Stock up on these supplies while they’re on sale to use them in your sewing room!
 It’s that time of year again – the school supplies are on sale, and the former teacher in me can’t help but pick up a few more things than what is on my kids’ school supply lists. BUT I have a good excuse! One of the things I learned from years teaching sewing at a high school is that regular school supplies are often great sewing supplies too.
I made a video of my top 5 most used school supplies for sewing, which you can watch below or on YouTube here. Not only do I show the supplies, I share how I use them!
How I Use School Supplies for Sewing
Here’s a list of a lot of the school supplies I use.
- Washable markers and Frixion pens
- Mechanical pencils
- Erasers
- Hole punches and ring binders
- Washable Glue Sticks
- Binder clips
- Compass
- Protractor, rulers
First – washable markers. These work pretty well to mark fabric and wash out. And in a pinch, hand them over to a kid and buy yourself some time to finish a project.
Mechanical pencils. I go through these like crazy for drafting, list making, tracing patterns…
Hole punch and binder rings – these are great for hanging pattern storage. You can also use them to organize swatches to take to the fabric store so they don’t get crumpled and lost in the bottom of your purse.
Erasers. Besides using the for drafting, you can carve them into stamps for fabric printing.
Glue Sticks. For gluing PDF patterns. Or temporarily holding fabric together. If you get the washable kind, you can even sew with it in place instead of pinning. Though I wouldn’t do that with expensive fabric.
Binder clips. Also good for hanging pattern storage. And holding leather or vinyl together, or any other fabric that can’t be pinned.
Compass. Useful for adding seam allowances. And making circles.
You can use a protractor to draft curves. I looked for (but couldn’t find) a clear plastic ruler – these are useful in all kinds of ways in drafting, as are flexible bending rulers.
And finally – posterboard. This works great instead of tagboard for slopers, and also works nicely as a photo backdrop for blog tutorial photos. Sometimes propped up against your laptop to act as a standing backdrop, too.
So there you have it – a whole bunch of school supplies for sewing – now go stock up! For more ideas to use household items as sewing notions, check out this post.
Veronica
Great suggestions! I may have to go grab a few more things at the store!
Laura J.
Wow. Washable markers. Duh. I have a hundred around the house, and yet I am constantly frustrated by my lousy Mark-B-Gone pen that never shows up on anything. THANK YOU for this revelation!
angie stansell
this list is genius!
Rachel
Great post!
mary
Pilot Frixion pens. These are great for marking fabric. Whenyou are done, just run an iron over the mark and it will magically disappear.
Amyb
I stock up on binders, tab dividers and clear plastic binder pockets. When I download an electronic pattern ( or an in the hoop embroidery design) and the instructions, I immediately place a copy of the pattern in the plastic pocket, label the tab and add the instructions. Everything in one place. I have several 3 inch binders filled with patterns and instructions.
Rosie
Frixion erasable pens are even better for fabric marking (or pattern tracing). They erase with the heat of your iron!
auschick
OMG compass for seam allowances. Brilliant!
Rae @ So Rae Me
I had heard about using kids washable markers but never thought about these other school supplies. Thanks for the ideas!
Peanuts & Thread
I agree, this is around the time I stock up on many things too. And they’re always so cheery colors too which is fun while you are creating.
Pennyfp
Ooooh!! The compass for marking seam allowances is my favorite!! I’m a frixion pen nut so I have more than plenty of those. 🙂 But a new compass….. YES!!! And I can send you a clear ruler. How about one with a magnifier in the middle? Mine came from a local dollar tree/store, of all places. Cheers to another wonderful post!
brendalynne1
DUH ME. glue for putting printable patterns together rather than taping. Sounds much faster and no more crumpled tape messes when a third hand would be nice. thanks again.