What are scissors for sewing called?

Shears are so-called because the handle is angled, allowing the blade to rest flat on the cutting area. This enables the fabric to remain as flat as possible while being cut. These specialty sewing scissors have extra-length, precision-ground stainless steel blades that create clean cuts all the way to the tip, making them perfect scissors for cutting from the bolt, long swaths of fabric, several layers, and thicker or more problematic fabrics.

These are the huge ones you see in old shows and advertisements with a woman sewing clothes. Shears are so-called because the handle is angled, allowing the blade to rest flat on the cutting area. This enables the fabric to remain as flat as possible while being cut. You want this for precision and a smoother, cleaner cut. They are large, cut a large amount of fabric at once, and the best pairs clip all the way down to the tips. The older ones are entirely metal, and many sewers say they never need to be sharpened.

Similar to dressmaker shears, but sturdier and designed for cutting through multiple layers of fabric at once. I can't help but see the sexism in this situation... Tailors were usually men, whereas dressmakers were mainly women. Is it ever going to end? These are things I don't have. I've heard excellent things about these versions, and I believe they're fantastic.

Have you ever wondered how people cut fabric with a lovely zig-zag edge? Pinking shears were employed! Again, these scissors typically have a bent handle, hence the term shears. These things are massive. They are used to cut the edges of woven fabric to slow the fraying that occurs naturally. Before the serger and coverstitch machines, this was the thing to do. When you check inside your shirt, you'll notice a lot of looping stitches that go over the edge of the fabric.

These are the smallest scissors commonly sold in stores. They are sharp and very pointy, making them ideal for cutting tiny threads and little detailed cuts in applique. The majority of the pairings are somewhat bent. This curve keeps the sharp tips away from what you're cutting, allowing you to only cut the thread. Totally brilliant. See below for the category of scissors I have the most of. I keep them in my knitting and sewing bags. Knitters are fortunate in that they just only one sharp object to cut yarn with; it does not even have to be scissors; it might be a knife or a sharp rock.

This is precisely what it sounds like. Not only are the blades curved, but so are the handles. This is fantastic for machine embroidery. This enables you to cut a thread without having to remove the hoop from the machine. These are similar in size to embroidery scissors, but their sole purpose is to clip threads. They are normally spring-loaded, which means they stay open and all you have to do to get them to cut is close them.

These are useful when you need to cut through thick materials but don't need the precision of tailor's shears. I originally purchased a pair for clipping a rag quilt (rag quilts are formed by sewing the batting in between the front and back pieces and sewing them into a quilt first, rather than producing a top and bottom with a batting layer in between). When the seam allowances are clipped before washing, they tear nicely for a really rustic look), but I've found them to be extremely useful.

They also appear odd in comparison to the other scissors featured here. One of the blades has an extra chunk of metal on it. These scissors snip off superfluous fabric as near to the stitch line as possible without harming the base fabric while trimming a stitched down applique.

Cushion-handled scissors might have a metal blade with plastic handles, or they can be entirely metal with a thin plastic/rubber coating on the handle part. While cushioned handles are excellent, plastic or rubber handles may give the scissors a less stable feel and may impair performance on pairs where the blade metal does not extend the entire length of the scissors.