by Serena Smith

What do you do with scissors that are no longer sharp? Some scissors, like thread clippers and shears can be sharpened to prolong their life. But the some of the greatest embroidery scissors to use for clipping threads have curved blades like snip-eze scissors. With the curved blade, there is no way they can be sharpened.

Clipping small amounts of fabric, like trimming away the excess fabric around embroidery applique designs is much easier to do with a curved pair of scissors. But the fabric will dull small embroidery scissors very quickly. After repeated use the curved blades of scissors get dull and won't clip the threads neatly. Should you just throw them away since you can't sharpen them? No, instead save them for other projects that don't require such a sharp edge.

My snip-eze scissors are my best friends! I can hardly stitch embroidery designs without them to clip jump threads. When the blades start to get dull, I will save it for trimming the fabric around applique embroidery designs. The small curved blades work great for snipping the fabric close to the stitches and it doesn't require a very sharp blade.

I will then tie a piece of ribbon on the end of my new pair of scissors, so I can distinguish which one is the sharpest. I have a new pair of scissors that clips my embroidery threads easily, but I also can still use my old pair for trimming small amounts of fabric when needed. It prolongs the life of my scissors a little longer and I can have a new pair for threads and an old pair for fabric!

Edit: Since I have published this article, there are some places that can sharpen these small scissors. I have not been able to have these scissors sharpened, but some scissor sharpener experts are able to do it.