Hey Everyone, welcome back to Technique Tuesday.

The other day Michael was watching something on his iPad and said come see this. So I did and it was all about what the little red ball on the end of the seam ripper was for.

I had no idea!

My mother who was a seamstress I don’t think used it in this fashion but maybe I just didn’t see her rip anything apart. If she knew what it was for she certainly didn’t pass it on to me. Maybe because I showed no interest in sewing at the time.

We all know that the sharp pointed end is used to pick out stitches and rip out those stitches we accidentally put in the wrong place or like me with my Stitch Along Sunday piece make the sun look like a huge jelly fish in the sky – really it does. Go take a look.

The red ball is used to protect the fabric so that the seam ripper can be inserted along the seam between the two fabrics and then slid along the stitching to rip it all out.

Place the seam ripper between the fabrics along the seam with the red ball facing down into the fabrics.

Seam ripper in place to start ripping with the red ball facing down

Move the seam ripper along at a slight angle upwards towards the edge of the fabric. You may have to open up the seam a bit at the beginning just to get started.

All set and ready to go

Here’s a little video of me giving it a go and it works like a charm. Those seams are gone in no time flat.

So the next time you have to rip out a seam remember to turn the seam ripper around and reduce the amount of time reverse sewing exponentially. No sense wasting anymore time than one has to with this nasty job.

Happy Quilting!