Knots - Not just for beginnings and endings!

Diagram 2

Diagram 1

I forgot to add one more thing to my Favorite Notions from a previous post.  That's the self threading needle.  (Diagram 1) Mama used to call them Blind man's needles (She was legally blind).  They are a needle with two eyes.  You should be able to see them on the picture to the right. (diagram 2)  The bottom one is a regular eye; the top one has the slightest opening at the top of the needle.  You pull your thread down into the eye.   I don't use these for sewing but for burying thread ends.  Specially for my longarm.  You can take the top and bobbin threads, pull them both through the top of the eye and then bury them in the quilt.  They're good for heavier threads that are hard to get through a small eye, too.  

Diagram 3

The other use for them is when a stitch is loose. (Diagram 3)  You can pull it up, slip the needle into the fabric and push the needle into the loose stitch and pull into down into the fabric. (Diagram 4)  Generally there's not much needle to grab onto, so I use those handy forceps to hold the needle tip and push it up into the thread and then pull it though the fabric.  (Diagram 5)

Diagram 5

Diagram 4

KNOTS:

Every sewer knows you start with a knot and end with a knot; how else can you keep things together.  Over the years I discovered making a knot, even just a slip knot or two helps in many ways.  

If you've ever caught the hem of your pants, dress or skirt on something you know eventually the whole hem is going to sag at some point before you can get home and fix it.  It happened often enough for me that I started making a slip knot or 2 about every 8 to 10 stitches along my hem.   The knots prevent the hem from unraveling too far.

I've adopted this technique over the years to other aspects of sewing.  When I'm putting on binding on a quilt for example; I make a knot every 10 stitches or so.  When I'm doing applique,  I go to the back of my piece and make a knot every so often.  Actually, no matter what I'm sewing by hand, I put knots in as I go along.  If you have a problem with breaking thread or whatever, you know you've knotted not to far back and don't have much to rip out.

In quilting we've been taught never to back tack at the beginning of a seam or at the end because the thickness of the layers of stitching won't allow the seam to press smoothly.  And don't you just hate when you're putting blocks together and your seams within the block start to separate because you didn't tack it at the ends?  The way I help prevent the seams from opening up is very simple.  I usually using a scrap of fabric to start sewing on then I sew a 3 or 4 stitches without anything under the needle before I begin to sew my block and/or unit.  At the end I continue to sew 3 or 4 stitches past the end before I stop.  When it comes to cutting the thread, NEVER clip the thread next to the fabric.  Clip at least 1/4" away.  Those 3 or 4 stitches are twisted together and the extra length you've left will help the seam from pulling apart.

When hand sewing, again I never cut next to the knot.  I put my ending knot in then take my needle and pass it thought the back or seam, at least a needle's length away from the knot and then clip the thread.  The knot is less likely to come undone through washing if it's not clipped too close.  This is good when you're sewing on buttons too.