No one needs to tell me I have an obsession with scissors.  I am what is often called in less than polite company, <clearing throat>…….. a scissor whore. But gosh darn it, scissors are really important!  Of course I think they are beautiful too so please excuse me if I spend this Valentine’s day talking again about my scissors.  My husband understands and has learned to live with it. 

I was working on my current applique project and I am using a technique in this particular case in which I do not cut out my applique’s seam allowance in advance of pinning it to the background.  You trim away as you stitch.  I do this for stems, or anything that I want absolutley no distortion or wiggle.  It eliminates that “wavy” supposed-to-be straight stem effect, etc.  You know how things that are supposed to be completely horizontal or vertical end up looking like you had a few too many sips of wine while you were stitching???

I am applique-ing a spoon handle here and a bent spoon handle would not be a good thing.

One of the issues with this particular technique is the careful trimming of the excess seam allowance as you stitch.  It is very easy to also cut your background fabric without knowing it.  Oops!  That is definitely not good. 

These scissors are hard to find but are well worth the the time to search for.  They are Dovo’s 3.5″ lace scissors (the size of small embroidery scissors & sharp!).  They come two ways, 1) with a single blade nib/nub (whatever) or with both blades “nibbed”.  I have both and they each come in handy.  They are fabulous for trimming anything intricate in which it is impertive you not cut any of the other important bits. 

this nib is on the underside of the applique against the background as you cut

So I was thinking I would share my love on this Valentine’s day for this pair of scissors with you! Aren’t you lucky?

Happy Valentine’s Day!

©2009 Sandra Leichner http://www.sandraleichner.com