Tailor's Ham - Veggie Friendly!

"What on earth is that?"

That's the first thing I asked my grandmother, when she handed me a tailor's ham, and asked me if I could use it.  They look like this:

Do you see why I was confused?  I took it, because, well that's what you do when your grandmother gives you gifts.  But then, Jo, over at Bridges on the Body started talking about how wonderful they were for pressing curved seams.  That is a pain in the patoot, for sure!  But I still had no idea how it was supposed to help.  So I looked it up.  You do this:

image from coletterie.com

Or this:

image from bridgesonthebody.blogspot.com

Fabric is flat, so making curved shapes with it is a pain.  I finally tried mine for the first time last night, working on the sew-along.  Man, does it make life easier!  I always tried to use the corners of my irnoning board, or pull parts of the fabric up so I could smooth out the curve.  This is MUCH easier!  Who knew?

Well, Jo did.  And so did Gertie.  Maybe my grandmother didn't, and that's why she gave away such a valuable tool!  But friends, I'm telling you.  If you sew, and you sew things with curves, you need one!  There are tons of really cute ones out there, too.  Like this one from stitch nerd:



Naturally, it's sold.  But still.  Can you say adorable?  Why not have fun supplies and tools, you know? Especially when they're this handy!