Best Ever Hand-Held Needle Threader with VIDEO
I am realizing that many of you are correct – sewing machine needle eyes do get smaller as one becomes older! Thank goodness for needle threaders! But what happens when your built-in sewing machine needle thread gets bent or broken because of improper use (See Proper Use of a Built-In Needle Threader tip).That teeny-tiny metal hook must be exactly lined up with the needle’s eye or it will get bent and no longer function as it should. Should you just stop sewing? NO! But DO have a back up hand-held needle threader just in case. If you become so dependent on your sewing machine’s needle threader that you have forgotten how to thread a needle the old fashion way, then I have a solution for you.
Back before we had built-in needle threaders on the machines, I often used this perfect-every-time hand held needle threader. It saved me when changing threads for embroidery designs and still remains a front row companion when I am threading my serger! (Not many sergers have built-in needle threaders. The only serger we sell that has a built-in needle threader is the Bernina 1150MDA ).
Click here to watch the video and see how this tool works!
It also has a helpful needle insertion tool on the other end. Use it to prevent the needle from falling into the depths of the sewing machine or serger when it is being loosened and replaced.
Come in and try it out for yourself!
Note: Both hand-held and built-in needle threaders do not normally work with extra small needle sizes such as a 65/9 or smaller.
Since having a built-in needle threader topped our list at the #2 most important item on a dream sewing machine, adding a simple hand-held version will extend the love you have for your current sewing machine until its time to buy a new one!
This hand-held needle threader is available from Heirloom Creations for $9.99 by calling 605-332-4435 with a credit card or stopping by.
© 2009 SewSara, Sioux Falls, SD. All Rights Reserved.
Sewing Room Tours
Did you miss March’s Sewtopia Sewing Club highlighting sewing rooms in our area and seeing organizational ideas? We have uploaded all the sewing room pictures that I took or that were e-mailed to me. Check out Cleo’s sewing room, and before and after pictures of my sewing room after a good cleaning!
Shown above: Darlene’s sewing room
Click here to view all the sewing room pictures. Click on any picture to begin the slideshow!
I was surprised to see how many sewing rooms have more than two sewing machines set up and ready to use, and how many people have a cutting table completely open and ready for the next project. What a treat!
Highlights
Gerry Lynn creatively used the sides from her own baby crib, hung them on a door and then displayed finished quilts on them.
Cleo combined an ironing and pressing station to an all-in-one unit. The top is padded and covered to press on. Then lift it up to rotary cut. Notice the iron sits off to the side so not to get in the way!
Darlene owns more than one of the Horn drawer units with shallow drawers to help keep trims, beads, paints, rulers all contained yet easy to find and organize. She also enjoys having a rotary cutting mat right next to her sewing machine as she works on small art quilts with many pieces.
“Magic Curtains” were found in many sewing rooms to disguise additional storage areas and to keep sunlight and dust off of fabric stashes. Watch the entire slide show to see what is behind these two curtains!
Did you know that a freezer is the perfect height to use as a cutting table?
Here are my before and after pictures of the closet in my sewing room.
Getting Organized
You don’t want to spend the time looking for supplies and getting set up. A couple of hours organizing now will result in more time to sew later! If making time to organize is hard, try the “Fly Lady” way (see flylady.net) for inspiration to organize just 15 minutes at a time! PS: I use the Fly Lady website to help with keeping my house clean and break everyday tasks into manageable segments.
5 Steps to an Organized Studio
1. Sort. Go through your studio and sort each general element (e.g. fabrics, books and patterns, paints and dyes), then sort within the area (e.g. fabrics by color, books by theme).
2. Purge. As you sort, set aside materials and supplies you seldom—if ever—use. Make a plan to sell or donate those items.
3. Assign a home. Look at the materials you have left and think about how you use them. Keep all the supplies you use for a specific task together, or near each other (e.g. sewing machine, threads, bobbins, pins, in close proximity).
