Scissor Nazi

Ok, yes, I may be somewhat protective of my scissors, but I'm not sure I'm quite to Third Reich levels just yet.

Upon moving in with my other half, I proceeded to warn him not to use my good scissors for anything that wasn't fabric. I explained my very simple method of him determining what were good scissors or not. Did it have a ribbon on it? Then it's good scissors. But when you're in a tiny apartment and you have more good scissors than not, I guess some people still get confused, especially if they can't find the non-good ones at a moments notice and all the good ones are just lying around waiting, begging to be used.

Cue several years of "May I?" "NO!" This was eventually mostly solved buy the purchase of multiple pairs of scissors with plastic handles from IKEA for a song. Plastic = boy toys. Ribbons = girl stuff.

I love my sewing scissors. I picked them up while working with the Santa Fe Opera making costumes. Gingher really does make quality stuff. They've held their edge beautifully over the years and even just the feel of them in your hand, the weight of the proper metal throughout makes me happier. I've got three, really, that I keep exclusively for sewing.
I have these which I use for just about anything. Fabric, Velcro, multiple layers of stuff- they just work.
 

These big guys are an absolute joy to cut fabric with. If you're a rotary person and never tried cutting with big luxurious scissors, these will make you reconsider. They glide like a knife through butter, and the weight in them actually helps keep straight line.

But these are my favorites. They're Tailor Tips. I know many folks have beautiful fancy little snips for threads, often ornate things that are ever so cute. But I LOVE my tips. They're tight so you get that lovely snick sound when they cut. They still have some weight to them which feels lovely in my palm. They've never let me down, and they hang really easily around my neck on their ribbon.

I once got to an airport and the scanner found I had scissors in my bag. Much to my horror, I'd forgotten to take my tailor tips out. Unable to bear parting with them, I rented a locker for two weeks just to hold the scissors until I got back rather than have them be destroyed! Yes, I may be a little too attached. But they really are fabulous.

Having the right scissors can make all the difference in the world with what you're doing. I can hardly imagine cutting fabrics without my big shears anymore. And with better cuts means easier lines to follow which means beautiful projects.

I may have my other half over-trained now though. Today's incident involved the cutting of ribbons. He wanted to use some as bookmarks and I said go ahead and "you can even use the good scissors". But he still slunk over to the drawer and produced his plastic handled scissors to cut the ribbons. As I watched him put uneven cuts across the ribbons because the crappy scissors wouldn't cut all the way through, I thought maybe I've done him a disservice.

So I think I'll go get our crappy scissors sharpened.

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