Now, we all love our notions fairly equally. Rulers, rotary cutters, little gadgets and gizmos, everything that helps make our sewing just that little bit easier that we can’t really narrow down to just a select few favourites. So I’ve cheated a little and narrowed it down to my favourite brand, because it appears I am partial to the Clover brand. And I’m sure you’ll see why soon….
Clover Finger Presser – Oh my goodness, is this a notion that you all need! Especially if you sew paper piecing patterns. Need to quickly press a small seam? This is much better than just using your finger, and much quicker than using your iron! Not to mention time and energy efficient.
Clover Wonder Clips – I’m only a recent convert, having picked up a bag of them at the Tokyo Quilt Festival in January. Why, oh why did I wait so long?! I’ve only used it once for binding, but I’ve used it multiple times for general sewing, like holding my paper piecing pieces together. This is much better than pins as it keeps the pieces nice and flat! I’ve previously used some bulldog clips, but they’re just so big and bulky and clumsy.
Clover Hera Marker – Doing any straight line quilting? Grab a ruler and “score” your fabric with this. It makes a thin crease line in your fabric for you to follow and more importantly it stays despite all the handling that goes on when finishing off a quilt. The quilt above was quilted using just a hera marker for staying on track and it was just fabulous!
Jess @One English Teacher says
I’m a recent Clover clips convert too, and I agree with your assessment. Why did I wait so long? I LOVE them for binding.
melissa miller says
I have and love wonder clips and hera marker but I’ve not tried the finger presser.
Carrie Cunningham says
Great info! I’ve heard a lot about the finger presser…is it heated?
DeborahGun says
I need a finger presser! Already a clover clip and a hera marker convert!!
Hilary says
I have heard such fabulous things about Hera markers. I guess I need to pick one up the next time I’m at Joann’s!
Heidi @ Fabric Mutt says
I haven’t tried the finger presser yet, but I live and breathe the other two notions — especially those clips!
Susan in OK says
I asked for the clips for Christmas and am using them for binding a DWR quilt I was blessed with 50 and certainly don’t need that many. I find that I’m using about 10 and keep moving them. Of course, I could do a large area and I find it’s easier to do an area and then just keep moving them around than than to move than a large space or put them back in the box and then do a large area at a time. It is a king size quilt.
I have not used either of the other products. I really like the idea of each. I use a wallpaper roller as a pressing tool for seam pressing on a temporary basis. I tried to find the one my dad used when he wallpapered in our house and I guess it’s long gone. It’s was about 1/2 the width of the one I found at a wallpaper store. I didn’t check out Walmart as I was close to the wallpaper store when I thought about it when I was going a quick education spot at guild.
Thanks for the great reviews.
Jane says
Great reviews – I’ll have to get my hands on a finger pressed and some wonder clips.
Serena @ Sewgiving says
I agree, the finger presser is fantastic … might give that Hera Marker a go 🙂
Cassandra says
The Hera Marker sounds awesome! I want to give it a try.
Adrianne says
I have the hera marker and the clover clips and I love them both (especially the hera marker – every time someone sees me using it they ask what it is and I try to convert them!). If I see one of those finger pressing tools I’m going to buy it – since I love the other two tools so much it must be good!
Celtic Thistle Stitches says
I can never see the indentations from the Hera marker under the lights of the sewing machine! I use a wallpaper seam roller for finger pressing, it’s much quicker than setting up the iron too 🙂