Anyone who spends any amount of time sewing with me will hear this, and hear it constantly if you’re one of those people who leaves your rotary cutter open when you put it down.

If fact, last week, at my quilt guild’s lovely charity sewing day*, I got told by a member that I was being micro-managing because I was being a hawk about open blades.

Well, I am a hawk about open blades, ESPECIALLY in a group setting. This particular group had over a dozen people in it, and we were all wading through piles of scrap strips to make string blocks. Imagine what would have happened if an open blade was buried under the strips someone grabbed. Yep – there could have been an injury.

Getting hurt on your own turf, and through your own misfortune is one thing, but taking your bad habits to the quilt store is negligent, and let’s face it, somewhat arrogant: you are more than welcome to risk your own hands, but please don’t risk mine. I need both of my hands to be fully operational to run my business and enjoy my life. You have no idea which medical conditions your friends might have that can be compromised or exacerbated by a cut. And let’s face it, NO ONE has time for an inopportune injury, and I daresay the unexpected medical bills that would accompany it will give most of us a bad case of the sweats, if not kill off the next fun thing we’re saving for.

We obey plenty of laws for the common good, so adding a good blade closing habit to your skills shouldn’t be something to resist!

I’ve had several friends do battle with rotary cutters and lose big time. One friend recently gashed her palm while changing blades and was off work for the better part of a month over it. Another had to see a hand surgeon to re-attach a finger tendon that got sliced right through (did you know that those tendons can snap back up into your forearm?) Several friends have had stitches. Personally, I sliced the side of my finger off one night when I was working late (and tired) and because I was on blood thinners at the time, it took over an hour to get it to stop bleeding. And that finger is still skinnier along the side I sliced.

Rotary cutting is a major innovation for quilters, but these blades are dangerous and need to be respected.

I was fortunate to be taught by a great teacher who made sure that we learned to close the blade from the very first class. If you can’t get your head around closing the blade you MUST buy a cutter that will do it for you. There are good cutters out there that will close automatically when you release them:

Olfa makes this one – you squeeze the handle to uncover the blade and it retracts when you let go.

And Dritz makes this one – it’s pressure sensitive, so the guard goes back as you press down to cut (and FYI, if you dropped this on your foot the blade would probably come out and cut you – so you’d be better off learning to close your blade on one that can’t do that!)

SO CLOSE YOUR BLADE!

And for my tips on maintaining your rotary cutter, read this post Slicing, dicing… and oiling.

* More about this to come… I’ll be interviewing the amazing woman who runs our charity sewing it in the next couple of weeks.

Links are NOT affiliate!

The post Close Your Blade appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

There were several highlights for me, mostly around re-connecting with friends, or meeting new people, but I would have to say top on my list was seeing Chawne Kimber’s work in person, and then getting to really, deeply, talk with her. She is a lovely human – generous of her time, thoughtful with her words, and funny as hell. I also saw her speak on a panel about diversity in quilting, and she is formidably in command of both historical and current issues surrounding the race and gender conversations in our world. I am even more of a fan now.

Chawne uses her needle skills to say important things. She nails it with the razor sharp focus and acumen of an editorial cartoonist. Political cartoons require a decathlon of skills: you have to be in the thick of the conversation that is going on right now, understand its history, be able to tease out the most important (and likely least seen) nuances, write them large in a tight sentence or two, and then illustrate the heck out of them, exaggerating only certain details for specific effect. And do all of it in a timely fashion so they don’t look like last week’s joke.

Chawne had two quilts in the show:

“The One for Eric” by Chawne Kimber, hand quilting by Chawne Kimber, longarm machine quilting by Pamela J. Cole

In Chawne’s words:

The improvisational patchwork here is meant to remind one of graffiti scrawled impulsively on a wall in the shadows. Hand-quilting in winding trails of various reds invokes brick and blood.

A quilt in my “elegy” series, this one is for Eric Garner who was killed in a chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo on July 17, 2014 on Staten Island. His suspected crime was selling loose cigarettes on a street corner. Recorded in a viral video on a smart phone, these were Eric’s last words.

For me, these words are filled with meaning beyond the incident.

