New Fabric Scissors!
Fortunately, I got some fun new sewing stuff in the mail this week. I was especially excited to try out the Seam-Gauge Guide.
Unfortunately, when I went to try it, my fabric scissors were nowhere to be found.
Fortunately, this motivated me to clean up my sewing room.
Unfortunately, I STILL couldn’t find them.
Fortunately, I’d been thinking of getting another pair anyway, since my old ones no longer cut to the very tip, which makes notching difficult.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of time in my week-days lately to trot off to the fabric store.
Fortunately, there’s a shop called Sewing World on my walk from work to the train. They sell sewing machines, sewing gizmos, and notions, albeit with a bit of a focus on the quilter.
Unfortunately they’re usually closed by the time I leave work.
Fortunately, one morning this week I managed to get in early enough to stop on my way too work.
Unfortunately they have about eighty bazillion different sizes, styles, and price-points of scissors to choose from.
Fortunately, the lady working was willing to pull out about a dozen, mostly Ginghers, and provide fabric samples for me to snip up.
Unfortunately, the best-quality Ginghers have metal handles. This makes them very pretty and sturdy, but sets off some nerve damage in my thumb.
Fortunately, she pulled out another kind that cut even better than the Ginghers.
Unfortunately, they were really large. This wasn’t a problem for the blade length so much as that my fingers flopped around in the handle. Maybe they’re men’s fabric scissors.
Fortunately, the lady promptly called up her supplier and ordered in a couple of pairs of the same kind in a smaller model.
Unfortunately, they won’t be in until next week at the earliest and I need scissors right away. However, I didn’t want to buy an expensive pair when there was a pretty good chance I’d be coming back for the freakin’ sweet crazy ones in a week or two.
Fortunately, there were some “Featherweight” Ginghers, which while not as awesome as the regular Ginghers, were still pretty sweet, and most importantly, have a plastic handle and are much cheaper. So I have new fabric scissors!
Unfortunately, the plastic extends along the blades, making an odd lump, so that even though the seam allowance gauges still stick, they angle downward too sharply to really work, plus the magnetism isn’t quite as strong so it would get knocked off easily.
Fortunately, I might even have time to come to my senses about the price of those godlike scissors by the time they’re in stock.
Although I wouldn’t bet on it.
And in the meantime, I have new scissors anyway! And they snip! So my notches will (hopefully) no longer resemble irregular blobs somewhere in the general vicinity of where they’re marked on the pattern. Hooray!
PS: writing in that “fortunately, unfortunately” format is kinda addictive. I find my thoughts now composing everything as a series of fortunate and unfortunate happenings.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
My local shop has a distribution center in the back that they sell out of and like you, I found myself overwhelmed with a gazillion scissor options. I was so thankful for the lady at the counter who advised me, “How long have you had your last pair?” “About twenty years.” “Just buy the same brand and type again.” What a sensible woman. That made my choice so much easier. And cheaper than the brand I “thought” I had to have.
Hope the new sewing scissors work out well. It is one of those semi-expensive buys that you want to be right, but you can’t really know until you have undergone a cutting marathon session.
Unfortunately my answer would’ve been “four, and they have some issues.” Getting to try out the different kinds (on a couple of types of cloth) was a real eye-opener.
Great post! And that reminds me…I need new scissors. I wish they made some that would give husbands an electric shock…nothing major…just enough to remind him to keep his mitts off!
Kathy
Hmm, isn’t that why they make hot pink ones? 😉
That being said, I don’t think my husband’s ever touched mine. Mostly because he wouldn’t know where to look for them. (He’s got some learned helplessness going on in the finding-things department 😛 )
Unfortunately, he’s color-blind.
I used to own a set of the plastic ginghers- I only used them for backstage costume emergencies. They survive being dropped really well, but, not the most amazing shears!
Well, definitely not the most amazing ones I tried, but they’re no worse than my old ones and won’t kill my thumb like the metal-handled ones. And I can always get the really nice ones when the smaller size comes in…
I know all about how this happens!:))
http://magdamagdadesignstudio.blogspot.com/2010/11/who-knows-farmers-son-fortune-or.html
Like a series of unfortunate (and fortunate) events!
I vote for the fancy scissors or glory. There is something remarkably satisfying about a really good pair.
Yeah, I know. They were SO yummy. Cutting could actually be fun with scissors like that…
These ones will do for the moment. They weren’t as good as the others, but they were still better than the non-Ginghers they had. And they’re at least as good as my old ones, plus they snip ;).
