CoudreMODE

Vogue 8747 – Version 3

coudremode — Mon, 07 May 2012 21:57:03 +0000

This version was originally going to be 3/4 sleeve with a french cuff like Version 2 and when it came time to add the sleeves I ~~messed up the contrast fabric~~ decided it looked better with a short sleeve, the long sleeves seem too “heavy” looking somehow. But I did add a contrast inner facing to the sleeves instead of the grograin ribbon noted in the pattern. The plum colored buttons are from Pam at Fashion Sewing Supply, these are the buttons she sells by the “scoop” and they are really great for shirts and blouses because (1) the colors are fab and (2) they are at a great price. After mine arrived I spent a zen hour or two listening to music and sorting them out by color into small zip lock bags, which makes it easier to match them to fabric. I ended up with a least 8-12 buttons each in 7-8 different colors.

This fabric is a kind of soft and heavy blue broadcloth-ish cotton with faint stripes in white and bright blue so the buttonholes are matched to the blue stripes. I like to use machine embroidery thread for buttonhole because the fibers are smooth and I like the sheen. The placket and collar edge has matching blue topstitching in regular thread. One disappointment is that I worked so hard to match the white stripe horizontally across the placket but I still messed that up as well and it also match it to the blue – but it’s a subtle mistake and I’ll wear this shirt anyway :)

For the next version I have some fitting refinements to make and I really need to work on a cleaner join where the collar stand meets the placket at center front.

All in all a good basic spring-summer shirt

Simplicty 1880 – Modern Vintage

coudremode — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:43:55 +0000

Over the past few months I’ve been reading a lot of blogs by young sewers doing vintage looks, some are period-accurate (well except these gals seem to eschew period foundations haha) and others are into the whole Collette Patterns-gamine look. When I was in high school and college most of my wardrobe was vintage – it was cheap, easy to find and there were great garments available by the truckload in the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores in my hometown. Plus I come from Wilkes-Barre PA which in the 70′s was a gold mine for everything from vintage mohair sofas and parlor radios to cobalt glass cocktail sets and Fiestaware to fabulous pre-WWII suits, dresses, shoes and hats. These days though vintage clothes are hard to find, I suspect the available inventory has been acquired and sold already. However, there are still plenty of vintage patterns out there and I think the sewing revival among 20 & 30 -somethings is being fueled by a desire to wear vintage looks. So I’ve been feeling nostalgic for the days when I had the time to spend a weekend sorting through bins of old clothes at the Salvation Army for that one amazing find that I could proudly wear the next day. And now that dance costume season is done I can make something for myself for the first time in four months. Saturday I was in Jo-Ann’s and found Simplicity 1880, a really great shirtwaist drafted for drapey summer fabrics. View B has a 40′s shirtwaist feel to it and there are several details I like in View B (the yellow version):

The sleeves are smooth at the top of the sleeve cap with a tucks at the band
There is a set- in waist and the skirt has four panel flare
The back of the bodice has a yoke, so I can add a fashion fabric lining for the yoke to hides seams and will line the skirt with a nice rayon
Instead of a sash I’ll make a fashion fabric belt with a buckle from M&J Trim in faux abalone pearly colors.

For fabric I’ll use this retro print silk that Ann gave me; it has a feather motif and after I washed it a lot of color bled out and muted the intense tone-on-tone blues and greens into something more wearable. 1880 is a Project Runway pattern that includes a croquis and it was wicked fun to trace off the dress. The shoes are Chie Mihara t-straps a couple years old, it’s a Spanish shoe line that has the same modern retro look as John Fluevog shoes.

When is a Ham Not a Ham? When It’s a Stitch Nerd Custom Ham

coudremode — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:09:02 +0000

Isn't she a beauty?

As soon as I read Pam‘s blog post about the custom pressing hams made at Stitch Nerd I had to have one! The item I really wanted was a contour ham, this is a sewing/pressing tool I’ve craved for years ( I kid you not - years) and while I had searched high and low, I never found a conotured ham that met my standards., the reason being is that I have a vintage June Taylor regular ham from the 70′s that my mother gave me and so I knew how a proper pressing ham should be made:

It has one cotton side and one wool side (100% wool and 100% cotton only thank you)
The outer surface is really a cover and there is an inner form filled with sawdust
It’s must be heavy and solid to withstand hard use with a heavy iron and steam

Oh sure, Dritz still sells pressing hams, but it’s kind of like the difference between a self-stable canned ham sitting in nasty, salty jelly on a supermarket shelf and an artisan ham made from free range pigs lovingly smoked in a barn by someone who makes only a couple hundred a year instead of millions - there is just no comparison.

