MORE THAN SEW SO

Welcome back. No sweet rolls today, but I have chocolate chip cookies in the oven and we’ll enjoy them soon. But today I’d like to say how much I have enjoyed visiting other blogs. I was up until 3 am “surfing” and didn’t realize what time in was. When I finally got to bed and set my alarm, I knew I was only going to get 3 hours of sleep before it jolted me awake! My, there is a well-spring of craft projects out there. I never realized so many people liked to sew and craft and so much of it is extremely interesting; new things that I wasn’t even aware of… and new twists on older crafting projects!

We talked about thread last time and I think I’m going to throw in a quick blurb about needles. We recommend and ONLY use Schmetz Universal needles in our repair shop. They are 100% stainless steel and made with German technology. It has a finely milled point that will not leave a hole in the finer fabrics. They come in several sizes from a size 8 to a size 19; the most common sizes being 12, 14, 16, and 18. Size 14 is probably the one we sell most often because it is a good needle for medium weight fabrics. If you sew denim jeans or heavy weight upholstery fabric or thick woolen coats, you probably will want to use a size 16 or 18. Some people swear by the ball point needles, but we have found that, since it is such a finely milled point as stated above, it’s not necessary to use a ball point needle. I guess it’s just a matter of personal choice.

The cheaper needles are not 100% stainless steel, they are an alloy which has a tendency to bend and break with regularity. Most of our customers who use the Schmetz say, the only way they know it’s time to change the needle is when they can hear it piercing the fabric. It makes a definite “ticking” sound. One of my favorite customers is elderly and swears she’s used the same needle for at least 2 years and she sews a lot!

I had a dear, sweet customer who was totally blind since the age of 14. She sewed all of her own clothes and also sewed civil war uniforms annual pageant performed locally. She also sewed the clothes for the Ohio Village which consists of houses and shops where they make candles, shoe horses at the blacksmith shop, spun yarn from sheep’s wool and so many other things that were done during the same civil war era. She was amazing. Her husband had welded steel bars onto her machine for her to use as guides and marked everything she needed in braille. Her husband was nearly deaf and she always said, “he is my eyes and I am his ears”. There wasn’t anything she couldn’t do. Her work was beautifully done right down to the hoop skirts. The only thing she did not do was buttonholes. She said they just didn’t “feel” right to her so her neighbor would come over and do the buttonholes for her (until her husband learned how to do them, then it was his job).

My grandmother had very poor eyesight and arthritic hands. She used a treadle sewing machine (the one I learned on) and taught me a trick that I used as a child. She NEVER threaded her needle the normal way because she just simply couldn’t see the eye. When she started running out of thread on the spool or wanted to change colors, she would tie the tiniest knot you ever saw with the two threads and pull the old thread out through the eye of the needle while it pulled the new thread through. I always thought that was ingenuous!

Okay, we’ve covered thread and needles. How about another cup of coffee to go with the warm chocolate chip cookies that I just pulled out of the oven? Oh! These have no calories, it’s a secret recipe. (Smile)

Have a great day! And please (!) leave your comments below!!

Filed under: baking, chitchat, crafts, family, sewing