Bead Stoppers - Don't Bead Weave Without Them

Bead weaving is one of my favorite things.  And it became much easier when I discovered Bead Stoppers!  They're a lifesaver for bead weaving or stringing - They just clamp right onto the end of your thread or wire where you would usually put an anchor bead (or hold on for dear life) and keep your beads from sliding off the strand.  Then, when you're done, they just open right up and they're off in a jiff!  They're one of my favorite, favorite tools!  I found mine at Beadaholique.

Needle Grabbers - Seriously.

If you sew or do bead weaving or millinery, or, I imagine any other number of crafts, then you need these things.

I hate thimbles.  When I was taking a millinery class in college, my costume shop manager suggested these little gems - and changed my sewing life forever!

Anytime you are using a needle to go through tight spaces (like bead weaving) or tough materials (like millinery) you end up wrestling with your needle trying to pull it through.  Many folks use a thimble to push from the back of the needle.  But with the needle grabbers, you just wrap it around the needle and suddenly it pulls through like a breeze!  In fact, be careful bead weaving, it makes it so easy to pull through that it can be easy to break a bead!

Needle grabbers are cheap and come 2 to a pack, so I usually have them floating around all over the place in my craft supplies.  I usually mine from CreateForLess.

Sullivan's Make-A-Zipper Saved My Wedding Dress!

If you sew, you probably know that most fabric stores carry zippers in lengths from, oh, 7" to about 22" long.  And one of those would be fine for your average run of the mill strapless wedding gown.  But I realized after mine was already under way that my full, high-backed bodice was going to require something different.  And I panicked a little.

And then I found Sullivan's Make-A-Zipper (which I found for a great price at createforless) and I knew that it was all going to be okay!  So, what this product is really meant for is cutting 12 of your own zippers whatever length you may need.  Pull one of the zipper pulls into the zipper fabric your're using and cut off however much you need.  Just make sure you stitch around the base and the ends so your zipper pull doesn't come off, and you're golden.  But what I used this product for what creating an invisible zipper that was about 30" long, which is hard, if not impossible, to find.  I was so relieved to realize that I had found the solution!  And actually, I still have quite a bit of the 4 1/2 yard spool left to make zippers with my other 11 pulls too.  It's a great deal, and such a life saver if you occasionally need odd-sized zippers!