I recently made a deal with myself: until I’ve used all of the fabric in my stash, I’m not allowed to purchase any more. I know, it’s a toughie. So, instead of buying more fabric, I’ve added other sewing-related bits and bobs to my stash instead. It’s not technically cheating…

The first new addition to my sewing box were these gold-plated stork scissors from Prym. I’ve seen a few bird-shaped snips like these on the high street, but in my opinion the Prym version is the only way to go for sewists. These are super-sharp so cut cleanly and don’t chew up threads, and they look great too. I now keep them by my sewing machine at all times. I also treated myself to this Hay ruler from Papersmiths in Bristol – it isn’t strictly part of my sewing kit as it’s nowhere near big enough to measure anything useful, but it’s in one of my favourite colours and looks nice sat on my sewing table. There are other styles and colours too, so I may just have to start a Hay ruler collection.The final (and possibly most exciting) sewing stash newcomer are these custom labels from Nominette*. I’ve been meaning to get some labels printed for my me-made clothing for a while now, but could never decide what to have on them. The idea of labels embroidered with my own name brings back memories of school sports kits (shudder), and I didn’t want to use my blog title in case I fancied changing it at some point in the future (I’m fickle like that).

In the end, I decided to keep it simple with a ‘Hand Made’ motif that I designed myself. Mine are the 25mm end-fold style (£53 for 100 labels), but there are a few different folding options available. The embroidery comes in myriad colours, but I just couldn’t resist going for gold. I’m really pleased with the quality of the labels and the stitching, and will certainly be ordering more when I’ve run out.

Now, excuse me while I go and sew these onto everything I’ve ever made…

*Nominette sent me 50 labels for free, but all opinions are my own and I haven’t used any affiliate links in this post.