Sewing Clips Tool Tips, Comparison, and Tug of War

Keeping workpieces aligned when sewing is crucial to pulling off a successful project. There are a few ways to do this. Traditionally people have used pins but sewing clips are becoming a popular option since they don't leave holes and are safer. These clips are my favorite new sewing notion as I sew more and more this winter. You can watch the video or click through the next steps to see how I ran the tests and the results.

When I was looking at buying sewing clips I found some knockoffs that were 1/10th the cost of the brand name ones, I decided to buy them both and compare. My first thoughts were the clips are nearly Identical. The spring on the name brand ones is a little wider and they plastics are much smoother. The knockoffs have a rough surface finish to the plastic parts and it makes them look cheaper. They both have four interlocking teeth on them which is the most important factor.

After a visual inspection I put them in a tug of war to see which is the strongest. This consisted of putting one clip on each side of a piece of fabric then pulling them apart. I made sure to pull them apart while only holding one side of the clip so I didn't accidentally open the clip slightly. I had 10 brand name ones and 100 knock offs, rather than run all 100 clips I did 3 groups of 10 knockoffs on 3 different sample pieces against the same 10 brand name ones. The materials were marine vinyl, polyester upholstery, and 15D Taffeta.

Results
Marine vinyl: Knockoffs win 9 out of 10 times

Polyester Upholstery: Knockoffs win 9 out of 10 times

15D Taffeta (Slippery ultralight outdoor fabric): Knockoffs win 7 out of 10 times

The knockoffs won 25 out of 30 times! I sure was surprised by this as I would normally spend more to have a quality tool.

The cheaper clips seem to be far stronger and I think that the cheapness is why. The surface finish of the plastics is much rougher than the expensive ones. I think this roughness gives them more tooth to grip the fabric, kind of like sanding a object to get a good glue bond. The visually higher quality surface finish could be due to a higher tolerance plastic injection mold or a post processing of the part like tumbling to polish it. Whatever the case is the smoother surface finish takes more work to produce and ironically makes the clip not as good at its job. Over processing like this is a form of waste, keep an eye out for it in other things!

Surface finish aside I still think that the 4 interlocking teeth both of these have is the most important factor in a clip like this, a clip without these teeth would be much weaker.

Here are the links to both of clips I bought, you can choose which is right for you:

Cheap Clips

Expensive Clips

I hope this helps someone pick the right sewing notion for them!