Sewing Tips

I just finished an article for a future newsletter on the website and as usual I had more tips than I had room. Here are a few “leftover” odds and end tips I thought some of you could use.

• Use knitting needle guards or a small cork to protect the end of small scissors, especially when you are traveling with them.
• Use a mesh bag (like potatoes or fruits come in) to put your yarn in when knitting.This is especially good when using more than one color because you can pull each color through a different hole in the bag.

• If you are hand appliquéing and use beeswax to keep your thread from tangling, run the thread over the beeswax then press it with your iron. This embeds the wax into the thread so it all doesn’t come off with the first stitch. This really isn’t that hard. It doesn’t take as much time as you would think and it works so well. It doesn’t hurt your iron, but it does help the iron glide more smoothly.
• When appliquéing, if you don’t have an appliqué sheetfor pressing several pieces together save the sheets you peel your computer labels from. Press your applique pieces to the shiny side.
• If you use a guard glove with your rotary cutter, store your cutter inside the glove. That way you will always know where it is. I also keep my cutter in an old fabric eye glass holder.
• I didn’t know for a long time when using a sewing “ham”the wool side is for pressing wool and silk and the duck side is for pressing cotton and linen. A sewing ham is an odd ham shaped thing which is used to press curved and usual angles especially in sewing clothes.
• One thing I learned years after I had been sewing was that there is a right and wrong side to a needle.If you have trouble threading a needle, turn the eye around and try the other side. It’s amazing how well this works.
• Holding a needle against a white background makes it easier to see and thread.

• Instead of licking your thread, lick the needle itself and be sure to bring the needle to the thread not poke the thread into the needle. Try these things to see if it helps in threading your needle next time.
• Use embroidery bobbins(those square white cards you wind embroidery thread on) to wrap regular thread on to carry for you projects. They are flat and take up very little space. I have used sewing machine bobbins for my portable sewing but I like these are even better.

These are a few ideas for now. I know many of your have some great ones, too. I do believe quilters, crafters and sewers have some of the coolest ideas. It always amazes the things they can come up with. : )

-Jill