The most fun thing about Stitch Nerd products is each customer chooses their own fabric combination of wool and cotton and the choices are really great. I actually go over to the web site just to play with the different fabric combinations. Mine has a Tudor black-and-white floral on the cotton side and a very 70′s London Punk pink & black plaid on the wool side. Sonia puts a lot of love into each order, notice she centered the floral motif on the cotton side so it would be as pretty as possible. I LOVE THAT. I have to say too I’m really impressed that the wool plaid is perfectly square over a complex three dimensional surface. Stitch Nerd sells two sizes of contoured ham sizes, I have the large one. I really recommend the larger one.

After your make your fabric choice Sonia lovingly crafts each ham and sleeve roll by hand. She packs each order well enough to surive a trip to Mars in tissue paper and pink bubble wrap, which was a big hit with my teenage daughters. As an added bonus the sawdust filling has a light and fragrant smell of cut wood – kind of the sewing equivalent of new car smell and just as appealing.

In addtion to hams and sleeve rolls also available is a ham holder; a very handy wooden stand that props up the ham. Ann has one of these; I didn’t order one only because I have a vintage plastic June Taylor ham stand that my mother gave me but I have to say that if you buy a Stitch Nerd ham try to include the ham stand as well because in order to use your ham to the fullest it needs a stand for stability.

So what exactly does a pressing ham do? Several things…

The concave side is used to press things such as a a facing on a sleeveless blouse
The convex side is used for pressing princess seams and the like
They are really great for steaming a shirt collar into a round shape
I like to use them to pin embellishment when I mock up ideas (the sawdust filling is perfectly pinnable)

Stitch Nerd products really fulfill the “form follows function” mantra and in addition to its usefulness of my contour ham I just like looking at in my sewing room. There is value in beautiful tools because it helps us create beautiful garments.

Shorten RTW Jacket Sleeves Without Removing Them

coudremode — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:09:49 +0000

Dance costume season has begun and I’ve been tapped again to do costumes/props for two solos, a duo and the big production routine that has all 56 kids dancing in it. Unlike last year I don’t need to custom make each costume. This year Rennie chose gold polyester gabardine jackets and every dancer, both boys and girls, are all wearing this identical jacket. In large production numbers the size range of the dancers is really broad, there are kids who are only 9 years old and 17-18 year old teenagers already at their adult size. 14 jackets for the Level 2 kids need the sleeves shortened. Removing the sleeves on each jacket was not an option because it would be far too time consuming. So I came up with this method to shorten a sleeve that does not require removing the sleeve from the jacket. It works best for a plain, straight jacket sleeve with no vent.

Step 1: Determine The New Finished Sleeve Length

Have the wearer put on the jacket, button it and stand with their arms straight down in a natural stance. Roll the sleeve to the desired length, turning it under gives a more accurate take on the right length than rolling it up will provide. Align the seam lines and pin the sleeve in place. Do the same thing to the other sleeve as most people have one arm longer than the other.

Step 2: Mark the New Finished Sleeve Length

Leave the pinned sleeves in place. Remove the jacket and measure the length of the underarm seam from the bottom of the armhole to the rolled edge. If the jacket has a two or three piece sleeve measure the seam closest to the bottom of the armhole. Take out the pin and mark this length. The mark at the roll line is now the new finished sleeve edge. From the first mark add another mark 1 ½ inches down towards the open end. The 2^nd mark (which is closer to the original finished sleeve) is the new cutting line. At this stage also remove any buttons or decorative trim that might be on the sleeves.

Step 3: Open Up The Sleeve

Turn the jacket inside out and inspect the sleeve linings. You will probably see on one or both sleeve linings a butted together seam such as the one shown above. RTW jacket linings are inserted with the bag method and this seam is generally the last seam sewn in the factory. Starting about 2 inches below the armhole rip open this seam all the way to the cuff. You may encounter some interior stitches (often in a contrast color usually at the elbow) hidden inside the seam allowances that hold the lining seam allowance to the sleeve seam allowance. Remove these interior stitches as well. Then rip out the stitches attaching the sleeve lining to the sleeve cuff. Pull down the turned up cuff. The whole thing should look as shown below. If you don’t see a butted together lining seam just rip open the seam at the lowest part of the armhole.

