My family is always taking my scissors. It’s bad enough that they take them, but then what they use them for is even worse. My poor scissors have been used for everything from cutting tortillas (thanks, kids!) to roof flashing. Trying to keep the family from using your good scissors is a true exercise in futility.
Recently, I saw an ostensibly clever product for sale in a quilting magazine. It was a set of rubbery silicone tags (like those “bracelets for a cause” that everyone wears) with the “appropriate” use printed on them along with a corresponding icon. One was for paper, one for thread and another for fabric. Although adorable, I think this product will totally miss its mark because the very concept of the product insinuates that the offender does not know that they are using the scissors for the wrong purpose. The problem is that, to the uninitiated, there are no special purpose scissors. To non-quilters, scissors are scissors. They cut. They make one piece into two pieces. Any scissors can be used to bifurcate any thing.
You can try these cute little tags if you want but I think the only real way to keep your quilting scissors from being used to prepare tonight’s dinner or repair the roof is to hide them. Hide them, and just to be really safe, sprinkle a dozen or so cheap “decoy” scissors all over the house. You know, the kind you get for a dollar at the office supply store at back-to-school time. Sure, they won’t cut fabric or even paper worth a darn, but you know your family is just going to use them to cut wire anyway.