Some detail:

DETAIL: “The One for Eric” by Chawne Kimber, hand quilting by Chawne Kimber, longarm machine quilting by Pamela J. Cole

Her second quilt:

“Cotton Sophisticate” by Chawne Kimber, hand quilting by Chawne Kimber, longarm quilting by Pamela J. Cole

In her words:

“In essence, I am a sophisticated cotton picker.” This is a summary quote in southerner Eartha Kitt’s autobiography, Alone with Me, that has myriad (direct and indirect) meanings I identify with. This improvisational patchwork and kantha style handquilting is a direct callback to the make-do utility quilts made by my great-grandmother on a former cotton plantation in Wendowee, Alabama, at the turn of the last century. A small bit of visible mending is a love note to her.

Details:

Thank you for this work, Chawne. PLEASE keep ’em coming.

*

Chawne’s work and other great political quilts from QuiltCon were featured in an LA Times article here.

The post Important Quilts: Meeting Chawne Kimber appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

Mandy and I met a couple of years ago at Quilt Market, and I was privileged to see a few sneaks of these quilts while she was working on them. I loved seeing how she interpreted the things that fascinate her through quilting.

This is a really interesting book, full of inspiration to create work from the world around you. Mandy’s background in classical archeology is evident in the projects, but it’s her love of classical art that shines through. It’s great to see a book that’s as much about making your OWN ideas as it is about making the projects offered.

I recently returned from a trip to Europe and, in my wanderings, found a few things that could definitely inspire a wanderlust quilt or two:

These are the columns on the front of the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France. Each column and base was carved with a different repeating pattern. I could imagine making a row-by-row based quilt that uses these carved textures as starting points for the design.

It’s also easy to see that many of the motifs we use in quilting have been in the design canon for centuries – this building was mostly finished in the 1200s! Check out the double wedding rings on the third column from the left!

Below is another image that gave me some more quilty inspiration. This one is a tiled mosaic bench from Gaudi’s Park Guell in Barcelona, Spain.

I see applique, border prints, piecework, and prairie points!

It you’d like to own a signed copy of this sweet book, go here to purchase it directly from Mandy (and if you want to know how the profit slices on a book, read here).

The post Wanderlust Quilts appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

As I say a lot, I’m committed to being as transparent as possible in the name of sharing information that will benefit us all as part of We Are $ew Worth It. So here’s what I know about the numbers surrounding my book – a peek behind the green curtain, with some hard math numbers. I would love for anyone else to chime in with more knowledge in the comments.

1. A publishing company spends between $30-50K to produce a book. They edit, photograph, design, print, and distribute it, using a combination of salaried and contract staff. C&T Publications/Stash Books is my publisher.

2. I did not receive an advance to make my book. I have no idea if more established authors in this industry get advances. An advance means you get some money up front, your royalties pay for that until the advanced amount is paid off.

3. The rest of the quilting industry (fabrics, batting, notions, etc.) helps authors by supplying materials and tools in exchange for exposure in the book. In my case, that was about 90% of the materials I used. This was seriously helpful, especially with no advance. Everyone who helped is listed in the back/resources pages. You should read this to see which companies help out the most, so you can support them. Yes, it seems rather incestuous, doesn’t it? But trust me, without this help designers couldn’t make new stuff for you.

4. It took me 8 months to design, write, piece, test, and quilt the projects for my book, and it was pretty much all I did for those 8 months (the pattern side of my business, my bread-and-butter income, was neglected). I had a couple of group sewing days where friends furiously paper-pieced letters for me, and another where a friend showed up to help spray baste everything. I sent out only one quilt to a long arm artist (and as it happened, we didn’t include that project). It was an intense and grueling time.

5. It takes about 12 months from when you deliver the manuscript and quilts before the book gets out into the world. During those 12 months, I have had more deep commitments in the editing, technical editing, design review, and especially the marketing end of it. The author is expected to do the brunt of getting out the marketing word across any and every platform possible. So while I turned everything in a year ago, my time is still being consumed by this. And will be for a while yet.

6. Pricing: My publisher determined the price of my book to be $24.95. It has 144 pages, and a jumbo pullout pattern sheet for the letters. This seems to be good value in comparison to others… I’ve seen 112 page books for this price.