Step 4: Shorten The Sleeve

Turn the jacket right side out and pull the lining through the armhole, into the jacket body and out of the way. Measure the distance from the lower mark to the cut edge and carry this mark all the way around the sleeve. Cut off the excess fabric. Pull the lining back down into sleeve and smooth it out to fill the sleeve and cut the excess lining even with the new cut edge of the fashion fabric. Tip: RTW jackets generally have a piece of fusible interfacing at the cuff for a crisp finish and if this was removed when cutting add a new piece to each sleeve.

Step 5: Baste and Re-Sew The Lining To The Sleeve

At this stage the right sides of the sleeve and right side of the lining need to meet and be sewn back together again. The lining seam had to be opened up so that there is enough room to maneuver the fabric. Essentially this stage is sewing a flat piece (the lining) to a tube (the sleeve.)

Turn the jacket inside out, place it on a dress form or hanger and mark where the RS ripped seam matches its corresponding RS sleeve seam. Chalk, a sticker or tape is good, anything will work that clearly indicates the right side from the wrong side. Do the same thing with the other sleeve. This is an important step because the RS lining and RS sleeve must be matched up properly for sewing.

Leave the jacket on the dress form/hanger. Run your arm through the inside-out sleeve to make sure everything is hanging smoothly nothing is twisted (very important!) Turn back the sleeve into a cuff 4-6 inches deep. The right side of the fashion fabric will be facing up on the turn back. For the photos the jacket was placed on a flat surface to better illustrate this step,however, it really is best to work vertically because it helps to prevent twisting.

Find the lining seam edge that corresponds to the underarm seam on the jacket. Fold the lining back to reveal the right side, turn up the sleeve seam allowance and pin it to the right side of the sleeve exactly along its corresponding seam. Slowly work your way around the sleeve, pinning the edges, until you come back to the first pin. Gently pull the sleeve fabric out of the lining a bit more if you need more room to maneuver the edges for pinning (this is why the virtually entire lining seam needs to be ripped open.) Don’t worry about how it looks because as long as the seams were aligned correctly during pinning it will come out right in the end. When you come back to the first pin overlap it with the turned up lining. Thread baste by hand over the pins then remove them. YES you must hand baste! After basting gently turn the sleeve out and put the sleeve on your arm; if you can’t put your arm through the sleeve the lining is twisted. If that happens just remove the thread basting, re-pin and re-baste. Pin basting is possible but if the lining is not aligned correctly with the sleeve and it gets twisted that means you’ll be ripping stitches after sewing. Better to baste, test first and then sew.

Sew the lining to the sleeve with a 1/2 inch seam. Move slowly around the sleeve and rearrange the whole jacket as needed. The hand basting also makes it much easier to maneuver the fabric under the presser foot.

When it’s done push the sleeve out through the lining back to its normal position, butt the sleeve lining edges back together and re-sew the lining seam. If the sleeve does not have a butted lining seam just re-sew it butted together.

Press your new shortened sleeve edge. Re-attach buttons and trim.

A few things to note:

This method work best on a straight sleeve. If the sleeve is very tapered there may not be enough fabric to turn up the new sleeve. This sleeve alteration will also work for a two- or three-piece sleeve however if the sleeve is shortened more than an inch it may affect the drape because the sleeve edge has moved closer to the curve at the elbow. On the jackets that I just altered I’ve had to remove as much as two inches of length for the younger kids because these are adult size jackets, but hey these are dance costumes.

This method doesn’t really work for a vented sleeve because there will not be enough fabric to make a new vent, although I suppose a new faced vent could be added by cutting off the vent piece and moving it up the sleeve. A few jackets had sleeve vents and I just converted them to regular sleeve; again this is a dance costume so they really all need to be the same anyway.

Any questions? Just let me know.

Jewel Tool: A Perfect Rhinestone Setter

coudremode — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 15:09:56 +0000

Click!

