My weird trick for fixing uneven hems with a coffee stirrer

I was working on a silk skirt last month and the hem kept coming out wavy no matter how many pins I used. Frustrated, I grabbed a plastic coffee stirrer from my cup holder and taped it along the seam allowance as a makeshift stabilizer. It actually kept the fabric from stretching while I sewed, and the hem came out perfectly straight on the first try. I've used it on three projects since then, even on stretchy knits, and it works better than the $15 stabilizer tape I bought. Has anyone else found random household items that save their butt in a pinch?

2 comments

2 Comments

schmidt.grant10d ago

That coffee stirrer trick is genius actually. I've used painter's tape the same way when I'm out of stabilizer. Works great on tricky fabrics like silk chiffon or anything slippery. Sometimes the cheap random stuff works better than the fancy sewing tools.

parker_bell9d ago

Oh totally! I used a plastic fork once to hold down some really thin knit fabric while I was sewing and it worked better than any special tool I've bought... sometimes you just gotta make do with what's lying around haha.