A guide list of craft room essentials for all kinds of crafters including paper, sewing, quilting, and crochet.
If you dabble in a little bit of everything like I do then your craft space is full of supplies and tools. I wanted to share with you some of my favorites and some things on my wish list this holiday season. You know, in case you are looking for a gift for the crafter in your life.
I love my Silhouette Cameo. It cuts just about everything I need it to including paper, card stock, vinyl, and heat transfer. Silhouette does have their new machines out as well. The Curio can cut thicker materials, but it is not a 12 x 12 cutting area. And the Mint can make custom stamps.
I love their huge variety of shapes available. And now is the perfect time to stock up on shapes. For Black Friday Silhouette has shapes 50% off. Or you can get a discount on subscriptions and really build up your shape stockpile. So for $8 a month you can get $25 worth of shapes each month. I have done that plan twice. This time I bumped up to the $12 a month plan to get $50 worth of shapes a month. Any crafter would love a subscription so they can cut all the things!
Anyone who paper crafts knows that you want to have a good paper trimmer. This Swingline Trimmer comes in a variety of sizes. It can cut up to 10 sheets at once so you can cut quickly and move on to the next step in your crafting process.
If you do paper crafts then you probably also want a good scoring board. I have this Martha Stewart Scoring Board and it is great. You can easily score any increment and the scoring tool stores inside the board.
Adhesive is always a must. This Scotch tape glider is super easy to use and is perfect for all your paper craft adhesive needs.
I love having a laminator. I can easily make things for the kids to play and I can extend the life of things I use all the time. Laminated check list anyone? Did you know that you can also use your laminator in place of a Minc machine? There are tons of tutorial videos out there. So for a fraction of the cost you can laminate and foil. Awesome!
Now if you want to make your own designs to foil with your Minc or laminator all you need is a laser printer. Only laser printers work because the foil adheres to the toner. So a regular inkjet printer will not work, as they use ink and not toner.
Changing gears to sewing, I really want to get a new machine. After doing some research I really like the Juki Exceed F600. It has a bunch of different stitches, stadium LED lighting, it’s great for free motion quilting and it comes with the extender table. I still need to go to a local dealer and try it out before I drop that amount of money on a sewing machine. Just to make sure I like it. But on paper it is perfect for what I need and there is plenty of room for me to grow with this machine.
If you are looking for something a little more basic that won’t break the bank I currently have a basic Janome that is equivalent to the Janome 2212. It is a great machine and I have used it for five and a half years. It does everything a beginner needs, but there are no bells and whistles.
Everyone who sews needs a great pair of scissors. I love Ginghers. I use the knife edge dress maker shears because the blades are smooth and you can do the slide cut. These are definitely fabric only scissors. So I make sure everyone in my house knows that they are risking their lives if they even touch my scissors. Since these are nice scissors you can take them to be sharpened when they get dull. If you don’t know where to take them ask at your local quilt shop.
No sewing room would be complete without a rotary cutter and mat. These are a MUST if you do any quilting. Or even if you just buy yardage of fabric to cut into smaller pieces. I like the big 24 x 36 inch mat for cutting yardage because I can cut a whole strip, selvages to fold, in one cut.
And if you have a rotary cutter and mat then you need an acrylic ruler as well. I would recommend something that us as long as your mat. That way you don’t have to do any partial cuts.
If you are in to making quilts then you probably have speciality rulers or at least have some on your list. I love the Hexnmore, Sidekick, and Super Sidekick rulers because they make it so easy to get consistent triangles, half triangles, diamonds, hexagons, half hexagons, and jewels of several sizes. And all from strips of fabric. Check out these tutorials from Julie of Jaybird Quilts, the creator of the Hexnmore and Sidekick, to see how awesome these are and why you need them in your life. Plus Julie has tons of beautiful patterns to go with her rulers as well.
Ergonomic crochet hooks are perfect for crochet lovers. These come in a variety of sizes and with their own case. Need some crochet ideas? Check out my crochet page.
What are your craft room essentials?
Need more gift ideas? Check out my Gift Guides.
[…] form, clothespins, and pomegranate stems came from Dollar Tree. The rest of the supplies were in my craft room […]