When good thread (floss) goes bad

Joyce asks:
How do I keep DMC six strand cotton embroidery floss from shredding.
The last that I purchased seems to twist and shred badly. I have used wax and Thread
Heaven and that does not help.Has something happened to the quality of their product?

I've used DMC for YEARS (because it really IS better than Coats & Clark) & MOST of the time it's excellent. But like all mass-produced things, sometimes a batch slips through that just - well - SUCKS! I've gotten ahold of a couple of bad DMC batches & had the same trouble you are having. Truth? Your best bet is to either salvage what you CAN of it, or TOSS it & get some more. But DO write to the company before you toss any & let them see some of the 'bad' threads! They need to know when their product isn't the quality it should be!

Good luck! Kai

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Is black thread weaker than other colors?

Bob says:
Is black thread weaker than other colors?

Only if it has been over-dyed because the first color was mis-dyed. Some companies put all the mis-dyed colors in a reject bin and over-dye them black. The excess amount of dye in these over-dyed threads can cause the fibers to weaken. (Note: Superior Threads are never over-dyed.)

Reprinted with permission from Bob Purcell, Superior Threads

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What are yarn needles?

Donna asks:
What are yarn needles? I am going to do a project posted on someone's blog and they said I need them. I left a comment asking what they are but never got an answer. Thanks.

These are short, rather fat needles with very big eyes. You can get them with sharp points or blunt ones. Like most needles you can get them in various lengths. They are good for seaming knit or crocheted projects together or embellishing things with ribbons or embroidery threads or ... lots of things! You can see some here.

Hope this helps,
Judi

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What is a yo-yo?

JMS asks:
I am making those gathered circular pieces to embellish a crazy quilt...what are they called?

It is called a yo-yo. For those who don't know how to make them, here's a quick lesson.

Cut out a cardboard circle about 4" in diameter (or whatever size is specified for your project). Trace the circle onto your fabric and cut out. Sew a running stitch 1/4" from the edge, leaving long thread tails at the beginning and end. Pull the thread tight to gather the fabric. Secure the threads with a knot. Make sure the gathered center is centered. For those of you who like visuals, here's a tutorial from Whip-up.

Did you know with an extra stitch or two you can make heart yo-yo's or clover yo-yo's? Did you know you can buy 'yo-yo makers' from Clover? They are coming out with some brand new ones in June of 2007 - a heart shaped one and a flower shaped one.

So .. there you go!
Judi

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How to get needles out of a pincushion

Joy asks:
I can feel that needles have disappeared inside my pincushion. How can I get them back out?

I've had this happen to me too. The bad news is that the eye of the needle isn't sharp enough to make a hole in the fabric of the pincushion so you're not going to get it back out easily. If you used an incredibly strong magnet you might be able to pull it through. Worth a try.

When this happened to me I was not able to get them out so I cut the pincushion open and retrieved them. Then I bought a new pincushion that doesn't allow me to push the needle in too far if I keep the needle at an angle. (It has cardboard sides- it's a teapot.)

To keep from getting in this bind again what I suggest is always leaving some thread in the eye of the needle. Then if it does start to go inside you should be able to pull it back. Makes for a messy pincushion at times but you don't lose needles. Or you could keep your needles in a needle case instead of a pincushion. Even an old medicine bottle.

Hope this helps,
Judi

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How to applique a doll face to a purse

Ann asks:
I've made a flat cloth doll face, colored, layered with batting and muslin. I'd like to place this on a cloth purse I'm making, but I'm not sure how to proceed. Any advice is appreciated.

I've made a couple of purses like this and it's really easy. You didn't say if the face was cut out or not - so if not, just cut it out leaving the face a 1/4" bigger than the batting and backing. (You might need to grade the batting and backing.) Then use a strong hand stitching thread and sew it to the purse by catching the edges of the face and then the purse. Turn the extra material under as you stitch along. Take lots of tiny stitches and it will be very secure. As you can see in the example I added trim around the face afterwards. Not only does it add a wonderful decorative touch but it covers all your stitching too.

Hope this helps,
Sherry

P.S. Judi here ... I'm adding my two cents worth. You might want to use a sealer to help keep the face clean. I like Craftgard - which can pretty much only be found on eBay nowadays. Spray the face before you sew it on.