7. My royalties on this book are 8%, which means 8% of the price that the publisher sells the book for after returns and other things that can eat into that number. Most shops that will buy the book will buy it for $12.50, which means I earn $1 per book. I assume (but don’t know) that bigger outfits like Amazon, or chains like Barnes & Noble or Joann’s might get a discount on their wholesale deal. If they do, my royalties for those units go down with that discount, too. If the publisher gives the book out as a complimentary/free copy, I get 8% of free, which is zero. Royalties get paid quarterly, so I’ll see my first check for Quilt Talk probably next January – which will be a full TWO YEARS since I started working on it.

7a. My royalties on an ebook are 15%, with the book priced at $14.99 on C&T’s site. I have no idea what the likes of Amazon or libraries might pay for the right to distribute ebooks. Let’s hope I get $1 apiece for these too.

8. What ever you think about Amazon, they are the juggernaut that drives how the market operates. Their ratings determine my future, as they drive my internet popularity, which is how far up the list I appear when you type my name into a search engine. Few people look beyond the first page of an internet search, so coming up on page one is very important. Your leaving me reviews on Amazon matters mightily to that search rating, not to mention influences other buyers. And I’ll be nudging you about reviews later, because that’s part of my marketing obligation.

9. Obviously, Amazon buys in bulk and spreads profit and loss across millions of products, and so they can afford to discount. I have no idea what they will pay for my book, but I do know that I’ve seen the price of Quilt Talk fluctuate on their site from $18 to $22 (they have algorithms for this based on YOUR buying and browsing history). Add the lure of free shipping (whether you buy more to get to the $35 free ship threshold, or have a Prime account) and it’s easy to see why book sales elsewhere are a struggle.

10.  Stores: I assume the big chains get a break. I know the independent stores don’t. They will pay $12.50 for my book, and hope that you’ll buy it from them (rather than come and look at it and go home and buy it on Amazon). Remember, if you want a quilt store or independent bookseller in your town, you actually have to buy things there. Amazon will survive you not buying the occasional book. The quilt store might not.

11. Book signings: I’m doing several book signings at stores… no one is paying me to get to them. It is not customary for the author to get a cut of the sales action the book signing generates, beyond royalties. Book signings help stores the most, so if you can, it’s good to go to them. Even if you don’t buy my book there, it’s lovely to meet supportive people.

12. Quilt Market: If I want to promote my book at Quilt Market, I have to get myself there, and that costs about $1000-$1200 for plane, hotel, taxis, and food. I’ll be doing a School House Session at Market in October, which is a half-hour event where I pitch the book, tell shop owners how to sell the book, which projects make good workshops and classes (and I’ve already written the class outlines for those), and which products they can tie into  sales (rulers, cutters, mats, papers, etc.). My publisher is picking up the cost of this (they have to buy the School House slot from the Market people), but they don’t foot the travel expenses. While I’m there, I’ll also be signing at distributor booths to generate interest. Again, for no payment… basically, if I show up, these people will use me as best they can. Why do it? I hope to get contacts for teaching and speaking gigs out of this.

13. Pre-sales: Amazon is doing pre-sales, so I decided to as well. I chose $20 as my pre-sale price, but still need to charge shipping. This book is heavy, so my shipping options are $4 for media mail (slow to you, and a trip to the post office for me) or $5.60 for Priority Mail ($5.05 if I print at home). Regular old first class is around $7, so Priority it is, and I rounded it down to $5. I’ll be paying $12.50 plus shipping for my book, so let’s call it $13. So if you buy my pre-sale for $25 (which includes the shipping) I’ll make my $1 royalty, plus around $6 (I lose about $1 to Paypal), out of which comes mailing time, printer ink, mailing labels, order management time. I would love to be competitive with Amazon, and offer you the book for $18 including shipping, but at that point I’m making barely $1 in profit (not including the royalty $1) and frankly, it’s not a cost effective use of my time to do all that mailing stuff for break even numbers.

14. Book Plates: I’ve decided to do signed bookplates for those of you that want a signature scribble from me, but won’t see me, or want to support your local quilt and book stores. I thought I would be able to mail them to you for free, but the cost of printing the bookplate, putting it in an envelope I have to purchase, and then putting a stamp on it comes out to about $1. Which is my royalty on the book you purchased elsewhere. So I’m charging for bookplates or again, it’s not cost effective.

