Hey Everyone, welcome back to Cool Tool Thursday.
When I was teaching at Quilty Pleasures in Orleans I saw that many of my students were using an awl to feed their Bargello pieces under the foot of the sewing machine. With the many seams to feed under the foot the awl was a great idea.
I’ve never used anything to guide my fabric under the foot of my sewing machine and if my fabric does need a little hand I usually use the tip of my seam ripper or the tip of my scissors.
The draw back with these items is that they both can rip the fabric.
The ball point awl from Clover which many of the ladies in my class were using has a ball at the tip – no sharp point which means no ripping or tearing of the fabric.
Round tip on end of awl
I purchased one and have given it a go. It works well and has a long enough handle on it that your hand is not in the way of your work so you can see what you are doing.
The awl in Action
So now I have it sitting by my sewing machine for those times when my fabric needs a little bit of guidance.
With the ball point end it would also be great for poking out corners on pillows, pot holders and anything else that has been turned inside out.
Do you have an awl in your tool box?
Happy Quilting!
