A friendly reminder

WOW! Thank you, Polly. I read most of it, realized I wouldn't remember much of it and then printed it out. It will reside beside my sewing machine..... there's some info in there that explains why I have had some thread troubles and what I need to do to fix it. This is a really great article. You may have saved my last nerve!

Now, back to "My Hip-py Horse-pital Quilt" with lots of good thread-y ideas.....

Leslie & The Furbabies > Here's a mnemonic for you. For those of you whose memory lights flicker on

Well, it should make life easier for some of us. I had not realized that there was nylon invisible thread and other fibers of invisible. Once upon a time, I had the nylon in the SM and didn't remove it to do some piecing. When I pressed the seams, everything simply turned loose. The nylon couldn't take the heat. Years later, I've noticed that my invisible handles the heat just fine, not that I would trust it for piecing. I want to try the SewArt invisible that claims a matte finish. That would be a good thing. Polly

I remember by threading the needle before I cut the thread.

My grandmother taught me that "knot the end you cut" when she was teaching me to embroider and sew, I wasn't even in kindergarten yet. The other trick she showed me to keep embroidery floss from tangling back on its self, after you've separated the floss strands and forgot which end is which......very gently hold the floss between your thumb and forefinger and pull it through. You can feel that one way is rough and the other is smooth, you always want to pull the floss through the cloth the smooth way (with the twist). I also can still her soft Danish accent telling me......"The longer the thread the lazier the seamstress." She taught me to thread the needle while the thread was still on the spool, hold the eye of the threaded needle then pull it and cut when the length was at your elbow. Universal ergonomics; none of that "reaching for the stars" when hand sewing.

Great article, I saved it, lots of good info!

I don't need to hide eggs this year......I'm still looking for the ones I hid for myself last year!

Val

Thanks for the link, Polly! There is a wealth of good info there.

It seems that a lot of that review is personal opinion - some that many of us do not agree with, and some that we once knew and forgot. I was adjusting the SM tension with the foot up and the article suggests that setting it with the foot down is the better way. I don't know about that - just simply don't know. I'll have to go check it out for myself. Polly

Polly, the SewArt invisible is about all I use. (as far as invisible thread goes. ) I love it. It really is a matte finish. Will try to get some pics up soon. I also don't have problems with hot iron, but then, I don't keep a hot iron on the quilted project for long.

Pati, > Well, it should make life easier for some of us. I had not realized that

That one I know is true, at least for the machines I have. However, I suspect that with the new electronic machines, it may not be necessary. For FWs, 301s and for my 1990 Kenmore, the presser (pressor?) foot must be down in order to adjust the upper tension. If the foot is up, I could turn the knob till Tucson freezes and it won't change the tension a bit.