I live in a very small apartment, so I try to make sure that every tool and reference I have serves multiple purposes. I own only a handful of sewing books, and this is one I have had my eye on for quite a while to add to the collection. I literally read my sewing books straight through, like novels; I would love to have this one to explore!

You would only use this to mark one point on a buttonhole. If you are using horizontal buttonholes, this would obviously be the center line. If you are doing vertical buttonholes, you would need to decide for yourself if the lines yielded by this method are the top, center, or bottom of the buttonholes, then draw the height as usual with your preferred method.

I love this idea- another reason I am thrilled to have my washable markers as a set rather than singles from the sewing store!

Tiger tape is tape marked with lines, sort of like a ruler with no numbers. I found it as a quilter's notion with markings for 9 divisions of an inch.

I have two basic stain categories- foods and art supplies. For art supplies, I usually go for solvents, with care to the fabric type I am trying to save. Fortunately, I prefer natural fibers, so that is usually workable.

For food, drops of blood from x-acto mishaps, and other natural stains, my go-to is something most people probably wouldn't admit to- saliva. It has enzymes that are intended to start breaking down food so that you can taste it properly, and that process helps keep the stain in a "liftable" state. It is especially effective on just-happened stains, and doesn't leave stains in any washable fabric I have tried it on- definitely a spot-test on anything dry-clean only, but in my experience, it has yet to ruin anything colorfast, including a lot of natural fabrics that are considered dry-clean only, such as silk or wool.

Assuming that you haven't been eating or drinking anything that will contribute a new stain (cleanse your palate before doing this), the most effective treatment for a small food-based stain (or bloodstain, if you aren't squicked out by the idea) is to just put the mark into your mouth, get it wet with saliva, and suck like a baby with a pacifier. Put the stained side out, and you will be pulling the stain out of the fabric, rather than back in, and if done right, you can work very precisely with the size of the stain, so you don't make it much bigger.

If it is a larger stain, or not something you want to put in your mouth (raw eggs or oil come to mind), just spit on it and rub, then rinse with cool water. This has a slightly larger chance of expanding the stain, but otherwise works the same.

It may gross some people out, but as an instantly-available stain treatment, it is remarkably effective. You end up with a wrinkly wet spot, but if you go at it immediately, you can get out even traditionally indelible stains, like wine, grape juice, or blood before they have time to set and become real trouble. I have seen it work on technically food-safe substances like grass stains as well, but it's not very effective on anything that no creature eats, so that's my rule of thumb.

In an attempt to answer questions asked below:

bbkmm: When you sew the tube, it is wrong-side out, as is usual for making bias tubing. The "wrong" half of the rat-tail is inside the tube, providing a pre-installed pulling handle for when you turn the tube right-side out. When you turn the bias tube right side out, you transfer it from one half of the rat-tail to the other.

seafield: You only sew up one side of the cord; the fabric is folded in half around the cord. If you prefer a zipper foot to a cording foot, I can't think of any reason you couldn't use it, but a cording foot is a natural choice for this.

Mountainquilter: Try a jewelry supply company like Fire Mountain Gems if you are having problems finding rat-tail as a sewing supply. Rat-tail is used as an inexpensive cord for pendants, and FMG gives great volume discounts. When I find it as a sewing supply, it is usually just called covered cord or satin cord- there doesn't seem to be a standard name for it. It is cotton or cotton-like filler cord covered in a satin-like outer layer, very smooth and soft with a small turning radius. You can distinguish it from regular covered cord by the softness- most covered cord is very firm.

One additional trick if you have a lot of rat tail on hand, such as if you use this technique often or use it for necklaces, is to not cut the rat tail off the roll until after you finish. Simply measure out the length your finished cord will be, and attach your inside-out bias tube so that it continues up (toward the roll) from the attachment point. Then, when you turn it right-side out, you can trim the rat-tail just above the attachment, leaving the remainder of the roll ready for further use, without having gradually diminishing lengths of cord to work with. :-)

Fifidala, note that this is Part 2- in Part 1 she explains the earlier stages, including the underlining. :-)

I just wish I ran across fabric like this- absolutely gorgeous!