Tools, Equipment and Their Care
The Madhyamik Sewing and Needle Work paper regularly asks short-answer questions on the tools you handle in the practical room - measuring, marking, cutting, stitching and pressing equipment. Typical items are: name the tool, state its use, or explain how it is cleaned and stored for the next class.
Measuring and marking tools
- Tape measure - 60 inch (150 cm), marked on both sides; keep it rolled, never stretched, never used to pull or drag.
- Tailor's square or L-scale for right angles; a 6 inch seam gauge for turning even hems.
- Tailor's chalk, dressmaker's carbon with a tracing wheel, and tailor's tacks for marking.
Cutting and stitching tools
- Dressmaker's shears, 8–10 inch, bent handle; pinking shears for finishing raw edges; small embroidery scissors; seam ripper.
- Hand needles are numbered 1–12, and the higher the number the finer the needle. No. 9–10 for fine cotton and silk, No. 6–8 for medium cotton, No. 1–3 for denim and canvas.
- Thimble on the middle finger, pins kept in a pin cushion, needles in a box with silica gel to stop rust.
Worked example
A student must stitch a medium-weight cotton kurta and asks which hand needle to use. She chooses No. 7, not No. 10. Reasoning: the cloth is firm and closely woven; a fine No. 10 would bend under the pull of a longer thread and the stitches would pucker, whereas No. 7 carries a stronger thread and passes cleanly through the weave. Her shears stay for fabric only, and she wipes them with an oily rag after use.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing "scissors" for cutting out fabric - the board expects shears for cloth and reserves scissors for thread and fine work.
- Storing pins loose on the table or held in the mouth.
- Saying the tape measure should be pulled tight; it must lie flat and unstretched.
- Forgetting hinge oiling and drying of shears after wiping.