So in short:

• If you want to help the author the most – buy directly from the author on her/his site, or at an independent function such as a guild lecture.
• If you want to help your local quilt or book store the most – buy directly from the quilt or book store.
• If you need to save a few $$ (and really, we’re talking the price of a couple of fat quarters or a frothy coffee drink with a tip) – buy from Amazon under one of their free shipping deals.

The post WASWI – Where Should You Buy a Quilt Book? appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

As a pattern designer, I’d like to address a few of the points from this side of the aisle!

First up: this is part of my internal “mission statement” when I design a pattern. I can’t speak for every other designer, but I do know that my closest designer pals are like me, all striving to do a conscientious job:

• Mind the fabric. The fabric “generosity” in the materials list is a tricky tightrope to walk. I round up to the nearest 1/4 yard, or add an 1/8 yard if I’m on the 1/4 line. This only changes if the fabric is being used for cuts larger than an 1/8 (say an 8” cut) in which case I give you one extra large cut in case of an oops. C&T’s rule for my upcoming book was add 1/4 yard to my calculations. I do work hard at writing patterns that use up most of their parts… in several of my jelly-strip based ones you can use the strip scraps to make a binding (I happen to love the puzzle of using it all up!)
• Be honest about my assumptions. At the beginning of every pattern, I tell you what the pattern assumes you already know: how to sew a 1/4” inch, how to rotary cut, how to layer/quilt/bind, etc. In my paper-pieced patterns, I give you links to several tutorials that I think will help you as my assumption on paper-piecing is that you will learn it from a book or video, not the pattern. And it just isn’t cost effective to put all that extra tutorial into the pattern – the paper cost goes up, and most of the time how you do it is not how I do it so it’s wasted.
• The pattern should be the key to the kingdom on the cover. For me, this means I give you accurate steps to make the exact thing in the picture (exceptions noted above), and maybe a couple of other sizes. If it’s a special technique, then you get ALL the steps. I once bought a pattern that said the equivalent of figure out how big you want to make it, then figure our how many of these blocks fit into that, and have at it. I don’t consider that a pattern.
• Be honest about the skills required. On the back cover of every pattern, I call out the skills needed. I don’t just say Beginner or Intermediate because I don’t think that’s enough information at all. I list the skills you will actually employ. As I write mostly for the Confident Beginner Peeps, I call out specifically if you need an accurate 1/4” seam, or just a mostly consistent one. If there are templates or paper-piecing involved, I say so. If you will be dealing with bias edges, I say so. I want you to know what you’re getting into, and I especially don’t want you unsuspectingly biting off more than you want to chew.
• Draw as much as possible. Every one learns differently – some people need all the words, some people need the drawings. I attempt to add computer drawn illustration to as many of the steps as I can. It bulks up the paper, but I think my readers are worth it.
• Make it MAKE-ABLE. I dream up a lot of things that, in the end, would be horrid to have to make or worse, explain. So I don’t turn those into patterns. Frankly, if my reader could make such a convoluted thing, she is probably figuring it out her own way, and isn’t buying a pattern to do it! Instead, I figure out how to break things down so you don’t sweat through them. I learned a little of this from a composer friend, whose superpower is writing music for each instrument that the musician could play easily (not writing it at the edges of the instrument’s range or sitting on its octave breaks). I fundamentally believe that quilting should be fun, so I try hard to write things that are fun, too.
• Get it tested. I have a bunch of people on board to check my work. One friend is the master of sorting out my grammar. Another sorts out the flow of steps (“no, Sam, put this before that.”). Another catches the instances where the parts on her design wall don’t look a thing like my drawings. One hates to read the words, so she sees if the pattern can be navigated by the pictures. Another does the opposite, making sure my words actually describe what’s going on. Others spend their precious time and fabric stash actually making the pattern. It really does take a village – and most of them do it FOR FREE.
• ‘Fess up when you blow it. While all of the above should catch everything, sometimes it doesn’t. When that happens, I fix the pattern, update the print masters and PDF files, and publish the oops on the Patterns/Errata page. And I’m eternally grateful to the person that told me about the problem.
• Be open to feedback. Critique is necessary to making a better product, even if it stings. I do my best to listen openly to suggestions for improvement, with the understanding that I just won’t be able to please everyone.

