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We've been busy in the woodshop.....
Sep. 27th, 2015 04:38 pmLast week, H. mentioned that she had picked up a tailor board from JoAnn's, which reminded me *I* wanted one. I dug out my coupon flyers and we made a trip to the local JoAnn's.
Only.....they have it priced at $49.99. Even at 40% off....(it was too late for the 60%, unfortunately, but that's still $20. Not bad, but my budget was...under that. :sigh:) So we picked up Himself's fabric and headed home, where I asked SG if he'd be so kind as to do a small project for me.
We ran to Lowe's, and picked up $20 of wood (he has a project, and so does Herself. Basically, 1/3 of this was allocated to me....but we only used 1/4 of the wood. So - $5. Keep this in mind, OK? :lol:). I had found patterns online, we printed them out (and had to futz around to enlarge 1 of them), then headed out to the shop.
This AM, this is what I had:
This weird thing is the tailor board. I sanded everything smooth; it still needs the point to be a *little* bit pointy-er, but it works. The screws are counter-sunk, so I can use the wide edge as a small ironing board (which is what it's for). The long edge is for pressing straight seams, the point is for, well, corners, and the curves (both small and large) are for pressing curved seams. Cool, huh?
This is a sleeve board. It's reversible - both sides are usable. JoAnn's wants $29.99 for their single-sided one.....:shakes head: I need to make a set of padded covers for it (not really, but I *want* covers. :lol:), but I need to get some wool for the padding (enough for this AND my regular ironing board, which needs to be recovered) and decide if I want these covers to match the ironing board, or not. :shrug: 2 yards of fabric will do it - I have 2 yards of plaid canvas (for an outdoor cushion that never happened), but I'm not sure that's what I want to use. :thinking:
This is a clapper. It's....well, it's a block of wood that you use to flatten seams. :shrug: Easy enough to make.....and, seriously, all of this except the sleeve board came from 1/4 of the wood. The sleeve board is from an 8' 1x6...so, $8, roughly, for that board, and we used MAYBE 1/2. So....$4 for a 2-sided sleeve board. Call it $10 for all 3 items, plus a few hours of our time.
Are they perfect? No - but they don't have to be. They'll do the job - and I was able to get all 3 at a price that fit our budget. :huzzah!:
Now, did I NEED them? NO. No, these tools aren't really necessary to sew clothing - but they will make it easier, and make the finished items look better. You should ALWAYS press as you sew, and these tools will help me do a better job. Plus, SG got to play with his tools - always a good thing. :lol: (Herself wants a round knitting loom with spacing and pegs different from what you can buy at the box stores. The place that makes the one she wants has it priced at $35-ish.....out of her budget (she got 4 plastic ones for $13, to give you an idea). 1/4 of the board we bought is dedicated to *that*....so, $5? Plus a couple of dowel rods.......that's next weekend's project. (Maybe. :lol:)
Thanks, H, for the push! I kept putting off asking SG to make these, because I thought I could just buy them. I'm just happy he was willing to use his tools! :wink:
Only.....they have it priced at $49.99. Even at 40% off....(it was too late for the 60%, unfortunately, but that's still $20. Not bad, but my budget was...under that. :sigh:) So we picked up Himself's fabric and headed home, where I asked SG if he'd be so kind as to do a small project for me.
We ran to Lowe's, and picked up $20 of wood (he has a project, and so does Herself. Basically, 1/3 of this was allocated to me....but we only used 1/4 of the wood. So - $5. Keep this in mind, OK? :lol:). I had found patterns online, we printed them out (and had to futz around to enlarge 1 of them), then headed out to the shop.
This AM, this is what I had:
This weird thing is the tailor board. I sanded everything smooth; it still needs the point to be a *little* bit pointy-er, but it works. The screws are counter-sunk, so I can use the wide edge as a small ironing board (which is what it's for). The long edge is for pressing straight seams, the point is for, well, corners, and the curves (both small and large) are for pressing curved seams. Cool, huh?
This is a sleeve board. It's reversible - both sides are usable. JoAnn's wants $29.99 for their single-sided one.....:shakes head: I need to make a set of padded covers for it (not really, but I *want* covers. :lol:), but I need to get some wool for the padding (enough for this AND my regular ironing board, which needs to be recovered) and decide if I want these covers to match the ironing board, or not. :shrug: 2 yards of fabric will do it - I have 2 yards of plaid canvas (for an outdoor cushion that never happened), but I'm not sure that's what I want to use. :thinking:
This is a clapper. It's....well, it's a block of wood that you use to flatten seams. :shrug: Easy enough to make.....and, seriously, all of this except the sleeve board came from 1/4 of the wood. The sleeve board is from an 8' 1x6...so, $8, roughly, for that board, and we used MAYBE 1/2. So....$4 for a 2-sided sleeve board. Call it $10 for all 3 items, plus a few hours of our time.
Are they perfect? No - but they don't have to be. They'll do the job - and I was able to get all 3 at a price that fit our budget. :huzzah!:
Now, did I NEED them? NO. No, these tools aren't really necessary to sew clothing - but they will make it easier, and make the finished items look better. You should ALWAYS press as you sew, and these tools will help me do a better job. Plus, SG got to play with his tools - always a good thing. :lol: (Herself wants a round knitting loom with spacing and pegs different from what you can buy at the box stores. The place that makes the one she wants has it priced at $35-ish.....out of her budget (she got 4 plastic ones for $13, to give you an idea). 1/4 of the board we bought is dedicated to *that*....so, $5? Plus a couple of dowel rods.......that's next weekend's project. (Maybe. :lol:)
Thanks, H, for the push! I kept putting off asking SG to make these, because I thought I could just buy them. I'm just happy he was willing to use his tools! :wink:
