Tool Tips

Clothes need periodic attention to be their best. This care begins at an item’s entrance into your home and continues throughout its life. But you don’t need to be a professional to tackle this; make your life easy by keeping a few tools at your fingertips.

SEAM RIPPER | Typically used by a tailor to rip a seam quickly and precisely when opening a hem or taking apart pieces of a garment, this tool is for the layman as well. Before you wear something for the first time, there are a few things you should do to make it presentable. Removal of some non-necessities also gives greater comfort.

• Remove X-shaped stitch holding closed slits, flaps, pleats; labels from coat arms or unsightly labels on waistbands.
• Open pockets and buttonholes.
• Remove itchy labels; annoying and malfunctioning straps and ribbons.

DE-PILLER | There is a wonderful invention called a de-piller or clothes shaver or fuzz buster…. Clothes can pill or develop fuzz as they’re worn, but a de-piller revives them by shaving them clean. Be careful not to snag your clothes and pay careful attention to areas that experience constant friction against a bag or another body part, as these are usually the fuzziest.

• Tops: under arms, along seams, near the butt, inside the collar, at the bottom hem.
• Bottoms: on the seat, at the waistband, along the hips, in between the thighs.

LINT ROLLER | Don’t forget the tried and true lint roller. Just before stepping out, remove animal hair, human hair, sweater fuzz, dust, etc. Give yourself a once rollover!

FLATIRON | If you or someone you live with already owns one at home, use a flatiron to make sure you look crisp where your clothes might be a little crinkly from being crushed in the closet or in a drawer. Be sure that your flatiron is free of any hair product, and do not use it anywhere you wouldn’t use a normal iron!

• Tops: plackets between buttons, collar points, pleats.
• Bottoms: waistbands, shirttails, pleats, pant and skirt hems.

THREAD SNIPPERS | Sometimes we like our cheap clothes, at the cost of sloppy stitching. Handy thread snippers help trim thread ends that stick out here and there.

So keep your toolkit stocked and help your clothes (and you!) feeling and looking their best.