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How to avoid broken threads when free motion embroidering

Marianne asks:

How do I avoid that the thread break and get torn when you try to embroider with the sewing machine.....see my problem :

http://mariyarn.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/machine-embroidery-oh-help/


I have quite a few suggestions for you and one of them should surely help. First of all - for safety reasons - don't sew with a naked needle - you should be using a darning foot (with a little spring). Darning is similar to free motion embroidery and so it is a good foot to use. The second thing to do is match your needle with your thread. It looks like you are using quite a heavy thread so you will need a needle with a large eye. A needle with a small eye will most definitely shred your thread. You should also loosen your upper thread tension (not the bobbin), this will help a lot. Use a good quality thread. This alone will save you lots of headaches. Lastly - you don't need to use matching thread in your bobbin - you can use a lighter weight thread.

I noticed that a reader on your website suggested winding the heavy thread on the bobbin and sewing with the fabric's right side facing the bed of your machine - that's another good suggestion although you can't see what you're doing as well. But with some threads it is the only choice, just depends on how heavy the thread is.

Hope this helps,
Judi

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All about beading threads and needles

Kyla says:
Help! I know nothing about beading threads and needles - and I'm getting really confused.

There's lots of different threads out there. My favorite online bead store - Fire Mountain Gems has this to say about beading threads and needles:

Nymo nylon beading thread has become the most popular choice for working with seed beads. It's lightweight and comes in a variety of thicknesses and colors. Be sure to use beeswax or Thread Heaven to coat and prevent it from fraying.

Tips: Use only size "D" and lightweight beads with smooth holes for stringing. For loomwork, use size "D" for the warp and size "B" or "D" for the weft. For off-loom beadwork, use the heaviest size possible for the type of work you're doing: If you are passing through seed beads more than three times or are using size 15-2 seed beads, use size "O" or "OO"; for other off-loom projects use size "B" or "D". Any needle listed below works with this thread, but if you choose a beading needle, be sure the eye isn't too small for the thread weight you've chosen. You don't want the needle to be the culprit in wearing out your thread.

Kevlar is a very strong synthetic material. So strong, in fact, it's used to make bulletproof vests!

Tips: This thread works best for stringing and you can use any type of needle listed below to work with it. When securing Kevlar, use a fisherman's knot to ensure its continued strength. Kevlar is naturally yellow, but can be dyed any color using fabric dyes.

Silk is the most traditional thread for stringing pearls, but the thinner sizes are also useful in making other beaded pieces. This natural material has the widest range of sizes, as well as the largest variety of colors of any of the materials listed here.

Tips: Silk often comes on cards that include a needle already attached to the thread. You can use any of the other needles listed as well, but, as with Nymo, be sure your needle isn't wearing out the thread. Because the ends fray so easily, silk is sometimes difficult to thread onto a beading needle, so a Big Eye needle might be easiest. If stringing, only use with smooth-holed beads so the thread doesn't become weak from abrasion. Size "D" works well for light weight beads, size "E-F" for medium weight, and size "F-FFF" for heavy weight. For off-loom or bead embroidery, use size "OO-D", and be sure to thoroughly prepare the thread with beeswax or Thread Heaven.

Silkon Bonded Nylon Thread is a synthetic material that looks and drapes like silk, but resists fraying and has incredible strength. It comes in light, medium, and heavy weights, and in a wide array of colors.

Tips: Silkon is primarily used for stringing beads because it is so strong and durable. You can use any type of needle listed with this type of thread, but, depending on the weight you use, it may be easiest to use a Big Eye needle.

Beading needles are very thin, flexible needles most often used for seed bead work. The advantage to using this type (rather than regular sewing needles) is that their eyes are the same width as the rest of the needle, so there's no added metal width to get in the way as you pass through seed and other small-holed beads. These needles also come in a twin-pointed version (used for bead embroidery) and a glover's version (these have a triangle tip used for leather bead embroidery). Use for bead embroidery, loomwork, off-loom beadwork and stringing.

Big Eye needles are extremely easy to thread. They feature two sharp ends with tension wires down the middle that can be split; simply open the wires and pass the thread through. Use for bead embroidery, loomwork and stringing.

Twisted beading needles are primarily used for stringing beads because they don't have a sharp point. Their wide eyes are easy to thread, and collapse once you pass through the beads. Use for stringing.

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There is also Silamide thread, which is a pre-waxed twisted filament nylon thread. It's pretty popular also. But it's thick so you wouldn't want to use it if you're going through beads more than once. This is one of those things where you have to try the different threads and find what you like to work with.

Hope this helps!
Judi

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The Embellisher: What is machine needle felting?

Marianne asks:
I would like to know what the difference is between an "embellisher" and my good old Singer sewing machine? On a lot of my blog tour people mention this "embellisher", what can be done with it? How does it work?