A while ago I found the Rivet-In on Ebay and it’s one of the best rivet setters out there. The merchant was Sue’s Sweet Beads and she asked me to review the Jewel Tool a rhinestone setter that she also sells. This tool sets prong set rhinestones and it’s very similar to the Rivet-In, the main difference is that this sets rhinestones face down from the wrong side and the Rivet-In sets face up on right side of the fabric. Does it work? You bet! Sue’s video below illustrates the process perfectly. The Jewel Tool has a major advantage over a hot-fix wand because it will set rhinestones on things like velvet and leather. As you know hot-fix crystals will not adhere to napped fabrics and leather. Hot-fix is also not very durable, they eventually fall off in the wash and/or fall off when placed on any area of a garment that gets a lot of wear, such as the back pockets of jeans, or on garments that need to stretch such as dance costumes. I decided to test the Jewel Tool on a mock up of Em’s costume and it worked perfectly. The fabric is a stretch velvet heavily embellished with glitter and hot-fix will absolutely not stick to this fabri, however the Jewel Tool set rhinestones with ease and trust me they will not come off. I have to say too this tool is much faster to use than a hot-fix wand.

Even if you have a hot-fix wand the Jewel Tool is worth owning as well, especially for napped fabrics, leather and any project where hot-fix won’t hold up. Like the Rivet-In, Sue is the only source for this item as these were manufactured over 40 years ago and she has all of the the remaining inventory. When they’re gone they are gone for good!

Product Review Disclaimer

I am not affiliated with any of the merchants or products mentioned on my blog. I am not paid for my reviews. Products reviewed on this blog are samples sent by brands, publishers and merchants. I make no promises regarding reviews or the nature of my reviews when accepting samples. Just because I am sent a product for review does NOT mean I will feature it or review it favorably. The items I choose to post are products I want to write about and my reviews are my 100% honest opinion.

In Defense of Shipping Fees

coudremode — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:48:56 +0000

For the life of me I just don’t understand why people bitch about shipping fees when they shop on the internet. Running an internet business is not the same same thing as running a brick-and-mortar store. When your order on-line someone picks your order, packs it, checks it and ships it to your door. You can shop buck naked at 3 in the morning if you want to. You did not have to fight your way in and out of a store. You did not wait in line. You did not need to go to the bank to get cash. You do not use any gas or add mileage to your car.

I have some very good friends who run internet businesses. They work hours most of us wouldn’t even dream of and they deal with all kinds of crazy demands and entitled customers. They are not Amazon, which is a publically traded company that can afford to give away free shipping. They may (or may not) make more money than I do but I don’t have to deal with the public either. They are regular people like you and me, not CEO’s making millions of dollars a year.

SO – bottom line – if you don’t like an internet merchant’s shipping fees take your business elsewhere and leave them for people like me who are grateful for their attention to detail and customer services chops in a world of poor service where anonymous screw-ups are the norm, such as the re-fi my husband and I finally closed today that took over a month and two visits to the bank before the third party document processing company got his name right on the freaking documents.

Make a Sleeve Board Cover

coudremode — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:53:12 +0000

The Cover Pattern Traced Off

Finished Sleeve Board Covers - One wool side, one cotton side

A good sleeve board is something every sewer can use; I find them a bit more useful than a sleeve roll. The small one below I’ve had for years and it was okay but not really long enough, strong enough and it was not well padded. Ann went to New York this week and brought me back the type of sleeve board used in sample rooms and on Project Runway – isn’t it great? These are made by Newhouse Specialty Co. and are sold on their web site. The boards are cut from MDO plywood connected with an aluminum bracket, padded on both sides and each has a muslin cover. The cover is sewn to fit tightly over the open end. On the bracket end a casing with a string pulls it tight. The boards are two different widths, one is for shirts and the other is for jackets. I know from experience that these covers don’t last forever because they scorch from the heat and eventually fall apart. So I made new covers to go over the muslin ones. I made a smooth cotton cover for the shirt board and the jacket side has a wool tweed cover. Pressing tools like hams, sleeve boards and seam rolls have two fabric sides for different situations. The cotton side is used for cottons, lines and blends while the wool side is used with wool, silk and heavy steaming because the wool side absorbs moisture and the pressed fabric dries faster. There is no rule that says one side has to be wool and the other cotton really that’s up to you.

Making a cover like this is easy, just remove the original muslin, rip all the stiches out, press it flat and trace it off to make a pattern. Ripping won’t take long because the original cover made at the factory is sewn with really long stiches and it goes fast. Press the muslin cover flat and connect the dots from the original needle holes to mark the seams. The traced off pattern will look like the example at the right.

Padding - it's just taped down

Don’t throw out the original muslin cover! After the pattern is made you’ll stitch it back together and put it back on the board. The fashion fabric cover goes over the original muslin covers.

