Anyone who has every tried to cut fabric with a pair of dull paper scissors will know how important a pair of good dressmaking shears is to anyone serious about sewing—or any fabric craft. Working with any sub-par scissors makes any cutting job long, prolonged, and extremely painful. What is more, your end result is nothing to be proud of: more likely than not, an edge that looks like it was chewed by some sort of muskrat.
A good pair of sewing shears, on the other hand, can make preparing your fabric for sewing feel like making magic with an effortless wand. And when you’ve used a good pair of professional shears you’ll find the end result looks different, too: all the lines are beautifully exact, and your work no longer appears to be that of an amateur.
Three Best Sewing Shears:
What are the best dressmaking shears available on the market? Go to the experts; in this case, the Kai group, a cutting-edge company that pushes the limit in high quality knives, scissors, and surgical equipment. Kai 7250 10 Inch Professional Shears are pretty much the absolutely best product on the market today. The blades are stainless steel with a high carbon content; these are blades that will last for a lifetime, and they’ll cut through the toughest fabric as if it was butter. You’ll be able to do all those precision cuts you’ve been wanting to do; and although they are lightweight, these shears are so perfectly balanced they’ll divide your fabric right on the line. What’s more, they are so sharp that no matter how much fabric there is to get through, they won’t weary your cutting hand.
The cutting edge is a good five inches; long enough to make a decently sized cut with a single stroke, short enough to be easily maneuverable. Do be careful though, for when you’ve got a pair of shears that are designed to cut through anything effortlessly, you have the potential to give yourself a deep cut if you are not careful.
Although these professional shears are not cheap, they’re worth every penny of the purchase price to the serious sewer. It’s an investment you’ll use for the rest of your life, so buying now means you get the most possible use out of it.
What about if you’re not that serious of a sewer, and you’d like something decent but more in the 15-25 dollar range? Kai 5210 8-inch Dressmaking Shears may be for you. These are sharp; not the magic sharpness you’ve passed by in Kai 7250, but still far sharper than any ‘regular’ sewing shears. They are also ergonomic and easy to maneuver, and you’ll find them handy for any dressmaking or sewing project.
Another very comparable pair of scissors is Fiskars 8 Inch RazorEdge Fabric Shears. This is a heavy duty pair of scissors that won’t have any difficulty cutting through multiple layers of thick cloth, The grips are soft and form-fitting, and the scissors are designed to minimize cutting arm fatigue. You’ll be able to use these to make neat, precise cuts in almost any fabric; they’ll even cut through substances such as cork.
Interested in more sewing accessories? Check out the Sewing Gear Page!