Tailor’s Awls
with instructor Steve Butler
Class 128
What is it?
Open any catalog of sewing notions and you’ll immediately be overwhelmed. There are so many specialty tools with each designed to assist us in an incredibly wide variety of specific sewing tasks. It’s often hard to keep track of them all. There are, however, some sewing tools found within those pages that are common, even necessary, to almost everything we do in sewing. And as expected, many of those tasks involve detail work. Quilting, fashion, home décor or crafts, all are made better when we pay attention to even the most obscure details in the construction process. But this requires more than just paying attention. It means all of those little points, folds, creases or seams have to fit together with precision. Unfortunately, our fingers often obstruct our view of the sewing field and those all-important details as well as often limiting our access to them. In an effort to enhance our creative process, Clover has refined the design and effectiveness of one of the most useful tools in all of sewing, the Tailor’s Awl.
What do they do?
In the pantheon of purposeful sewing tools used by today’s modern sewists, the tailor’s awl stands at the head of the class. It has applications to almost everything we do with fabric and threads. Clover has developed four styles of tailor’s awls to meet any specific technique requirements we might face. Armed with Clover’s straight, tapered, curved or ball point awls there is little that cannot be accomplished. Select the style(s) that best suits your needs. Clover’s selection of tailor’s awls:
- Allow us to safely reach into tight spaces at the needle plate or get close to hot irons without incurring personal harm
- Allow us to smoothly feed fabric to the sewing machine needle so hems are not stretched
- Are invaluable for keeping seam allowances from flipping in the wrong direction while stitching across intersecting seams
- Can be used to mark the placement of button holes, darts or pleats in our fabric
- Can be used to unpick threads
- Are perfect as a point turner or to turn under applique edges
- Assist doll makers and other crafters who find awls useful for pushing stuffing into tiny arms or other confined spaces
How do I share them?
Tailor’s awls have such broad applications to fashion, heirloom, quilting, home décor, and crafting that they can and should be used in virtually all of our classes. Simply show your friends how easy they are to use and what great results they produce and you will have instant converts. Always make sure you have each of these tools available for in-store demonstrations by your sales associates. Make it easy for everyone who visits to try them out.