Materials:

Seam ripper

Cotton string, 20 inches per cover

Fashion Fabric: two 27 x 12 inch remnants of fashion fabric is all you need for each cover and a cross grain or selvage grain layout is fine it doesn’t make any difference. I chose these two fabrics because they look nice together, one is a silk-wool tweed and the other a stretch cotton. The new cover is made exactly like the original the only change is that the center back seam for the fashion fabric cover should be reduced to 5/8 from the original ¾; this little bit of ease will make it easier to pull the fashion fabric cover over the muslin one. Also use a small stitch length on both the fashion fabric cover and the re-sewn muslin.

The process of ripping apart the original cover will pretty much reveal how it goes back together, the steps are these:

Cut out the fashion fabric and clip the four notches as noted on the pattern. The space between the notches is the opening that fits around the aluminum bracket. The area above the notches on the big round end forms the casing for the string. The area below the notches is the t-shaped seam that end fits over the small end of the board.
Fold under the area between the notches to clean finish the bracket opening. Starting at the bottom notch stitch all the way around the big round end folding it to make a casing for the string. Come all the way around to the lowest notch on the other side. Yes, sew from one bottom notch all the way around to the other bottom notch. It’s ok to sew across the top notches as long as you leave enough room to insert the string.
Run the string only through the top notches near the big round end to form the casing.
Fold the fabric rights sides together. Sew the center back seam from the small round end to the first notch. Press this seam open.
Align the rounded cut edges and sew the end seam. Clip this seam to ¼ inch.
Turn the cover to the right side and put both covers, muslin and the fashion fabric, back on the boards. The muslin goes first and the fashion fabric last.

A few hints:

This is not fine sewing and I didn’t bother (and neither did the factory) to finish the edges of the muslin for the bracket opening and the string casing, however the wool tweed was ravelly so I serged those edges before sewing the casing. I didn’t serge any of the edges for the t-shaped seam because that end of the cover fits so tightly to the board there’s no reason to do that.

The final assembly: Pull the covers onto the boards one at a time, muslin first and fashion fabric next. Pull the casing string to tighten it around the wide end of the board. Tie several strong knots and clip any extra string. Steam the fashion fabric at both ends of the board so it’s nice and smooth over the padding. Save the traced off patterns to use again when it’s time to replace the covers after they get scorched and stained from pressing; The length of time they last depends on how much you sew, mine last about 2 years.

Enjoy your fab new sleeve board covers!

Benedikt NY Jewelry – Part I

coudremode — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:00:14 +0000

Over 20 years ago I bought a Maltese cross brooch at the (late, great) Filene’s Basement store in Boston. It became a favorite and I wore it constantly and then one of the cabochons fell out and I was so crushed. One day on a whim I googled “Maltese cross” to see if something similar was available much to my surprise saw several images of a virtually identical brooch listed that was signed “Benedikt NY”! After some additional sleuthing it seems that Howard Benedikt made high-end costume jewelry from 1955 to 1973. His store was located at 389 5th Avenue in New York City and that is all I can find out about him. His pieces are considered collectible and are certainly as well made as vintage Hattie Carnegie pieces but are much less pricey. The brooch I bought in the 80’s was clearly a Benedikt knock-off and from time to time I see his designs copied by today’s high end costume jewelery brands such as Kenneth Jay Lane. I have three of these brooches, a white/grey crystal, a blue crystal and a topaz cabachon.

Benedikt jewelry is always marked “Benedikt N.Y. (c)” and one of his most elaborate pieces is the Maltese cross. It was most commonly made in red, blue or green with both a faceted crystal center or round cabochon center. Blue and green with crystal centers are by far the most common. I’ve seen red and green cabochon centers but the blue only once in my research and it turned up on Ebay in 2007. The center cabochons are colored glass and the oval cabs on the arms on the red and blue examples are colored glass or occasionally opaque pink glass or blue faux lapis (that’s what my blue one has.) This heavy brooch is 2 inches square and weighs one ounce. It’s constructed from three pieces of cast metal held together with a pin under the center stone/cabochon.

Benedikt Maltese cross brooches within each colorway are by no means identical. Sometimes the stones on the arms of the cross match the rest of the colors as in the green crystal example below. My personal preference is for clear crystals but I did make an exception when I bought the white cab cross; I think the subtle grey of the stones is actually really nice. The color of the metal is most often bright gold, only the topaz version seems to have that bronze finish.

