Products Care Guide

Useful maintenance tips and care guides

 

 

Darning Yarns

 

Even though Woollen yarns can last for a long time, sad truth is that more and more wool garments end up in landfill every year. They are discarded because they were washed the wrong way and resulted in shrinkage, or they have been stored wrong and resulted in getting moth-eaten holes, or they have snag because they got caught in a sharp object, or .... just because they became out of style. But in most cases these are not reason enough to just discard.

There are some simple things we can do to prevent from letting precious woolen garments end up in landfill. For example, we can wash them right, we can store them right, we can mend them, or we can donate them instead of throwing away. toolly's Darning yarns are 100% wool and therefore tender washing is necessary to avoid shrinkage. If the woollen yarns are used for mending on synthetic (or synthetic mix) garments, partial shrinkage might occur when the whole piece is washed vigorously. To prevent this, it is also wise to treat the whole garment like wool.

Here are some tips how to maintain wool products

• Hand wash in cold temperature with a drop of mild wool detergent. Wool fiber has a character to clean itself, so they don't actually need extensive washing. When they need to be washed, be tender! You don't need to squeeze the garment to get rid of excess water after washing, just flat dry or air dry. If maschine wash is unavoidable, make sure to use the gentle "hand wash" or "wool" cycle. Again, use a very small amount of mild detergent sepecially designed for wool. NEVER tumble dry! This can cause a dramatic shrinking!!
  

• Prevent moth damage by keeping the garment clean. Dust off outside often and wash before storing away for a long time. Make sure the garment is completely dry before storing. Placing sachets filled with dryed lavender or pieces of ceder wood will also help keeping moth away. You could place the garment in a freezer for more than 20 hours if you detect there is the sight of moth.

• Find fun ways to mend your garment. There are many many great mending and darning tutorials from experts out there (both on the internet and books)

See the products 

Darning yarns, Darning mushroom, Darning egg & Knitter's Needles

 

Felt Pebble Pincushion

These felt pebbles are made of 100% merino wool. The "filling" was felted also with 100% merino wool. The felted structures on the "stone surface" consist partly of mulberry silk.

Felt can be treated like wool. A careful hand wash or machine wash (the woolens or delicate cycle) with a few drops of wool detergent to remove dirt. During the washing process in the washing machine, the felt piece may slightly lose its shape - it must then be pulled back into its original round or square shape. After washing, the felt piece can be tumble dried at low temperature and low rotation speed. Then return it to the desired shape and let it flat dry. After drying, the felt retains its shape. The felt becomes even more beautiful when it is damped.

Friction during use can cause to form small balls on the surface (so-called pilling), just as on wool sweaters. These can easily be trimmed away or shaved. Such balls are formed again more quickly if they are pulled or plucked off.

If the felt pincushion is not used or stored for a longer period of time, you should think about moth protection! The more often you move items, the less moths feel comfortable in them!

See the products

Felt pebble pincushion L,  Felt pebble pincushion M

 

Pins & Needles

1. General rule of needle size

The bigger the number the finer the sewing needle

2. Keep them in safe place

Sharp needles and pins should be kept in safe places to avoid unneccesary searching or injury. Always remember to place them in a pin cushion or in a small container. It is not only dangerous or hard to find when they drop on a floor (especially on a thick carpet) or when they are left on the work surface, but it can also cause dullness or breakage of pins and needles.

3. Keep them sharp ( Embroidery needles & Pins )

Sharp needles make the creative process much more fun and smooth. Dull tips gives you nothing but stress and slow down the entire sewing process. Check once in a while if the tips of your pins or needles are still sharp. It is also recommended not to sew over the pins while sewing on a sewing maschine which could also cause the breakage or dullness to both the pins and sewing needles.

There are many ways to sharpen your pins and needles by yourself. toolly gives you the list of items you can use for this purpose. If one of the items interests you, then you can search for the tips and tutorials on the internet by typing the keywords like; "How to sharpen needles with..... " or "What to use to sharpen pins" and so on. Thanks to the countless blogs and video tutorials from the sewing (maschine) experts available that show you exactly how to do it, you can surely find the most useful tips and interesting infos you need.

Here are some items you can use to sharpen your pins & needles. Always try it out first with one needle to see if it works for you, before you try the whole box of them.

• Steel wool
• Soap bar
• Sewing maschine oil
• Vegetable oil
• Emery board

 

4. As for Knitters's needles...

Since the points of knitter's needles have been intentionally made round, so that they don't catch the sensitive knitting yarns, so let's keep them that way. The points should remain smoooth and round, there is no need to sharpen them. However, if the surface of the body part is damaged or scratched, above mentioned method can be also used to smoothen it.
If the tip of knitter's needle is too thick to stick on the pincushon, keep it in a safe place like a little box or place it back in the packaging card to avoid loosing or the damage to the surface.

See the products

Hand sewing needles, Knitter's needles, & Glass head marking pins

The preicious look of Stainless steel’s smooth and shiny surface is fairly easy to maintain. While carbon steel will rust when exposed to air and moisture, stainless steel is more resistance to rust and is highly durable due to the element on the surface layer which guards against corrosion.

However, rusting can also happen to stainless steel under certain circumstances when the protecting layer is damaged.

