my new favourite tool

I had an absolute blast on the weekend, doing something I did NOT think I would enjoy.

I signed up for a demo on sewing curves – ergh precision sewing, ergh prescribed shapes and not exactly what I want to make!

And guess what?

It was AMAZING!

The group was organized by one of my long-time readers (ciao Chiara!) about an hour from me in Padova – and led by world renowned textile artist Mattea Jurin (ciao Mattea!) – she is exhibiting a solo show at the Carrefour European Patchwork show later this year.

(😱 Ally – you’re wearing something not black!)

I met Chiara and Mattea through the Quilt Improv Studio – a cool group I have the pleasure of being part of (ciao Paola, Giovanna, Carla e tutte!)

We just had a small group show in Padova of a recent finish.

(😱Ally – you made something that wasn’t black, white and yellow???)

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Four WHATs:

what was it that was so amazing about the demo?

Apart from the awesome group and spot on technique teaching, it was a brand-new tool I never even dreamed I would like.

I am what I’d like to call an ‘approximate’ sewist.

I don’t mind (most of the time) if the points don’t match.

I am a super-speedy-chuck-it-together-and-guess-what-when-you’re-snuggling-under-it-on-the-couch-no-one-is-going-to-notice type of sewist.

But when it comes to artwork, or quilts that might go on a wall, I generally pay much closer attention to detail, which is why this brand new tool is now going ‘straight to the pool room’** of my sewing tools.

** If you’ve ever seen the Australian movie ‘The Castle’ you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t, find it and watch it for an all-time classic with plenty of Aussie humour. Basically, the ‘pool room’ is the Hall of Fame.

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what is this magical new tool?

A caliper. Yep. I used to use these kind of precision tools when I was an engineer, but hey, who knew that this handy dandy little slidey thing would be so fun to use!

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(sigh – if only the slidey thing was yellow…)

When Tea first showed us how to use it, my first thought was – oh this is going to be frustratingly slow and painful.

But after a few practice runs, I was sliding and cutting along as fast as anyone!

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what to use it for:

In the demo we used it to precisely cut ¼” seam allowances for our curved pieces, but I can see this is going to be useful in a bunch of new ways:

• Measuring the offset of my quilting lines on my machine (instead of clumsily trying to wangle my long metal ruler underneath my walking foot)
• During design development for new abstract pieces, when sketching and measuring specific shapes
• Double checking my sewn seams and cross checking with my machine when I want to sew super precisely (not often but I can see this measuring obsession blooming!)

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what about you?

Have you ever used a caliper? What have you used it for?

Leave me a comment below!

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more TECH/TIPS/TOOLS

Explore more posts in the TECH/TIP/TOOLS category.

If you’re looking specifically for the tech to create videos, or start recording your own podcast, head to this resources page where I list all my favorite tech tools.