Did you know what that little ball on your unpicker is really for?

Those who have sewn before would know the pain of undoing stitches. If you’ve got a sewing machine, chances are your favourite tool will be your unpicker or seam ripper. For the uninitiated, these sharp little gems are fine blades that slice along a stitch on a garment – perfect for taking off clothes labels neatly. It wasn’t until a conversation about sewing started up in the Starts at 60 office, that we discovered we’ve been using our unpickers the wrong way this whole time!

Here’s what we learnt: that small ball on one of the prongs? That’s to allow the unpicker to be slid along a garment in one swipe – no more fussing over individual stitches!

Here’s a video to help explain.

We couldn’t help but feel silly when we saw this tutorial – it seems so obvious now!

Have you known about this little hack all along? Have you ever ‘discovered’ something new only to find out that everyone has been doing it for years? Let us know!

Originally published here