Art is never easy

[zoethe]

Part 1

A #10 quilting needle is a tiny filament of wire just over 1 inch long. It is not much thicker than a human hair. When you first hold one in your hand, your reaction is, "This is impossible! I can barely see it, let alone work with it."

High quality cotton quilting thread is thicker than regular sewing thread, so that it has the strength for its exposed stitches to hold up to wear and tear without tearing the fabric of the quilt itself (this is why you never quilt on cotton with standard polyester thread if the finished project is to be used as a blanket).

Now, anyone who's done any hand sewing may be able to see an equation issue here: teeny weeny needle eye, + BIG THICK THREAD = near impossibility in threading needle.

And yet, back when I was in my quilting heyday, I could easily thread #10 quilting needles without the aid of a needle threader, glasses, or magnification. I was GOOD, baby.

Whereas...

A #20 tapestry needle is a thick, blunt needle with a large eye. This needle is designed not to pierce fabric but to find its way into the holes in the weave, pulling multiple strands of brightly colored embroidery floss in its wake. Comparing a tapestry needle to a quilting needle is like comparing a wire coat hanger to a lead pipe.

And yet, I now cannot thread a tapestry needle without the aid of glasses and magnification, and pride alone is the only thing keeping me from breaking out the needle threaders.

Getting old sucks.

------

Part 2

The shelves that make up the support for my new sewing table go together simply by hooking the cross bars of the shelves into the keyhole openings of the uprights and then using a hammer to tap them into place.

In theory.

The first one went together all right, but as I was trying to seat the upright for the second one, I manage to pound the side of my hand with the hammer. I didn't get much of the hand; just that little bulge of skin that sticks out on the side when you make a fist. I slammed the hammer down on that, smashing it into the narrow metal rail below, splitting the skin. Blood spurted from the wound, and in that first dizzy moment of flashing pain, I thought it might be stitches-worthy. But all it required was ice, peroxide, and a bit of tender-loving attention from my hubby. It's very bruised and tender to the touch, and of course I keep bumping it into things. I didn't bike this morning because I can't lean on the handlebars.

I've suffered for my art, and I haven't even started making anything. How's that for efficient?

Comments

[dania-audax.livejournal.com]

Get the needle threaders, baby. Your eyesight isn't worth your pride.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

I got them, I just haven't pulled them out yet.

Perfect icon, by the way.

[ladyhawke-wings.livejournal.com]

But see, now the Crafty Gds owe you some super divine inspiration for your trouble! ;-)

Hope your hand feels better soon!

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

True, a blood sacrifice was made!

[mamaursula.livejournal.com]

*nods* That's why I took up knitting rather than returning to needlepoint. I was afraid I'd have to get bifocals.

[myskat.livejournal.com]

I so feel you on the needle threading! Wait until you have to rip out a seam. Painful cause you just can't see it and if you try too hard ( at least I did) you get nauseous. The perk? I have fairly small eyes and the right readers make them look larger :)

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

So you can get thread that will hold seams and things and not pull the seam itself out of the fabric? This intrigues me. I have a mending job to do, and I've been avoiding it for months because the fabric is heavy and the last time I stitched it up, either my crazy-tight stitches or the seam itself was faulty, and I ended up with a new rip right next to the old. If I can find something better, I can spend an hour mending and not worry any more.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

If it's in a place that gets a lot of stress, try zigzag stitched instead of straight because they have more give.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

It's a tricky thing-- it's a butterfly chair, sort of, with a big cushion. There's a double pocket at each corner, and I didn't know that the first time I set it up, so the reinforcement didn't matter at all. Big rip down one side. I don't think it'd work in a machine even if I could use one.
You're really making me want to learn to quilt.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

I really do love quilting. I'm hoping to actually get to projects by the end of the week.

[emmasee100.livejournal.com]

I met a woman who was at the Royal School of Needlework, and could thread a needle behind her back.

She did teach me a method of threading a needle without having to look at it, but there's no way I could put it into words. I'm off for a quick google to see if I can find pictures of the method.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

That's amazing. I wanna see!!!

[emmasee100.livejournal.com]

I found the method!

http://www.stitchersneedle.com/article1002.html

Well worth mastering. I haven't tried to learn doing it behind my back.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Coolness.

Will work for tapestry needles, but a hand-quilting needle? Not happening. It's really hard to fathom how tiny they are.

[dweezel.livejournal.com]

You amaze me with your defiance of helpful things. Use the threaders you big sissy. No one is going to look at the finished product and ask if you threaded the needle all my yourself. They are going to look at it and say, "Wow, you did that? You're quite the artist."

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Oh believe me, I went out and found some yesterday and I will be using them. It's just frustrating to feel my eyesight deteriorating. It's gotten noticably worse in the last few weeks.

[old-hedwig.livejournal.com]

I used to be VERY near-sighted, so that I couldn't see to find my glasses without my glasses BUT I could hold something small right up to my eyeball and it would be in focus. There was noting too small for me to see without magnification so long as I could put it right up to my eye. 5 or 6 years ago I got laser eye correction which was a huge life upgrade except I now have a normal focal length about 7 inches from my face and suddenly after 40 years I can't thread a fine needle.

I used to just throw away the little threaders that came with packs of needles, now they are my friends.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

I had 20/20 or better vision until just a couple years ago. Now I am losing my near vision, and the far is not nearly as sharp as it used to be. But I haven;t gotten fulltime glasses.

Which most people would say is a good thing. Except my reading glasses, which I needed yesterday at work when they were sitting at home, are now sitting at work when I would like to have them here so I could do a bit of stitching.

Frustrating.

[(Anonymous)]

I KILTING, mama, I KILTING!!!!

I think, in the spirit of your return to sewing, that story deserves to be told. And from your perspective, since for me it went: Fabric; HELPING!!; Crib confinement.

I'm so glad you're getting back into it. I still treasure the quilts you made (in spite of my help) when I was little.

[susitna.livejournal.com]

This message brought to you by daughters who don't log in.

They still haven't taken the patch off the LJ guy. you can see him when you log in.

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Well, it's still TLAPD!

[zoethe.livejournal.com]

Yes, you are right. That story needs telling. L!