I know your sewing room is just full of all kinds of measuring tapes– retractables, two sided ones, cloth ones–even that cutting board  has 36″ measuring markings on the side of it. and of course the sewing guage. I have all these things too. My industrial ruffler has the measuring strip built right into the front– incredibly handy.

But there is one more tool I use the most, and nearly every day I am sewing. I have one by the ironing board, by each sewing machine and a couple on the cutting table because things can “get lost” there. ( Sound familiar?)

This great tool is  a clear plastic 12″ ruler.   I use them for measuring to press in hems,  measure sleeves, hats, the facing allowance,  the width the collar needs to be, and a whole bunch of other things. It is handy because I can see the edge of the fabric , any markings on the fabric or pattern, and a bunch of other things through it.  These I used to pick up at Office Depot and they are very inexpensive, but now like for many other things, I just look on line to buy. They do get kind of scratched up and marked up and sometimes lost. Or carried to another room to measure something and forgotten. I also have one 18″ clear plastic ruler, for the rare skirts for larger dolls that are a little wider.

I have only named a few of the things I use these rulers for! When I do a seminar, there is always one in the packet of tools I give to the student– I do this because I want to be sure when the student gets home, they will have the basics to work with.

In case you don’t have an Office Depot or are like me and love the convenience of shopping on line, click on the picture and you can get these  from Amazon!

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