And now, my answers to some of the comments on the Quilting Edge:

The shop that sold the pattern is responsible for the quality of the pattern. NO – the buck stops with the author. AND such gatekeeping just isn’t possible for most shop owners. Like you, they buy a pattern based on the appeal of the cover, and sometimes have it made into a sample if they think they can sell fabric or a class for it, but they cannot read the fine print of everything they carry. I would imagine if you let them know a pattern is a mess, they probably won’t buy more of them (or others from the same designer). It’s certainly how we did it in the last store I worked in. But like Target can’t be responsible for the content every crappy DVD it sells, neither can your LQS read and test every single thing. If you want to buy a pattern in a store, you can always ask to open it and give it a once over before paying (every store I’ve been in has been cool with this). I don’t think the LQS should foot a return because they have no way of ensuring the buyer didn’t pirate a copy before returning it – I know this screws over a scrupulous buyer, but unfortunately, there are more folks who wouldn’t think twice about copying and returning a pattern, thinking copyright law is merely a suggestion.

The pattern designer is trying to make a quick buck. If only! There are precious few quick bucks in the pattern business. If the designer does half the steps I listed above, they still worked on that pattern for DAYS. And bought a bunch of fabric too. Let me break this down for you… on a $10 pattern in your local quilt store – $5 goes to the store, $5 to me if I sold it directly to the store. My expenses to make the pattern (paper, printing, bags, assembly) come out of my cut. If one of my distributors sold it to the store, the store still gets $5, the distributor gets $1.50, and I get $3.50. And I still need to cover my expenses in that $3.50. So I get maybe $2.50 of that $10. Yes, I get most of the $$ on a download (minus hosting fees and banking charges) but still. Trust me when I say the buck is not quick.

The free patterns aren’t written well. Part of this is you get what you pay for – truly. Part of it is that a lot of the free patterns are paired with lines of fabric, and they often get written at the 11th hour before the fabric debuts at Quilt Market (and the designers get offered little or no payment). I have been approached by more than one fabric company to produce a fully tested pattern with a 2 week deadline before market for no payment (“we’ll show people your pattern!”) other than an offer of the fabric to make the quilt (not the batting). I certainly don’t do my best work in those circumstances, so I imagine other designers don’t either. It would also help if people stop expecting to always get it for free. If you expect a free download, then you should also expect that the designer or fabric company probably didn’t PAY a team of editors and testers to make sure it’s right. Yes – everyone should make the best product possible regardless (I certainly strive to – my reputation matters to me) – but as I said you often get what you pay for when FREE is involved.

The patterns aren’t well written – part 2. One comment was from a person who released a pattern that she said she had tested, but she also admitted that she doesn’t read other people’s patterns. I would hope that people who take pattern designing seriously take the time to learn their craft and research their competition. That said, you’re still likely to come across something that looks as cute as heck, but is perhaps written by someone who doesn’t have a depth of experience to construct things more easily, or even use commonly understood vocabulary (FWIF, I voraciously read other patterns to see how they are written and illustrated so that I can constantly improve my game – I do it to invest in my business). I wish some of our newest pattern designers would take some time to hone their craft, and learn from their fore-mothers (I’m a HUGE proponent of learning the rules before you go about breaking them). But I also accept that there’s nothing new about the new kids on the block wanting to blaze the trails a new way, and sometimes we get new and exciting techniques from it – yay for innovation! The other side of the coin is that we sometimes get caught when that new fangled stuff doesn’t work out so well. With the ease and speed of pushing content out to the internet, we are going to get a lot of amateur work out there, jumbled in with the good (just look at YouTube). I think you just have to accept that you will occasionally get rick-rolled.

The patterns aren’t written well – part 3. Just like in other industries, there is good and bad, and unfortunately, it’s up to us to determine which is which. One comment said we need a pattern review site – and yes, that would be wonderful. But would you pay to belong to it? Someone has to foot the bill to provide that service to you, and they should be able to profit from their labor, no? Also… would you take the time to write when things are good? I have sold a bunch of patterns in places that allow a review, and no one has written to say if they’re good. I’ve had more emails about my errors than I have had thanking me for making a pattern that was easy to follow. So unless you are willing to review the good, the data will be radically skewed. Another comment said that they felt no responsibility to write to a pattern author – but may I stick my neck out and say I’d rather hear WHY you think my pattern is lacking (in technical terms) than just sit here an wonder why the sales are slack?