The Embellisher is a specialty machine that doesn't sew with a needle and thread. It uses felting needles to 'mesh' fibers together. The Babylock Embellisher uses 7 needles to do this. Some machine manufacturers have come out with an accessory that needle felts. Bernina has one called a Decorative Needle Punch Accessory - it uses 5 needles and has a special throat plate. Brother has a machine felting accessory and Janome has a stand-alone machine. There is one more I have heard of called a Pierrot but I don't know if you you can get that in the US. All have special guards to keep your fingers from the needles.

What can be done with it? You can decorate existing garments, you can add 'trim' to existing fabric and make something from it, you can make unique fabric, art quilts, appliques, and I'm sure there is a lot more. But you can't sew two pieces of fabric together with a needle and thread. It doesn't sew.

So how does it work? The felting needles are extremely sharp and have little barbs or hooks at their base that pull fibers from the top layer through to the bottom layer and they embed together. You can use wool roving or yarns or even certain materials. It's all an experiement. As long as you don't break a needle on it you can probably felt with it.

Paula Scaffidi was one of the pioneers of fiber art using the Embellisher. If you visit her site you'll find most of your questions answered in depth, plus galleries and even a tutorial or two. One tutorial has a short video clip where you can see her machine in action.

I have the Decorative Needle Punch Accessory and it's fun to play with although I don't use it too often.

Hope this helps,
Judi

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Doggone knitting

Eliza says:
Thanks for the links to those knitting videos - they're great. Do you have any links to good sites where I can find cool patterns for dog sweaters?



Try Bella Online, it has quite a few links to different patterns, other pet crafts, and even has a dog biscuit mix recipe too.

Hope this helps!
Judi

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Sewing for Square Dance Outfits

Red asks:
I'd like some helpful suggestions on making ruffles. I am a square dancer and I would like to make my own outfits but have lots of difficulty with those darn ruffles. Any tips would be appreciated.


Ah yes, ruffles! There are lots of ways to gather a ruffle but due to the length of material needed for the ruffle on a square dance outfit I think the easiest way is to use a specialty ruffler foot. Let me suggest a couple of ways to gather the ruffle without one first though.
1) Set your sewing machine for a wide zig zag stitch. Take a strong string or even some dental floss and zig zag stitch over the top of it, making sure not to catch the cord in the zig zag stitching. Then you can use the cord to gather the ruffle.
2) Make three lines of stitching at the longest stitch length possible (or a basting stitch) on your machine, leaving long thread tails at either end. Take one line of stitches close to the seam line, make the second row above that, and the third line 1/8" above the last line. Pull to gather being careful not to break the thread.

Your gathers can be adjusted when you pin the ruffle to the skirt. Divide the skirt and the ruffle into four sections and pin and adjust each section. It's easier to do it in sections than the whole skirt at once.

Back to the ruffler foot. Depending on your sewing machine you can either get a foot made for your model or a generic ruffler foot. The generic feet are relatively inexpensive and if you can't find one locally you can buy one from Nancy's Notions. They are a bit tricky to attach to your machine but if you take it slow and read the directions it will work. Then you can choose how tight to gather (or pleat) your material. Always do a couple of test pieces to see how it gathers. These feet allow you to gather and sew to the base fabric in one operation, which is a big timesaver.

If you have a serger you might be able to get a gathering foot for that too. I know that you can gather material using the differential feed but I found that on my machine it never gathered enough for me. These presser feet will also gather and sew the ruffle to the base fabric in one operation.

Hope this helps!
Judi

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Knitting video clips

Tara asks:
Can you recommend a good website that has video clips on basic knitting? I'm stuck at home and can't get books or DVDs. Thanks.

Sure, I can do that. Try Knitting Help.
I don't have any affiliation with this site but I think her video clips are easy to follow. She shows both continental style and English style (which is what we Americans use mostly). There are supposed to be 150 free knitting videos available. I've watched a few and I really like her style. She goes really slowly and repeats the steps. You can learn to cast on, to knit, to purl, all your basic techniques. Then you can view clips on advanced techniques like working the heel of a sock, knitting with 2 colors at one time and more. I think this might just be what you are looking for!

Judi

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Aida for Cross-stitch

Marjorie asks:
What's Aida cloth? I found an old magazine with a neat cross-stitch pattern that I want to try and it calls for this stuff.

Aida cloth is a specially woven cloth used for cross-stitching and other needle art. It has evenly spaced holes between the warp and the weft. You can buy this cloth with different size holes, normally expressed as a count, like 10 count or 12 count. The count equals how many holes there are per inch. The pattern should tell you what size Aida cloth to buy. You can buy it in either packages or by the yard.

Happy stitching!
Judi

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