When making tailored items, getting a good finish on your seams is essential to a professional finish. Lots of people ask us how to get the best finish possible and a clapper is key to this. To help you along, we have produced a video guide on clappers and how to use them to start you on your journey to professionally finished garments.

Clappers are available to buy from most sewing shops, but you can use a piece of remnant wood which will do the same job. If using remnant wood, make sure it isn't treated, stained or coloured as this will bleed when you steam. Make sure the wood is dried and is a hard wood such as maple or tulipwood, if you don't use a hard wood the clapper may split or in cases such as pine may leak a resin or sap and nobody needs that. If you do want to use a remnant, popping to your local DIY store is a great idea as they always have offcuts that otherwise would go to waste.

Here is a video to get you started. Happy clapping!