4. Contain. Now that you know what you have and how you use it, you have a better idea of your storage needs. See-through containers help you identify what’s in them instantly, but opaque containers—especially if they’re uniform—help reduce visual clutter. Mainly, it’s a matter of personal taste.
5. Equalize. Now that you have your space set up, set up a routine to maintain order daily. That doesn’t mean you have to clean up everything in the midst of a project. However, it’s a good idea to put away utensils like scissors, accessories and, etc. so that you can start right in the next time. A good way to do this is to stop working 10 minutes before you need to, and use that time to position your tools for the next use.
Click here to view all the sewing room pictures. Click on any picture to begin the slideshow!
Join us Tuesday, April 14, 2009 for a special “Baby Themed” Sewtopia Sewing Club at 10am, 2pm or 6:30pm. Click here for more information about Sewtopia!
Countdown: 63 days until the arrival of Baby Snuggerud!
Your Dream Machine
If you could have anything you wanted on a new sewing machine, what would be on your wish list? We polled members of the Sewtopia Sewing Club in 2007 and asked what three items on their current sewing machine would they not want to live without. I was surprised to find what topped the list! The next time you are out looking for a new machine, a second machine to take to class, or a machine for your son or daughter, consider this list of “Top Favorites” to make sure you are not without some of your favorite features!
Top 12 Items In Order of Importance:
1. Needle Stop Up/Down
2. Needle Threader
3. Presser Foot Lifter / Sensor Foot System
4. Stitch Regulator
5. Good Light / True Color Light
6. Automatic One Step Buttonholes
7. Variable Needle Positions
8. Auto Thread Cutter
9. Precision Optional Accessories
10. Low bobbin sensor
11. Ability to wind a bobbin while sewing and/or without having to unthread the machine
12. Large bobbins
Take a minute to think about three additional items you would not want to live without…Would it be perfect tension? A better looking blanket stitch? Or how about wider decorative stitches? Bring in your own list of “Must Haves” when selecting a new machine. There is no reason that us women should settle on anything less than perfection!
© 2009 SewSara, Sioux Falls, SD. All Rights Reserved.
Simple Just Got Simpler
I often hear the phrase, “I just want something simple” from sewing machine shoppers who have never sewed before, or it‘s been a long time since they had a machine. Whatever the perception is that gives the impression that sewing machines are more complicated these days needs to be dispelled now. Just because a machine has a lot of stitches does not mean it is complicated.
Mechanically, the way sewing machines operate is still essentially the same as from the time the lock-stitch machines were first developed more than 150 years ago. The lock-stitch is formed with two threads, a top thread that goes through the needle and a bobbin thread as we know today. But gone for good are the days that a new machine only does straight stitch. No matter how many stitches a machine may have, if you only use straight stitch today’s machine is simpler than ever to use.
Electronics have invaded every aspect of Twenty-first Century life, including the sewing world. It makes me wonder why anyone would want to go back to the typewriter after using a computer, or use a rotary dial phone after a cell phone. Once you know how to thread a machine you have one-touch options (think microwave) for a multitude of beautiful stitch patterns from which to choose that require no thinking on your part other than where you choose to use them.
More Than Straight Stitch
Many stitches are practical in nature; the rest on a machine with more than ten stitches are decorative. Knowing how to use the stitches like everything else is a learning process. And once you know how to operate the machine there is more to learn about following directions, using a pattern, cutting fabric, and which two pieces to sew and where to sew them.
Electronics in sewing machines have done several things. First it has enabled the machine to “multitask” if you will. This means that instead of having a feed-dog system that only operates in one direction, moving the fabric forward, or backward by pressing a button or lever to sew back stitches, the electronics can now create beautiful embroidery stitches.
The circuit boards are programmed to change the forward and backward motion in combination with multiple needle positions. That is how you get the beautiful floral and heirloom patterns, alphabets, and cute stitches like hearts and doggies. There also are machines take this a step further in that they feed the fabric sideways as well and create stitch patterns larger than the standard stitch width.
