Should I buy Japanese shears for cutting my fabric?

Philippa's view:

I looked into this a few months ago. I have Japanese shears that I have owned for over 30 years, and some for 20 years. They have never been sharpened and are still very good.

I recently bought a pair of Yoshinosuke 10" shears for about £60 ($70 - $80 US) on-line from UK site workshopheaven.com. This was considerably less than some brands such as Tajika Shirogami shears at £150 ($200+ US), although all the Yoshinosuke seem to have all been snapped up so you will be lucky to find these. Keep looking for a good deal though - if you have the money and if you do a lot of garment making and home furnishing.

For quilting my Olfa rotary cutter (45mm straight handle RTY-2/G and 28mm straight handle RTY-1/G) and range of Karen Kay Buckley scissors (karenkaybuckley.com) are my go to cutting tools.

But these Japanese shears are a delight and you would not regret owning a pair!