Sewing Shears
Long-bladed scissors reserved exclusively for cutting fabric, kept sharp for clean, accurate cuts.
Good sewing shears are long-bladed — 7 to 9 inches typically — with one pointed and one rounded tip, and a bent handle that lets the bottom blade ride flat along the cutting table while you cut. That bent handle is the whole reason they're worth owning over ordinary scissors: it means the fabric doesn't lift off the table as you cut, so your line stays true.
The one rule in my sewing room that everyone gets told immediately: these do not cut paper. Not tape, not pattern tissue, not the corner of an envelope in a pinch. Paper dulls the blades shockingly fast, and once shears go dull, every subsequent cut chews the fabric edge instead of slicing it cleanly — you'll feel the difference immediately as a kind of dragging resistance. I keep a separate, cheaper pair of paper scissors sitting right next to them specifically so there's no excuse.
Mine get sharpened about once a year, more if I've been cutting a lot of heavier fabric. A drop of sewing-machine oil on the pivot screw every so often keeps the action smooth.