Not your ordinary sewing notions!

Yesterday afternoon my cutting was first interrupted by the arrival of a box (that will get a separate post *wink*) and then after putting up my new lovelies I decided to check the weather forecast.  After screeching "EEEEKKK!!!" upon seeing more evil white stuff forecast, I immediately grabbed a cable tie and headed for the hardware store to buy something to cut these heavy duty ties my scissors had all bounced off of without leaving a mark.

So ... did I get some heavy duty wire cutters, like I had thought?  Nope!  None of the wire cutters Lowe's had would cut through the tie.  They did have some that looked like mini bolt cutters, but I wasn't inclined to buy over a foot of leverage, so I asked if there was something in the tools department that could cut the cable tie.  And here it is:

The hang card calls them all purpose snips, but the pictures on it show them cutting sheet metal!  No joke, these are rated to cut up to 23 gauge cold rolled steel sheet metal, and were the first tool to cut the plastic cable tie clean through without needing to use my foot.  Trying to think ahead, I also asked about a small fine file to smooth the edges.

Tin snips and metal files aren't what most people think of as sewing notions ... but when I graduate to steel bones for my corsets these should still do the trick!  I still can't believe I had to find such heavy duty tools for *plastic* cable ties.

Meanwhile, I just finished cutting the lining fabric and will sew it up before that lovely linen/cotton blend I love so much even thinks about fraying (even with the cheap lightweight Pellon fusible blockfused to it).