Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday Finishes - To Bury or Not to Bury. . .

If you are a hand quilter, you are very much aware of hiding your ending stitching threads by burying them.  But what about being a machine quilter?  Do you need to bury threads also?  Here's my Friday Finishes' topic.
In hand quilting, the thread knot is buried in addition to the thread ends, making endings neater and less noticeable.  With machine quilting, we generally create knots with our stitching and clip the threads as seen here.
I find that burying threads, whether hand or machine quilting, always makes thread endings neat.  With machine quilting, I do generally stitch my knots, cut the threads leaving long tails, and bury them as seen here.  Although you can see where the stitching ends, there is no clipped threads showing as above.
The trick to burying threads easily, without much hassle is to begin with a self- threading hand needle.  They are called different names depending on the brand.  Also, as I was once told, not all needles are created equal.  The slits can be too tight or too loose.  So find the one that works for you and don't let it out of your sight.  See the small V at the top of the needle?  It has a slit in it that allows thread to be pulled down into it without having to thread it through the eye.
The thread is laid over the V and then pulled down.
Once pulled through the slit, the thread is in the top needle hole.  I find that self-threading needles are not good for sewing with because the thread can slip out of the top hole.  If you want to sew with the needle, thread the thread through the lower eye so the thread won't slip out of the slit.
Now that you have the right needle,  pull the top thread and the bobbin thread that was pulled up when stitching was begun through the eye slit.
Push the needle through the fabric where the threads were pulled up from, or as close to it as possible, into the batting and up through the fabric an inch or two away.
Clip the threads and the threads are buried.
Handling your beginning/ending threads in this way helps to hide where stitching is begun or ended, creating a clean finish.  This is a very personal decision because, of course, there is no right or wrong way.  This is just my two cents worth.


Happy Friday,



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