| I always knew that all scissors were not the same size or shape, but
it suddenly became more important when I hosted a full sized scissor sheath
swap. I had my swap partner mail me a tracing of her scissors, which
were identical to a pair I also owned. I started playing
around with making a scabbard that would fit
precisely. My first attempt was less than perfect, in part because it
was too perfect a fit for
my Gingher Pinking Shears. The unusual shape looks very
odd without the scissors. The next version was a little less rigid and
still fit the scissors, so I sent
it on to my swap partner. It was an excellent learning experience.
My first attempts at custom made scissors sheaths.
A few months ago, a friend mentioned that she did not have a "good"
pair of scissors. I knew at that moment I would not only buy her a
good pair of scissors, but that I would use the opportunity to make her a special
sheath for them. Since I wanted to get started early, I used my own Gingher Bent Handle
scissors to create the pattern, while her scissors on
order.
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The first step was to lay the scissors onto a piece of tracing paper
to mark a rough outline. Bent handle scissors and straight shears have
very different shapes. Once you have the shape you want, outline
it in pencil, turn it over, tape it to a piece of muslin and redraw it,
causing the graphite to transfer to the muslin. For more specific
directions and photos of this process, please see my article
Custom Fitted Case for a Rotary Cutter.
You will also cut your backing and lining fabrics using this pattern. |
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Once you have your pattern transferred to muslin, you will need to
use basting stitches to mark the pattern so that it is visible on both
sides. For this particular piece, I used the machine on a loose
stitch setting to follow the path of the pencil tracing. |
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Although this could have been pieced very simply, using patches and
starting at the bottom, I had a very special silk print that I wanted to
incorporate, so I started by sewing that in place first. Then I
used silk scraps from a recent swap and started filling in the piecing. |
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Once the first two pieces were in place, the placement of the third
piece was obvious. |
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It is not important to make sure your pieced top fits the pattern
closely, as long as it extends past your marked pattern. The best
idea is to use the stitch guide on the back to add basting stitches that
will guide you in your embellishing. |
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After your top is embellished, you will use the guidelines on
the back to cut it to size and sew it together. This sheath is lined
with Ultrasuede®, because I wanted a durable
fabric. It is finished in the same manner as the eyeglass case,
also in this issue. |
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