Pins vs clips vs pattern weights: what to hold fabric with

Pattern weights are the best way to hold a pattern on fabric while you cut it out, pins are the best way to hold two layers together while you sew most woven fabrics, and clips take over where pins cannot go: thick seams, several layers, and materials that pins would mark, such as leather, vinyl, oilcloth and coated fabric. The three are not rivals so much as tools for different moments. Many sewists cut with weights, sew wovens with pins and reach for clips on bulky or delicate edges.

What are pins, clips and pattern weights for?

A pin passes through all the layers and holds them exactly where it enters, which is why it can match a notch to a notch or a seam line to a seam line to within a millimeter. A clip grips the layers from the edge, like a small clothes peg, so it only holds near an edge, but it holds anything you can fit in its jaws. A pattern weight holds by its own mass, pressing the paper and fabric to the table so nothing moves, and it never touches the fabric with a point.

That gives each a job. Weights hold a pattern still for cutting. Pins hold layers aligned for sewing. Clips hold edges that pins cannot pierce or should not pierce.

When should you use pins?

For most garment sewing in woven fabric: cotton, linen, viscose, wool, light denim. Pins are the only tool that can hold a seam at a precise point away from the edge, and that is what matching is about. You push a pin through the notch on the top layer and out through the notch on the bottom layer, and the two marks are locked together. The same goes for the point of a dart, the ends of a sleeve cap you are easing in, and the meeting of two seams at a waistband.

Pins also tell you what the fabric is doing. If the lower layer has grown while you pinned, the excess shows as a bubble between the last two pins and you can redistribute it before you sew. Clips hide that.

Choose pins for the fabric:

• Glass-head pins, 35 mm (1 3/8 in), medium thickness, for everyday wovens. The glass heads survive the iron.
• Fine silk pins or extra-fine pins, 0.5 mm, for silk, satin, lawn and anything where a normal pin leaves a visible hole.
• Ballpoint pins for knits, so the rounded tip slides between the loops instead of cutting them.
• Long quilting pins for thick layers, but at that thickness clips are usually easier.

Pin perpendicular to the seam line, heads toward the edge so you can pull them out as the foot arrives. Sewing over pins is possible with the pin at right angles and a slow speed, but a needle that hits a pin can break and the broken piece can fly; pulling each one out as you reach it costs nothing.

When are clips better than pins?

Clips were made for materials that pins ruin or cannot enter, and they have spread to garment sewing because they are quick to use.

• Leather, faux leather, vinyl, oilcloth, laminated cotton, waxed canvas. Every pinhole is permanent. Clip the edges, and inside the piece use a strip of low-tack tape or nothing at all.
• Thick seams and bags. A tote bag in canvas with a lining and interfacing is six layers at the top edge. A pin bends; a clip holds the whole stack.
• Binding. Folding bias binding or a knit neckband over an edge and holding it closed is exactly what a clip does best, since it grips from the edge and holds the fold at the right depth.
• Knits that snag. Fine jersey and rib knit can ladder on a pin that is not ballpoint; clips never touch the inside of the fabric.
• Fleece, faux fur, quilted fabric. The pile swallows pins. Clips sit on top where you can see them.
• Anyone who finds pins hard to grip. Clips are larger, easier to pick up and easier to put down one-handed.

The limits are real. Clips only hold at an edge, so they cannot match a notch 3 cm (1 1/4 in) in from the edge. They must come off before they reach the presser foot. On fine silks the jaws can leave a mark, and on a long seam they slide if the fabric is springy. Clips hold the edge together; pins hold the seam in place.

When do pattern weights win?

Every time you cut out. Pinning a pattern to fabric lifts the fabric at each pin, takes several minutes per piece, and leaves pins in the path of a rotary blade. Weights press the pattern flat in seconds, lift off in seconds, and the fabric stays exactly where it was laid. Place them along the edges of the piece and at the corners, then trace with chalk or cut directly against the paper.

Weights are also the only option for fabrics that must not be pierced, and for a projector sewing setup, where there is no paper pattern at all: the outline is projected onto the fabric and weights or your free hand are the only things holding it. Sewly's projector file is made for that workflow, with no pages to tape.

You do not need to buy weights. Flat tins, large washers from a hardware shop, clean smooth stones and small bags of rice all work. The ideal weight is about 100 to 200 g (4 to 7 oz), flat, with a smooth bottom. Keep them off anything that has to drape while you look at it, such as a hem you are leveling.

Can you sew a garment with no pins at all?

Yes, with practice, and many sewists who use a serger or sew knits do. A long seam in a stable cotton can be sewn by lining up the edges by hand and holding them together ahead of the foot. Seams that must match, such as the side seams of a gathered skirt where the gathers meet, still benefit from a pin at each notch. Hand basting is the third option: a row of long running stitches that holds like fifty pins and comes out in one pull. It is slower, and worth it on a sleeve cap or a zip in silk.

Which should you choose?

• Cutting out, any fabric: pattern weights, especially with a rotary cutter. Pins only if you are cutting with scissors on a surface where weights would slide.
• Sewing cotton, linen, viscose, wool: pins, glass-head, placed at the notches and every 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in).
• Sewing silk, chiffon, satin: fine silk pins inside the seam allowance, or hand basting; weights for cutting.
• Sewing jersey, rib, French terry: ballpoint pins or clips, whichever you prefer; clips for neckbands and cuffs.
• Sewing leather, vinyl, oilcloth, laminated fabric: clips only, and weights to cut.
• Bags, thick layers, binding: clips.
• A beginner buying one thing: a box of glass-head pins and a handful of washers from a hardware shop. Add a pack of clips when you make your first bag.

The guide to essential sewing tools lists the rest of the kit, and transferring pattern markings shows how to mark the notches that pins will later match.