Here are some simple tips to clean and care

• Do not clean the surface with steel wool or other metal brushes, these will scratch the surface of the steel. Also avoid contact with corrosive materials such as powder. They can damage the surface and lead to rusting.

• Use a soft sponge or cloth to wipe off fingerprints. Mild soap or detergent and warm water can be also used to clean persistent fingerprints. Wipe and dry thoroughly after cleaning.

• Avoid contact with harsh Chemicals such as acidic cleaners. This can cause the dullness to the steel’s surface.

• Cover or keep it in the cloth bag when you are not using the stainless steel product if possible. This will protect against dust and damage and maintain its cleanliness.

See product Pattern weight

 

Japanese Tailor Shears

The outstanding cutting quality of Shozaburo shears is due to the excellent traditional techniques cultivated over many years using refined materials as blade steel. In the old days, they relied on the hands of people to make the shape of the handle part, to attach the blade metal, to forge, to sharpen and so on. Today, most of the processes are able to be automated, but the most important process of "adjusting the two blades for optimal rubbing" is still done by skilled craftmen by hand, one by one, with atmost care. Shozaburo's shears are not only a uniform product by automation, but also are finished with a subtle sense of care that only human skills can do.

Care Guide

• Wipe off any oil applied to the shears before use, to avoid staining the material you are cutting. Please be careful of sharp edges while wiping.

• The edges of your scissors are extremely sharp. Please cut soft cloth several times before use. Cutting thick or hard cloth from the start may damage the blades.

• Use the tip of the blade to cut threads and thin items short.

• When cutting thick materials, open and close only the part of the blade closest to the scissors' screw.

• It is advised not to cut paper or other materials harder than cloth. The chipping on the blades might occur due to the shears' thin blades.

• After use, wipe off any dirt and dust with a soft cloth and lightly wipe the underside of the blade and the screw part with a cloth with a drop of sewing machine oil, and store it in a safe place.

• High quality shears should be sharpened by a profeccional or by the skilled use of a sharpening stone or wheel, to maintain the integrity and original angle of the edges.

Users guide

• Do not drop or give strong impact on this product.

• Avoid using it in a place where it may be exposed to water, chemicals, or electricity.

• Do not use the shears' cutting edge for opening the lid of the can or cutting metal such as wire or tin plate. The cutting edge may be bent or chipped, resulting in poor sharpness.

• Please do not use for animals and plants.

• Do not use it continuously for a long time as it will put a strain on your hands and wrists.

• Always watch carefully when used by children.We are not responsible for injuries caused by improper use of scissors other than the correct application and usage, and for deterioration and damage to shears, so please handle them with care.

See product Japanese tailor shears

 

Japanese Thread Scissors

The production of Shozaburo scissors are combined traditional sword making technique and modern technology. The founder Miura Shozaburo (1896-1982) dedicated his whole life to the study and manufacturing of shears. Today, the craftmen personally trained by Miura Shozaburo carry on his spirit and continue to produce fine Japanese shears.

These thread scissors are made of high-grade steel for cutiing thread. We can not hold responsibility for injuries, deterioration of scissors' quality or any damage caused by improper handling other than the correct usage. Please handle with care.

Users guide

• Do not drop or give strong impact to this product.

• Avoid using it in a place where it may be exposed to water, chemicals, or electricity.

• Do not open the lid of the can with the cutting edge or cut metal such as wire or tin plate. The cutting edge may be bent or chipped, resulting in poor sharpness.

• Please do not use for animals and plants.

• Do not use it continuously for a long time as it will put a strain on your hands.

• Always watch carefully when used by children.

• After use, wipe off any dirt and dust with a soft cloth and lightly wipe the blade with a cloth and store it in a safe place.

See product Japanese thread scissors

 

Tailor Chalks

Tailors chalks are used for temporary guide markings on fabric to indicate where it needs to be cut or left out, shortened or lengthened, or where a pleat needs to be made, and so on. Those marks can be brushed or washed off the material when no longer needed.

Tailor chalks mainly consist of two types of substances: wax-based and clay-based.
Clay chalks are more suitable for fine woven fabrics and flat knit fabrics.
Wax chalks are less common, but very useful when you are marking on woolen or coarsely woven fabrics such as upholstery fabrics. Great thing about wax-based chalk is that the marking lines disapear when ironed. After you draw a line for the hem, fold and iron, the marking line will be gone. Exactly when you don't need the line anymore. How convenient!

!!! Please do a pre-test first on the small corner or on the back side of the fabric to see how your chalk will appear and can be erased, before applying to the rest of the material. Different materials react differently to the oils in the wax chalks. Do not press too hard when using clay based or wax chalks as it might make an unwanted press mark on the fabric.

 

 

How to sharpen Chalks
 
Classic triangle tailors chalks have nice and sharp eges, but as it is often used, eventually it gets dull. Drawing lines with dull-edged chalks make stressful imprecise marks. To sharpen the edges, you can use an item you already have at home. You don't need an extra sharpening tool.

1. Try paper scissors (never use a good tailor shears!!)
2. Try small sharp knives such as Xacto knives or kitchen knives
3. Try vegetable peeler
4. Just run the edge of the blade along the top and sides of the chalk until you get a desired sharpness.

Triangle Tailor's Chalk