double needle question

Dec 30, 2003 5 Replies
J

Hi all,



A few weeks ago, in a reply to another post, I mentionned that I envied one feature of my brother's machine: " the fact that he could use double needles or even just two needles". This started me wondering , what use are double needles ?



I get that they are used for making parallele stitches but having done a little research I can't figure out why this would be usefull except for decorating.



So my question is :" is there a ..."structural" use for double needles or are they just for decorative effect ?



Jean , newbie


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I

------------------------ "Old quilters never die, they just go to pieces."

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G

Because the bobbin thread forms a zig-zag between the two top threads, straight stitching with a double needle has a bit more stretch to it than straight stitching with a single needle. Many people (myself included) use double needles to hem knit garments, because the hem will give with the garment and not pop like single needle stitching.

gabrielle

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T

Come to think of it, all topstitching and edgestitching is a decorative technique that strengthens structure.

If you're going to do rows of topstitching, on cuffs, say, having a double needle halves the amount of work. It's useful too if you want to stitch in different colours and have the lines exactly parallel - you just load different colours in the two bobbins.

:) Trish

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R

You can use them for a form of quilting (the name escapes me at the moment - maybe trapunto?) where you stitch a pattern on two layers of fabric and then, by cutting small holes in the wrong side, feed either stuffing/wadding through or piping cord. This then gives a raised quilted effect on the "right" side

Fiona

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