Sewing Machine Accessories

The Comprehensive Guide to Sewing Machine Accessories

Welcome to the wide world of sewing machine accessories! Whether you just bought your first sewing machine or run your own clothing design shop, there's always something new to learn about accessories. Between all of the different seam rippers, presser feet, clips and cutters, it's easy to lose the thread. That's why we've designed this comprehensive guide to sewing machine accessories to ensure that you can always find the tool or part that you need!

To help you learn everything you need to know about sewing machine accessories, we've organized each accessory into the following categories:

• Basic Must-Have Accessories
• Presser Feet
• Quilting Specific Accessories
• Embroidery Specific Accessories

Basic Must-Have Accessories

Some accessories help with all kinds of crafts. Whether you want to make clothes, quilts, or embroidery these sewing machine accessories are essential.

Scissors

Every sewer, quilter and embroiderer needs a good pair of scissors. You'll be doing a lot of cutting no matter what discipline you choose, so make sure to buy the best scissors possible. Sharper, more durable scissors make a world of difference when it comes to a big project.

Seam Ripper

Seam rippers remove existing seams or stitches on a project. This tool is essential for correcting seam mistakes and removing seams from existing clothing that you want to modify.

Measuring Tape

Measuring tape, much like scissors, are necessary for anyone who wants to sew. We recommend getting measuring tape with both imperial and metric markings. Having both will help you make finer measurements and enables you to follow instructions from sewing bloggers overseas.

Ironing Station

Ironing out fabrics is the best way to ensure you end up with a wrinkle free final result. If you intend to add patches or use adhesive tapes in lieu of stitching then you'll need an iron to make the adhesive set.

Thimbles

A small cup that sits on your finger, a thimble helps prevent painful needle pokes on your fingers. These are especially useful for any hand sewing you may want to add to a project.

Spool Huggers

Spool huggers hold your thread together on a spool to help prevent messes. While not essential, they're a great addition that is sure to keep your space cleaner and more organized.

Bobbins

On a sewing machine, bobbins sit beneath the needle plate and hold thread. Bobbins come in multiple sizes, so make sure you have the correct size for your machine. Having multiple bobbins makes it easier to change out the thread color on your machine by removing the need to thread and unthread the same bobbin multiple times.

Chalk

Chalk works well for marking up measurements and cut lines on flat pieces of fabric. When you're finished with the project, you can brush the chalk off or throw the project into the washing machine (provided it is machine washable) to remove all of the chalk.

Sewing Machine Cover

Sewing machine covers keep your machine from getting dusty when not in use. While you don't need a cover to sew, they can extend the life of your sewing machine by keeping dust away from the smaller moving parts of the machine.

Presser Feet

Presser feet fit in a category of their own because of their wide range of uses. Different presser feet enable sewers, quilters, and embroiderers to perform a variety of specialized tasks. Here are some of the different types of presser feet that you can add to your machine, along with a brief description of what they do.

Straight Stitch Foot

The most basic of all sewing machine feet. This presser stitches in a straight line and the foot itself holds down the fabric to ensure smooth stitching. Because it stitches straight lines, it excels at sewing regular seams.

Zigzag Foot

Zigzag feet are the standard sewing machine foot and work for sewing a majority of decorative stitches. More often than not, this is the presser foot that you will sew with most as it performs well for both standard and decorative stitches.

Zipper Foot

As one might expect, this presser foot helps sewers sew zippers. The design of the foot enables it to sew right next to zipper teeth.

One-step Buttonhole Foot

A one-step buttonhole foot automatically sews buttonholes without any additional work. These feet are a great time saver for making shirts, dresses, coats and any other article of clothing with buttons.

Overedge Foot

An overedge foot excels at creating stitches that go over the edge of fabrics. These are great for hemming and stretchy/elastic fabrics.

Walking Foot

A must-have for quilters, walking feet sew through multiple layers of fabric with ease. It does this by holding multiple layers of fabric in place at once while simultaneously "walking" them in a way that keeps the layers steady.

Blind Hem Foot

A blind hem foot makes hems and stitches invisible to help your final product look more professional. It uses a metal guide and grooves to hide stitches within the project itself.

There are many other presser feet that each perform different functions, but the above list includes the most common feet with the widest range of use cases. To see a more comprehensive selection of presser feet, head over to our presser feet page.

Quilting Specific Accessories

Specialty forms of sewing like quilting and embroidery require their own set of unique tools that enhance the crafting experience. Many of these tools can be used for other sewing projects, but it's highly recommended that quilters have some or all of these accessories.

Cutting Mat

Cutting mats are essential for any craftsperson, but are especially useful for quilters that constantly need to cut out blocks of fabric. A self-healing cutting mat with measurements is going to be most useful. These cutting mats last longer and make it easier to measure fabric blocks accurately.

Rotary Cutters

Not unlike a pizza cutter, a rotary cutter glides along your fabric to cut it to your exact specifications. Used in conjunction with a cutting mat, it cuts fabric blocks faster and more accurately than scissors. These are also helpful for clothes making and are commonly used to assist in making dresses and other garments.

Pins and Pincushions

As you quilt, you'll inevitably need to pin down pieces of fabric to one another. Pincushions are a convenient place to store your pins when not in use. They also reduce the risk of stabbing yourself with a pin that you left on the sewing table.

Clips

Clips help hold your project in place while you add patterns and stitches to it. We recommend having various sizes of clips to hold different projects.

Quilting Frame

If you're a serious quilter, a quilting frame pairs wonderfully with a midarm or longarm machine. These tables use rollers to move the entirety of your quilt at once. They also maximize the amount of usable throat space on larger quilting machines.

Embroidery Specific Accessories

Unlike quilting and sewing, which both sewing and quilting machines can perform to some capacity, serious embroidery usually requires a specialty machine. Embroiderers use these specialized machines to complete projects more quickly and with far greater accuracy than the free-arm embroidery provided by most sewing machines. Many embroiderers use the following accessories to further enhance the embroidery experience.

Laser Alignment Tools

An excellent tool for anyone who plans on doing square hooping, laser alignment tools help you get the perfect edges to all your projects. These attach to the hoop and make it far easier to line up the fabric edge for accurate seaming.

Thread Tension Gauges

Tension gauges hook into the top thread from the presser foot to determine the tension of the thread. This is a helpful tool for embroiders who often need to use varying levels of thread tension.

Embroidery Hoops

Embroidery hoops hold your fabric taut while the machine embroiders onto it. Nearly all embroidery projects require a hoop to ensure that the final project is not wrinkled or warped.

Stitch Stabilizer Paper

These adhesive papers support fabric during the stitching process to prevent stretching and puckering. It is essential when you need to create a clean, professional-looking project.

Find the Right Sewing Machine Accessories for Your Needs

Now that you know all about these sewing machine accessories, it's time to find the ones that are right for you. Premier Stitching carries a wide array of sewing machine accessories sure to suit any sewer, embroiderer or quilter. Simply head over to our sewing accessories, quilting accessories or embroidery accessories pages to find the products that you need!