For Cutting Fabric Only

I remember looking down at the cheddar goldfish cracker in the palm of my hand smiling back at me and wishing I could give it a hug. "That would make a cool pillow" I thought to myself. My creative brain immediately kicking into gear on the process: how to recreate the familiar shape and capture that happy but mischievous glance in the form of a huggable throw pillow.

I already had an inviting little design/build studio space set up complete with industrial sewing machine, cutting tables and cutting mats. I had shelves full of neatly folded stacks of decorator fabric ends and treasured vintage fabric remnants. Using brown kraft paper, I sketched out an outline of the goldfish shape, a fun gesture of the standard 20-inch throw pillow. I pulled out the piece of bright orange velvet, a close match to the famed cheddar goldfish cracker color. After carefully planning the layout to accommodate for direction of the nap, I whimsically traced the pattern and started cutting. I was hoping that this would be the first of a new design line and would take several tries to fine-tune the process and achieve the desired result.

The day turned into evening. After several sample runs and many pattern tweaks, I realized that adding a textured and contrasting welted edge gave my new pillow design the wow factor I wanted but how would I capture that jaunty look I was imagining. The muscles in my thumps ached and the tips of my fingers feeling raw from sewing endless yards of textured welting. I had my trusty Husqvarna sewing machine with the walking foot welt attachment, but one thing was clear: I needed better scissors.

The summer sun was setting on the river as I strolled home from my shop that evening, but my senses were heightened by the glorious landscape that spilled out before me. Looking out on the Mississippi and the hues of blues and greens and oranges in the long horizontal rays of evening light sparked my idea: This would be a wonderful way to use all the interesting fabric scraps and beautiful bits leftover from upholstery and other design projects that I was so resistant to part with.

That night I dreamt about my gramma. The one who had taught me how to cut and sew and create softgoods that I imagined out of fabrics. I had watched her make my first raggedy Anne doll, carefully hand embroidering the nose and mouth, making fabric buttons for eyes. Fabric buttons for eyes! Of course that was the answer! I watched how she clinched her teeth when cutting through thick fabrics with the old beater tailor sheers. “You better go and get the special orange handled scissors” she would say. Only a select few knew the secret place she kept her special Fiskars, wrapped in the handmade padded case she had fashioned, in the third drawer down of the built-in hallway cabinet. And the were strictly for cutting fabric only. She thought she had to preserve them for special situations. What she didn’t realize is that my grampa also new that secret place and he would sneak the orange handled scissors down to his shop to keep their knife edge sharp.

“Its important to have the right tools” he affirmed while keeping the treadle of his sharpening stone whirring, “and keep them sharp” he continued, testing the edge with his thumb and flashing that happy but mischievous glance. “They will keep you going.”

Thanks to my grandparent’s guidance, I knew if that if I was going to go into a serious creative streak of decorative fish pillow production, I was going to have to up my arsenal. To produce handmade product in volume for retail sale calls for a surprising amount of repetitive strain on the body. Having the right tools was essential. I needed the orange handled scissors.

The following morning I bolted out of bed, threw on my work smock and headed to the nearest local small town fabric store. The Rainbow sewing center was a throwback to the 50’s that still had dusty packs of rick rack and a surprising selection of novelty seeing items. It was open 7AM-3PM every weekday and for the first hour they offered free coffee and unadvertised deals they called the early bird specials. The promotion that day happened to be for cutting tools and supplies, buy two get one free. The scissors supply was freshly stocked with at least one of everything I needed. I have had many days in my life that felt lucky but this one seemed particularly special.

The choice of what to purchase was an easy decision:

1. Fiskars No. 8 Premier easy Action Bent Scissors for easy cutting out the smooth sweeping curves of fish body shapes from templates. The spring-loaded action that kept my hands flying without fatigue or thumb pain.

2. Fiskars easy action Micro-tip scissors with the pointed tip. For clipping the curves to get an unwavering line on the welted edges. The spring-loaded action that kept my hands flying with control and accuracy

3. Fiskars micro tipped 5” sewing scissors to cut threads for a perfect and neatly finished product. Not the spring-loaded action but short sharp tips that allowed detailed precision.

4. The Fiskars Functional Form Clip-sharp scissors sharpener. Just the name of this product inspired confidence: No more clinching the jaw while chewing trough fabric with dull blades.

5. A 60 mm comfort rotary cutter with the softgrip loop handle, to persevere hundreds of yards of textured contrasting weltstrips with effortless control, because nobody wants to lose a finger.

6. A few packs of extra 60 mm rotary blades, of course.

Over the years I expanded my vision to include a variety of shapes inspired by actual species in a myriad of colors, patterns and sizes. Equipped with all the right tools to realize my vision, I embarked on creative journey that included thousands of fish pillows, each one individually made. My Fiskars made it possible and kept me going strong.