safer to sew over it than it is to sew over a pin.