I often use a pair of bent/angular-blade embroidery scissors on which the tip is cracked off on one blade. I hold the scissors upside down for good visibility (holding it so the handles and my fingers are angled down relative to the tip). I'm self-taught--I should say self-teaching as I am pretty much a novice--so I must have read about stilettos and just grabbed what I had. They work very well.

Happy Easter,
Ginny

What is a stiletto and what is it used for?
Salijo

Ditto to the above question. Sounds like a really tall pair of high heels:)

Same ?-what is it?

~Geraldine

A stilletto is a stick with a pointed end that can help you guide your fabric (or many layers of seams) under the foot & needle on your machine to achieve accuracy. They can be metal or wood or plastic I suppose. It can hold things in place in smaller places than your fingers can go.

I've never gotten used to using one. If you want to give one a try, you can always use a really cheeply purchased bamboo skewer found by the 100s at the Dollar store (or in your kitchen)!

Have many bamboo ones in my kitchen:)

I use a small tool that looks like a screwdriver but has a point on the end. Here is a site where you can buy porcupine quills for a stiletto.

www.jankrentz.com/displaypage.php?ID=42

Bwaaaak! I think I'm too chicken to use one. I'd worry I would mess up my machine. But I have bamboo skewers and chopsticks to use if I feel the need.

I have a little tool called an awl (used in leatherwork) with a sharp point which I use occasionally to guide an especially bulky seam. Right now I'm using it for the cross seams in a flannel rag quilt. I was at a quilting workshop once where someone was using one of those manicure sticks. I've not found it necessary to use in regular piecing.

I've seen Eleanor use one, but I don't remember ever needing to.

SharonG/FL

I have a dot making tool from ceramics and I could use it if I needed it.

Yes I use one! I did not buy it - don't know exactly where I got it, but it has been in my sewing machine cabinet junk drawer for more then 30 years! I never knew what this deadly weapon looking thing was, until I started watching the very old E Burns PBS show titled something like "Quilts Across America" and I said ah - that's what that thing is! In 1974, my Aunt sent me a few sewing items from my Grandmother who had been dead for many, many years & she was very old when she died. I suspect that is where it came from. It is definitely homemade. I believe it is stiletto & that is how I use it - I watched EB to copy her technique. I like using it. I take a teeney crochet hook to use when I attend a class, becasue I don't want to lose the old stiletto I use at home.

I use chopsticks for lots of sewing tasks. The bamboo skewer idea is a good one and I may try that for tiny projects.

I use a small steel crochet hook..or a dried up ball point pen,a skewer,,,or whatever is handy and serves the purpose. I adore Eleanor but no way am I paying a hefty price for a special object when I have tons of things I can use instead.My very favorite one I have is a pretty dried up ball point pen that I crammed the end of a skewer in. Its kinda classy looking,,LOL!

I often use my stilleto. I use homemade ones, one sitting by each sewing machine. They are just used chopsticks I put in a pencil sharpener to get a finer point. When in need, I grab most anything pointed, like a long quilting pin or small screwdriver.

I have never used one. Go for the chop sticks or anything I have pointy. I don't think I would buy one.
Jean

I use a lage upholstery skewer pin as a stiletto, if I need one. Bamboo skewers are actually a bit safer, since the won't break your needle if you happen to hit it.

I bought a pretty brass one years ago from Keepsake Quilting, but the cap has never fit properly. I use it on rare occassions, but my small scissors, or a chop stick works just as well. I'd never buy another one.

As for my favorite stilettos...they were dark red leather, with little bows on the backs. I danced the soles off them in Spain, but I digress, that's another story.

They're also the reason that now, at a more sensible age, I can only wear "sensible shoes."

LOL Caroline! You're too funny!

I have a gadget call the 'purple thang' and I got it from some class I took... it is made of plastic and is purple, has a dull point on one end and the other end a 1/4 inch piece for measuring while sewing. I have seen them at quilt shows for about one or two dollars. I use it when I think about it.. which is not too often!! When I need to use something, I grab what happens to be available in my sewing drawer at the time!
Barbara

The "purple thang" is my favorite gadget! But I'd be afraid I would "injure" it using it as a stiletto so I don't use it for that.
Teresa

Just smiling, because even though I know what stiletto means, I didn't know there was a need for one in sewing. At first I thought it might have been another name for a bodkin, of which I do have and I do use. But, I see it's used for something entirely different. Nope, I just sticks my fingers right up under the feeds, and have been lucky (most of the time).

I did not know that something like this even existed.
Shannon

Shannon,

That's because your mom never taught you to use one! Lets watch an Eleanor Burns DVD so you can see this thing in action.
Mom

I tried it once or twice but really don't have enough hands. A seam ripper is another choice. I use the push button stop/go with one hand and guide with the other, the stilleto just got in the way. Jayne

I have a bamboo skewer I use sometimes, but usually it is anything pointy I have handy.

beverly