In conclusion, the pattern making business is just like any other area of commerce. While, like you, I would love to never buy a bad pattern again, the reality is that there will always be good, and there will always be bad. It doesn’t excuse bad writing in any way, and it is the unfortunate burden of we buyers to sort through that. Hopefully the laws of business will take effect such that the cream rises and the people who write poorly cease to thrive and quit doing it. But I would also offer this… yes, it’s a bummer to pay good money for a pattern that doesn’t live up to your expectations. But I know you’ve also paid for disappointing movies or meals. It happens occasionally. NO ONE CAN PLEASE EVERYONE ALL THE TIME. If it happens to you, please take the time to write the designer to let them know what disappointed you, so that they can improve. The good ones will take this critique and up their game. As for the designers that choose to ignore it, you need not shop them again. And if you DO like it, please, please, please drop us a quick note. It might be the note that stops us from throwing in the towel on the design business. It might just inspire us to make more good things for YOU!

The post The Quality of Patterns – A Discussion appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

No, it’s not a cooking/recipe post! Heavens no… it’s a post about rotary cutters!

Did you know that oiling them can help them roll more smoothly? Yep. Just like oiling your sewing machine. And you can even use the same oil!

You’ve probably noticed that your rotary cutter can get a build up of gunk under the blade. Left alone, it can cause the blade to roll less smoothly. Why does that matter? I have one word for you… SAFETY. Anything that makes you lean harder into the blade increases your chances of an accident. So let’s look at how to oil your cutter…

First, take the cutter apart. I always do it on a flat surface, and I put the parts down in a line in the order I take them off:

Next up, clean the mess off the blade cover (the grey haze on the black below), and VERY CAREFULLY off the underside of the blade:

Add a single drop of machine oil on the blade cover (terrible picture… I was trying to take it one handed and not pour a quart of oil over everything… but you get the idea, right?)

Then put it back together! If you’re tired of keeping track of the spring washer and nut when you take the cutter apart, consider getting one of Olfa’s new cutters with a quick release on the blade:

Just pull back on the yellow tab and it releases the pin that holds the blade in. This is a nice update to the cutter… the handle shape fits well in the hand and the whole thing is lighter than the original. (Disclosure… Olfa gave me one to review!)

FYI – the pull-down for the blade guard is higher on the handle than in the traditional cutter – it has taken a bit of getting used to. The bottom line is this… you must get the cutter that you will CLOSE. If you can’t easily push the guard up, then get one that springs back. You are NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE THING OPEN on the table!

OK – back to the blades… When do you change out a blade? As soon as the sound of cutting doesn’t “swish” anymore… the sound gets harsher, louder, more grind-y as it dulls. As soon as you notice that you are leaning harder into the cut. And well before you notice that you had to go back and saw on a cut because of the dull spot from when you ran over something. The harder you lean into a cut, the more likely you are to have an accident. If you are really, really leaning in, and you jump the blade off the edge of the ruler, guess where it’s going to go? Right across your ruler hand. YEOWCH.

Yes they are expensive, but less so if you get the 5 or 10 pack on sale at the chain store with the coupon (and there is always a coupon… if not in the mail then in the chain store’s free smart phone app). And if you’re being a total peach, you’ll suck up the coupon difference and buy them at your local quilt store (you DO want the local quilt store to still be there when you want great fabric, right?).

Your hand is worth it. TRULY. If you slice up your tendons you are going to want a hand specialist to put them back together, because you need this hand to made more quilts without hurting for years to come.

How do you get rid of a dead blade? I collect them in a spare blade case, which gets tossed when it’s full:

And when I don’t have a case available, I tape them to a piece of mat board (these are my dead 60mm blades, and this piece of board hangs in my studio):

OK – now go clean your cutter and make something!

The post Slicing, dicing… and oiling! appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.

When I took my first quilt class, I showed up with a 10 year old Kenmore that probably had a 10 year old needle in it. Like a lot of people, I thought that you only changed the thing when it broke, and that the 5 pack you got when you bought the machine would last you a lifetime, assuming you weren’t an oaf. I didn’t know that there were different needles for different uses.

