Stress-Free Scissors for Sewing and Embroidery

Cutting fabric and threads can be hard on your hands. These scissors and snips will help!

A lot of my tips come from my past experiences, so I like to help you avoid problems I've personally run into. You may have been doing more sewing and embroidery since the pandemic hit and, with holiday sewing just around the corner, stress-free scissors are a welcome addition.

Many years ago, I was making a rag quilt. They are a lot of fun, they're quick, and they're easy. I got a little behind a promised "completion date" and I did all of the cutting with regular scissors in one sitting, one night, and it about killed me. My hand was numb and sore for a couple of weeks (no kidding!) and I thought that there has to be a better way to do this.

I mentioned it to my dealer and she showed me these scissors specifically for rag quilts, so if you do a lot of rag quilts I highly recommend these. They are Heritage Cutlery and they are six-and-a-half-inch rag quilting snips. I took them home and lo and behold they worked great. They really helped.

They are always open in the relaxed state as opposed to always shut, like we're used to seeing. You use your grip to close them but when you relax your hand they automatically open. So much less fatigue on your hand. With a regular scissor, you're using your hand to shut it and you're using your hand to pull it apart, so you're using those muscles in your hand twice as much.

I thought that was slick and wondered if other scissors are made that way. Guess what? They are. I just wasn't tuned in to looking for them. They started out as arthritic scissors for people that have trouble with their hands hurting. I’m starting to get a little bit of that and I know some of you probably are too.

Gingher makes a spring tension version for the arthritic hand. It has this funny little gold hinge on there to keep it closed when no in use. When I release the hinge, the scissor stays in the open position. Squeeze the handles to cut and, when I relax my hand, it automatically opens. You will get a lot less strain and stress on your hand using this type of shear. They're not a gimmick, they really do work and and I love them. I highly recommend them if you are going to do a lot of cutting or your hands get easily fatigued.

I like a very short and a super sharp point, with a little bit of a curve to it, to cut embroidery threads. That allows me to get into those tiny little areas. These are Havel Snip-Eze. In their relaxed state, they're open and all I have to do is grab them and squeeze. I don't have to fumble around and get my fingers inside of any hole.

I'd like to know what your favorite scissors are because I'm always on the lookout for really good notions. See the full video here.

Have a day blessed with perfect stitches and GlitterFlex!!