Other variations that are rare but do come up include these, see the photos below:

White cabs with black stones on the arms and a black crystal center. There was a bidding war on Ebay for that one!
Turquoise cabs with amethyst stones. This stunner has been on Ruby Lane for a while and is by far the most expensive and unusual I’ve seen.
The red and green cab version was on Ebay in 2008 and I have not seen it again myself.

In addition to a pin back each piece has a hook at the top which allows the brooch to be worn as an enhancer to a necklace and this looks pretty fabulous! The opening is very small though so a bail is needed to attach it. In the photo I pinned the brooch to my dress form because the hook won’t fit over my 4mm Mikimoto pearl necklace. I’ve been looking for a 14k gold bail that works with the style of the brooch.

If you love this brooch and want one here is what l’ve learned in the two years I’ve been collecting Benedikt NY jewelry:

Condition: generally very good to excellent. These must have been expensive pieces of costume jewelery when they were new. I also think they may have been available ready-made and made-to-order, the latter might explain why there are so many interesting variations.
Most examples will not have stones in the tiny prongs circling the center cab/crystal. My white one has them but the other two don’t. I think they were made this way.
Condition issues to look for:

The stones surrounding the arms are occasionally missing so carefully scrutinize photos.
The baguette stones on the points are fogged about 50% of the time (visible on my blue one but the baguettes on the white one are clearer)
Sometimes the pin holding the three parts together has some play in it. This can be fine if it’s minor but if there is a lot of looseness the cabs may fall out because the middle layer holds them down in their prong setting. See the side view for info on how the components fit together.
The fleur-de-lis above the arm cabs should be straight. Notice on my blue brooch, on the left arm, one of them is bent. I also think that happened when it was made.

Prices: starting bids are $14.99 to $49.99 with the winning bid average in the $30 – $60 range on Ebay auctions depending on the time of year. On sites like Rubylane the prices are higher, in the $60 – $80 range. Rubylane is a antique dealer site and has the highest price I’ve seen so far which is for the $188 purple turquoise piece.
Availability: Still pretty good, Benedikt Maltese crosses come up maybe 10 – 12 times a year on Ebay.

I have other Benedikt NY pieces as well and I’ll do another blog post about those.

Mom’s Sweat Shop

coudremode — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:26:46 +0000

“Mom, can you make me a tank top from this to wear to FX next Friday night?”
“How do you want the back to look?”
“Can you make it a racerback?”
“Sure but I have to make the back in white knit because that silver sequin is left over from Siobahn’s costume and there is only enough for a front”
“That’s ok”

Add 1 Jalie 2805 (modified), one coverstich machine, one very pretty rayon knit remnant that Ann gave me and 2 hours later:

“Thanks Mom!”

You’re welcome Sweetie.

A Great Tool: Rivet-In

coudremode — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:51:16 +0000

Right now I’m finishing up a vest from Simplicity 2556 for Abby and she wants nailhead embellishments on the leather collar. The most secure way to attach studs or nailheads is with a bench setter, but they are way more expensive than what I need for an occasional project like this. Hot-Fix nailheads are not really an option as they fall off after a few weeks when applied to leather. Over the years I’ve experimented with various hand held setters and each and every one of them has been a disappointment.

Still last week I thought I’d check Ebay one more time and Lo! I found a listing by Susan’s Sweet Beads for the Rivet-In, an inexpensive, fast, easy to use and accurate way to set studs and nailheads. The Rivet-In is a solid metal, 4″ long, spring-loaded tool for setting metal studs onto fabric. It works best on denim and solid fabrics but can handle lace to thin leather. It also sets rhinestones with rimmed prong settings. There is a story behind this too: In the 60′s an aircraft parts manufacturer in Culver City, Calif. was commissioned to make this tool for a company, once it was approved they made about 2,000. The company bought 1 ,000 and then went out of business. Susan had been buying them100 at a time from the manufacturer till he retired in 2002 and then she bought the remaining inventory. There are a just couple hundred left and if you think you’d find this useful get one because they they’re gone they are gone for good. Susan has a video in her Ebay store that she has allowed me to use on CoudreMode and it perfectly illustrates how to use this handy tool. No more hammers and clamping tools! YAY! Susan fulfills orders with lightening speed and a joy to deal with.