Macaron

By Shannon and Jason

So, you’ve been bitten by the creativity bug and decided that hand sewing is going to be your next foray into the maker world… WELCOME! There are so many styles to choose from… embroidery, sashiko, needlepoint, crewel, kogin-zashi, or cross stitch. Whether sewing is your primary form of creative expression, or you saw that one project which inspired you to pick up needle and thread, you’re going to love the versatility and vast range of projects that hand sewing encompasses.

One thing that is going to make any hand sewing project easier is having a good clean, sharp needle that is ready to use at a moment’s notice. A quick review of sewing message boards shows that one of the main complaints sewist have is that their needles go blunt and tarnish. This can slow down your work and make otherwise precise stitches a little less than wonky but not exactly as beautiful as they could be. What’s a hand sewist to do??

Back in the day (hold on… this is a flashback sequence), we can both remember seeing or using emery bags to clean and sharpen hand sewing needles. Shannon remembers using old used steel wool cleaning pads to remove tarnish from needles and to smooth out any burrs or snags. Hold on again, that flashback sequence is about to end in 3… 2… 1…

Flash forward to today and the folks at Clover have created a clean, safe, and darn cute notion to keep close at hand in your sewing basket or on the arm of the couch next to you: The Macaron. While this nifty little tool looks good enough to eat… don’t do that. It is, however, perfect for keeping your needles sharp and the shaft clean and smooth. That means your sewing stitches will be more precise and easier to stitch. We keep a few of these around the house to quickly sharpen and clean up our needles and when we are through with a project for the night, we let the Macaron’s magnet hold the needle instead of leaving it in the fabric.