No comment about your scissors, but I love your interestingly written and amusing to read post! 🙂
Ha ha, are you a Gemini by any chance?!
I think a good pair of shears is a great investment, they will last a lifetime if looked after and make cutting a dream. Well as dreamy as cutting can be!
I don’t really like what I have at the moment but they do the job. I’d love a nice pair – going through a gadget want phase at the moment!
There was a childrens book, a few years back, written in the “fortunately, unfortunately” format. After reading it, we had a teacher who had us write stories that way. Yeah, it becomes addictive quickly!
I have those plastic Ginghers! I can’t use metal scissors either. I have about 6 or 7 pairs of scissors because none of them stay sharp very long, and the prices to sharpen them are exorbitant. I wish they had scissors with replaceable blades, like rotary cutters.
I live next to a hairdressers and they have a scissor man who comes round in his van and sharpens theirs. Are there men in vans who offer similar services for dressmaking scissors or are they very expensive? Just wondering in case you can salvage the original pair. Hubby does awful things with my scissors so I don’t tend to think about them too much… Considering I found half my kitchen knives in the garden last year from where he was cutting up turf. So you can imagine what my scissors endure. I just buy new and hide them now.
I know the shoe-repair place around here does knife sharpening, I THINK they do scissors too but I should check…
I’m waiting on a new pair of scissors…still haven’t arrived. They are Fiskars and are perfect for my achy thumb. I lift bolts of fabric at work and my thumb is feeling the effects. Must remember to hug the fabric – as I do love them all…
Fortunately, your post totally entertained me! ;-D
Sorry about the metal handled issue though…that’s gotta suck 😦 I love my Ginghers! (especially the tailor point ones)
Wow…I had no idea there are so many types of scissors to choose from. None of my local stores have multiple scissors! I may have to check out some online cuz I need a new pair too….fortunately I saw your post 😉
What struck with me more than anything in this post was how helpful and customer oriented that sales person was! You just don’t get that kind of service anywhere it seems these days! How nice. Good scissors are a MUST for sewing peoples… gotta have them.. :O)
I have a pair of Fiskars, they are called Razor Edge. I really like them. They have plastic handles but metal blades that can be sharpened. Have had them for several years now and I just love them. They are as sharp now as the day I bought them, I will say though last I saw them it looked like the handles were bigger than this pair I have now…
Yeah, this place is good for that. Although it helped that I was in there are 9:00 AM and was the only customer in the store. The flip side is there’s other times I’ve been in there and waited a LONG time for any help because they were demoing an embroidery machine with someone else or something like.
I haven’t seen my good scissors since I was cutting out some trousers in April. I know my husband didn’t walk off with them, but we did reorganise the room they were in and they might have gotten tucked away somewhere by accident. I’m pretty choked about it but at least I have my old, not-completely-awful scissors until I find my good ones again.
Also: “(Take this object, but beware: it carries a terrible curse.) Ooh, that’s bad. (But it comes with a free Frogurt!) That’s good! (The Frogurt is also cursed.) That’s bad. (But you get your choice of toppings!) That’s good. (The toppings contain potassium benzoate.) [pause] (That’s bad.) Can I go now?”
Mine showed up the day after I bought the new ones… now I’ve mislaid the new ones. *headdesk*
Also, there really is a Simpson’s quote for every possible situation, isn’t there?
You will never regret buying a pair of REALLY GOOD scissors. Just keep them under lock and key. Wear the key around your neck.
(I once stocked up on scotch and packing tape during a really good sale. I had to go away for a couple days and I come back to find that all my tape hand been used up. ALL of it. It must have been a mile worth. My daughter had constructed a ‘kitty house’ out of tape and cardboard. Needless to say my scissors were sticky and kind of dull after that.)
That’s a horrifying story! My kids will go through the tape in an eyeblink, too, but they’ve never (to my knowledge) used my fabric scissors in their endless crafty creativity. Except for with fabric, anyway.
Hehe, love the fortunately-unfortunately format! 🙂 And the new scissors, of course! (I just got a new pair, too – an inexpensive one, but better than the old inexpensive one, which has a not where I tried to cut an errant pin…)
A series of unfortunate/fortunate events? (this is a literary reference btw).
MLAO – Oh and btw Gingher offers a sharpening and repair service for all of their scissors for just $7.50. Mine came back good as new. Although, now I’m having serious scissor envy over your new shears. I hate cutting fabric.
Here are the deets: http://gingher.com/pages/repair-and-maintenance/4/