Cutting table jade
New additions to the sewing hut
Like many home sewers, the tools in my kit vary from being the most standard of their kind to the least ugly versions I could find at the time. Because of this, I have an array of tools that look like a cacophony of all the sewers I’ve been: the quick-garment-in-a-day one, the make-something-totally-chaotic-and-call-it-wearable-art one, the two-months-for-a-shirt one, the I-just-want-to-make-pillowcases one.
I rarely find new additions that really feel like they’ve come home. After all, a tool is a tool is a tool. It’s just something that helps you get from A to B. But as I make more garments, I’ve noticed it’s not what I like making most, it’s how I like making that draws me to the practice. Turning up every day to the sewing hut, lighting up that incense, putting in my hours, adding another coin to that 10,000-hour piggy bank, and just hoping that one day I can be as fluent as the 80-year-old qipao tailor, or that stoic shirtmaker in Napoli; hundreds of garments under their belts, and still hand-stitching patiently through it all. Garments to my exact taste that suit my body and that I love are just a bonus at the end of it all.
And so, a lot of my focus in the last weeks has been taking inventory of my supplies, rethinking systems, upgrading to a new gravity feed iron (!!), and adding some small new additions to my growing “permanent” collection of tools that were not meant for a home sewer, but that I have found suit my needs and eyeballs quite well.
Meet my new jade nephrite paperweights that I now use as pattern weights for all my marking and cutting:
These are the perfect size and make a cute clinking sound whenever they bump into each other, akin to what you’d hear at a pool table during an efficient game. Each one has a unique patina that makes them, despite being opaque, feel transparent, translucent, in transition.
Jade is dense, heavy, nearly indestructible, and smooth to the touch. It’s been in use for over 12,000 years, initially as early human tools and weapons, before evolving into a medium for artistic crafts like fine jewelry, sculptural objects, and heirloom vessels. In the latter category, jade objects outfitted the desks of ancient Chinese scholars as part of their arsenal of Scholars’ Objects (a whole fascinating category of tools in itself).
Traditional jade paperweights often feature carvings of mythical beasts or geometric forms, but mine are plain and rounded and unembellished. They’ve been fab for holding down all my delicate sewing patterns and fabrics without snagging or damaging them.
What’s a tool in your arsenal that really feels like you, whether repurposed, invented, recycled, or handed down? I’d love to see and I’d love to hear ♥️
Talk soon. Much love,
Vic
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Thank you for sharing your jade paper weights and jade stories. Practical, and beautiful history repeats!
Wow I always thought your glazed porcelain weights were gorgeous but these are amazing!