Needle Stop Up/Down
The next way electronics make sewing machines simpler is that they now control whether the needle stops in the up or down position. Gone and good riddance are the days of cranking the hand wheel to reposition the needle and take-up lever so you could take the fabric out of the machine.
After more than a hundred years of having machines that need repositioning by cranking the hand wheel, we are now FREE of this task. Besides, most people never learned how to do it correctly. If you have ever seen three threads as you pull the fabric out…if you ever had the thread jerked out of the needle when you started to sew the next seam…if the threads made a bird’s nest underneath…you did not reposition the (“thing-a-ma-bobber”…that thing that bobs up and down) TAKE-UP LEVER correctly. If you only see that the needle is up it might be at the point where it is not quite finished making the stitch and that is why those annoying things happen. The take-up lever also needs to be positioned correctly.
Now with electronics we do not have to think about take-up lever repositioning and no more cranking the hand wheel. More than that, with many machines you can choose whether the needle stops in the up or down position. Having the needle stop in the down position every time you let up on the foot control helps you not loose your place as you sew if, for example, you need to lift the presser foot to pivot. It helps, too, with chain piecing when you lift the foot to set the next piece under.
Need for Speed
Gone too are the machines that had more power only if sped up. It was always difficult to get over the seam of a jeans hem…the machine always grumbled and balked at that point. Electronic machines use a different type of motor, DC rather than the AC motors that non-electronic machines use.
DC motors have full penetrating power even at slow speeds so you can sew slowly over thick places without loosing control of what you are sewing. You can also regulate the speed easier with the foot pedal. Some machines have a speed regulator so you can set the machine to sew fast or slow. This is the best feature for free-hand machine quilters who set the machine to the speed that is comfortable for how fast they move the fabric. Speed control is a great feature for young sewers, too.
So you want a simple machine? Today’s machines are simpler than ever. They also give you the capability of being creative in ways you may have never thought. It is as easy as the pushing of a button….which we are good at with phones and microwaves!
Countdown: 77 days until the arrival of Baby Snuggerud!
Beyond the Block Quilt for Baby Snuggerud
As many of you already know, Steve and I are expecting a little girl to arrive late May. This past weekend marks the “3 months to ago” mile stone. Wow! It feels like she will be here so soon as well as, oh-my, I still have three months to go! So if you have been wondering about the countdown that has been at the end of each of recent weekly SewSara.com tips, now you know!
At our January Sewtopia sewing club, Cleo helped me announce the exciting news of Baby Snuggerud’s arrival with a book review from the Beyond the Block book. Our unsuspecting guests were then surprised at the end of the book review when Cleo presented the quilt her future grand daughter and me! This book is available at Heirloom Creations.
This one-of-kind quilt allows quilters to try out different blocks while working with unique settings. A design wall is key to help with placement as each section is being worked on. It also allows for creative design changes to occur based on color selection and deciding on which elements will stand out more than others once together.
Beyond the Block
By Linda Johnson & Jane Wells
Make dramatic quilts with easy-to-piece units! Use all your favorites quarter- and half-square triangles, Flying Geese, square-in-a-square, Four- and Nine-Patch, Log Cabin, strip-piecing, and more then combine them into dramatic art quilts while having fun with these dynamic teachers. Play with positioning the units, add strips and fussy-cut squares, maybe even one of those leftover orphan blocks, toss in some three-dimensional embellishments, then stand back and admire your genius! 96 pages, Softcover, Copyright 2008.
For the back of the quilt, Cleo used Sara’s favorite color, lime green minkee. This soft back beautifully shows off the quilting all while hiding any imperfections. When using minkee for a quilt back, often times, no batting is used. Come in and feel and see this quilt to see how cuddly Minkee is!
Countdown: 84 days until the arrival of Baby Snuggerud!