Thimbles and Other Sewing Questions

1/30/2013

Are these little metal thumb protectors strictly for hand-sewing so you don't constantly jab your thumb, or am I missing something?

Seriously, what does "basting" mean?

Of those of you who sew, how many actually leave the straight pins in the fabric and take them out AFTER you've sewn over them?

Is there a trick to keeping your fabric chugging through in a straight line? I've used the fat framer's tape as a trick, but even that doesn't help my hopeless seams from being as zig-zaggy as a zebra's stripes.

Finally, should I be terrified of attempting to mess with denim? I've got a couple jeans that need hemming, but I admit being slightly afraid of taking out my eye when a needle breaks and flies off angrily at me for attempting to push through denim... especially where the seams overlap.

Okay, I'm done now. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks! :)

10 Comments

Michelle @ Liturgical Time link

1/29/2013 04:54:29 pm

Yes and they are quite silly, especially if you have long nails. The only good use for a thimble is to place it on your middle finger and use it to push a hand sewing needle so that you don't get carpal tunnel.

Basting is a series of big wide stitches that sort of take the place of pins to hold your fabric in place until you complete your "official" sewing. You than pull the basting thread out. No need to knot it.

I pull the pins out as I go, as the portion of fabric they are occupying is approaching the needle.

Watch where your needle is headed, not where it is at the moment. i.e.: look a few inches ahead. Also, get yourself some marking chalk and actually make a line to follow until you get the hang of things.

Keep in mind that thread is running through your machine needle, so if it breaks, it will still be strung on the thread. It won't fly anywhere; the broken tip will just kind of hand there on the thread. Most machines should handle anything up to duck cloth, which is more heavy duty than denim.

As an aside, my parents showed up tonight with earrings from someone named Gina for both Elyse and I for (an early) St. Valentine's Day. We love them. :)

Gina

1/30/2013 01:55:44 pm

For the record, your parents are adorable. That's such a sweet thing for them to have done!!! <3

Michelle @ Liturgical Time link

1/29/2013 05:07:06 pm

(I shouldn't say it will never fly anywhere. I suppose that the thread could break, but those times that I've had a needle break, the thread had remained intact with the broken needle tip strung upon it.

Also, you can manually turn the wheel on your machine to get a feel for how much opposition of fabric will provide to your needle. If you're nervous about it, manually make a few stitches by turning the wheel and see how easily the needle with pass through. You'll know by doing that if the fabric is going to be too heavy for the machine to handle.)

Cammie link

1/30/2013 12:00:55 am

Michelle answered all the questions wonderfully! The only think I would add is that if you're sewing really thick fabrics (probably more than two layers of denim together) it can help to change to a heavier duty needle in your machine. I finally did that when making Sadie and Mae heavy curtains for their room and it made things so much easier (my machine does an annoying thing where a red light goes on and it freezes if there's a problem and that didn't happen with the thicker needle). A lot of times in the needle packs there's different gauges (with singer needles, which I use on my non-singer machine because they're easy to find at the store and everyone seems to have them, I use the "purple" needles) and if you read on the back they'll tell you which needle goes with which fabric.

And on the rare occasion that I have had needle and thread break together it has been when they've broken down inside my machine... and the next hour was spent with a screw driver searching for it. So no close calls with eyes here either!

Good luck!

Gina

1/30/2013 01:57:00 pm

Being honest, the idea of my needle breaking I think stems from the fact I distinctly remember the entry you did months ago when your needle snapped and you had to root around for hours with aforementioned screw driver. That was the first realization I had that the needle could actually snap and possibly poke out my eye! Ha ha ha!

Nicole P

1/30/2013 12:40:41 am

Most people will say to take the pins out while you're sewing, but I've found that with finer or slippery fabric, it helps to leave the in so the fabric stays in place. Also, my sewing machine has marks on the metal plate by the needle that are spaced out so you know how wide your hems will be, and I use those as a guide to keeping my fabric straight. Cammie's advice on using heavy duty needles is right on target :) I've snapped many a needle when sewing because I didn't feel like buying the right ones, and they've never flown off into the air; they've usually gotten jammed in the fabric.

Gina

1/30/2013 01:58:20 pm

Have you ever had the issue of bending a pin or breaking a needle because the pins were still in there?

Thus far I've always taken mine out because I'm afraid of breaking something, but if it's thus far been safe for you, I might try it because I feel like it'd help keep the fabric together better as I'm focusing on sewing in a straight line (for as terrible as that sounds). *Grin*

Gina

1/30/2013 01:54:58 pm

Okay, you guys are legitimately the best.

I successfully hemmed one pair of jeans without stabbing my eye out. I swapped out the needle with one of the bigger ones that came with the machine (there WERE extra ones!) per your advice and it only snagged once. Whew!

Basting - THANK YOU! That's the first explanation I've seen that makes sense. When my original teacher explained it, she said it wasn't necessary and if we wanted to hold fabric together, straight pins were enough unless you were dealing with "slippery" fabric (I guess silk or satin?). Ah well. Thanks for explaining.

Finally, I really appreciate how willing you guys were to answer those questions. Seriously... you're the best.

<3

Bee

1/30/2013 10:04:55 pm

Hey Gina, just wanted to mention that for making straighter seams you can really slow down the speed of your sewing (ease up on the foot pedal) and take your time until you get the hang of it. Also, don't watch the needle and try to make it go straight. Watch the edge of your fabric along one of the lines on the right side of your presser plate (the metal thing the needle goes into, sometimes called a throat plate) that tells you how far the line is from the needle (the 5/8 line will give you a 5/8" seam). Keep your fabric edge close to the line you've chosen for your seam allowance as you sew, and you will automatically sew straight. If your machine doesn't tell you what each line means, take your tape measure and measure the distance from your needle in the center position to each line. You can put masking tape along the line you use the most to make it easier to follow. Also it's good to slow down for denim, which is thick and needs slightly more time to feed for each stitch. It also helps to go REALLY, REALLY slow when you have to go through the thickness of the side seams on your jeans so the needle doesn't hit hard and break. Also, if you have to stop to adjust your fabric, or are turning a corner, stop, move the needle down by hand to go into the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn or adjust your fabric, lower the presser foot, and continue sewing. That keeps your fabric in place until you're ready again. Also, going slower helps you to see the pins coming up to take them out just before you get to them. I hate bending them, or worse, breaking my needle and having to stop and change it.
About basting: you can either hand baste or machine baste. If you are doing a long piece (like a duvet cover for a quilt) machine basting in the longest stitch possible will allow you to hold the whole thing together without pins falling out while you are sewing lots of material , but will allow you to rip out a bad part quickly and fix it if you make a mistake. When its all set, you can do the real stitching, and then just pull out the top thread of the basting and the other side will unravel from the fabric. Machine basting also helps if you are making clothing and want to see how it fits first, because its easy to pull out and redo. Machine basting sometimes makes the stitches too close and tight and it's not just a simple pull of the top thread to remove it, so make sure you are using the longest stitch possible. It's faster than hand basting. Hand basting is great when you're sewing something like curtain sheers because they are so thin they tend to slip and pins get loose or fall out. But I think mostly people skip the basting unless it's really an important piece and you don't want to mess it up. Hope some of this helps.

Gina

1/31/2013 02:48:28 pm

Basting for trying on clothes!!! Okay, that actually makes perfect sense. I figured straight pins were enough for holding most things together, but yes... trying on clothing and such would make a lot more sense.

:)

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