Things have changed, as things always do, and the information and technology around machine needles is no different. Now you actually have to choose a type of needle to sew with, which can be a confusing thing… as was pointed out to me by the friend that asked for this post. So here we go, Arlene – this one is for you!

First up – all this stuff is my opinion, so take it as gospel under your own risk. As they say – your mileage may vary. And nobody gave me free stuff so this is pretty much what I think without censorship.

What kind of needles do I buy? All Schmetz. I have some Superior needles that were given to me, and they are supposed to last longer (they ought to , given the increased price), but I can’t find any actual data on what “longer” is.

Schmetz has some great needle info here, and Superior has some here. Both are worth a perusal.

Schmetz also makes this handy little guide – you can often find them in stores. Schmetz provides them free to retailers so don’t let anyone charge you for it!

The book covers needle anatomy…

… and information specific to each type of needle.

All of this info is also on their site at the link above, so don’t fret if you can’t find the little blue book… they have it here as a PDF download.

If you’d rather not own the paper and would like to keep the information in your pocket, well guess what… there’s an app for that! All of the needle info and more is in a FREE iPhone/iPad app, and according to Schmetz the Android app will follow soon.

The needle choice is part the thread you are using, and part the fabric it’s going through. As for what I use:

For piecing – the 80/12 Denim needle. It’s one of the sharpest in the bunch, and it has a strong shank with a reinforced blade. This means that it’s less likely to break in a thick-seam situation. The strong shank also means it flexes less, making for a better stitch.

For decorative stitching – the 80/12 Topstitch needle. This needle is designed to not shred delicate threads as they rub up and down through the fabric during sewing – longer eye and more space in the scarf and groove (go read up on the anatomy and that will make sense). They are finer needles, so they break more often. I might go up to a 90/14 if I still get shredding trouble – these are larger in shank and eye so the thread gets more room to run.

For quilting – depends on the thread. If I’m using delicate thread, then the topstitch needle. One exception here – for Superior threads I use the 90/14 topstitch needle. The folks at Superior have kindly put their needle recommendation on the spool label, and I have found that when I follow it the stitching all looks great. Note to other thread manufacturers… DO THIS. We will blame your thread for misbehaving long before we figure out we have the wrong needle in the machine.

What about Universal needles? I don’t use them… the are a decent needle for most uses, but not really the best needle for any use. They are slightly ball-pointed (so that you can universally use them on stretchy stuff as well as wovens), which isn’t ideal for anything I make. I like to get the best needle for the job and dispense with the one-size-fits-most universals.

How often do I change the needle? After approximately 8 hours of sewing time, or after one project (a whole quilt top… not just a placemat). If in doubt, I change it. If I forget, the machine will let me know… the sound changes. There’s a popping or thumping noise with each stitch (I get the popping more with batiks as they are a tighter weave). It’s subtle, but when you sew a lot you’ll hear it. You’ll notice the machine sounds louder and less smooth. Also, one of my machines is a bit of a drama queen and will skip stitches as soon as the needle gets the slightest bit old. You will also see a degradation of stitch quality… the stitch line just isn’t quite as straight.

Every project? Yep. A needle costs a buck. Skip one expensive frothy coffee and have needles for FIVE projects. It’s like keeping the oil changed in your car (you DO change the oil in your car, yes?) – it helps the machine last longer by not asking it to expend additional force to punch a dull needle through the fabric.

How to keep track of needles that are used but not dead? How about this nifty widget from Grabbit Sewing Tools:

It’s like a mouse pad that you can plant your needles into. And as an aside, the folks at Grabbit were lovely, friendly people at Quilt Market and had baskets of handmade caramels that they shared with me several times. Several times. Every time I went by they gave me more caramels. Damn fine caramels they were too. Nice people. Very nice people.

Another option is to get one of those old fashioned tomato pincushions, and write the needle types/sizes into the segments. Plant the needle into the right segment when not in use. I have one of these somewhere in the studio, but I forget to use it and usually just toss the needles. Saving the dollar isn’t as high on my list as saving the machine.

So there you go, Arlene! I hope it helps!

The post Get needled appeared first on Hunter's Design Studio.