Some Sewing Tips for Tuesday

The Sewing and Stitching Expo was fun, but tiring. I met wonderful people and saw amazing products. I took a class taught by Lorene Bonewitz of Sew It Up Studio. She had a lot of great tips and sewing techniques to share. She also has a great personality for teaching–very engaging. I left feeling inspired.

One thing she mentioned was a product called Thread Heaven. It’s not an expensive product, but can really help when hand sewing, like when sewing a quilt binding or hand sewing buttons. It conditions thread to lessen the chance of knots and tangles. It protects it against moisture. To reduce moisture in thread, Lorene mentioned that you can also iron your thread. 🙂 In the Pacific Northwest, moisture is a problem, so I really appreciated this tip.

Thread Heaven creates a barrier against moisture. Moisture can cause threads to swell and also get yucky with mildew and mold–ewww, who knew? I think it does the same thing as beeswax–remember those clear plastic  disks with grooves in them? Your Granny or Mom probably had them in their sewing baskets. It  creates a barrier against moisture and subsequent rot as well. Beeswax is also used for strengthening thread for hand sewing and helps to prevent tangling, knotting, and breaking. Back when we did more hand sewing, you’d run your needle and thread through those openings in the plastic and out the other side, coating the thread with a thin layer of wax. Of course, then I learned to use the sewing machine and hand sewing wasn’t needed so much.

I’ve been playing catch up ever since coming back from the expo. Back to doing my mom thing and getting ready for  spring beginning sewing classes. I have been working on a project that I will use in the classroom  and will share as soon as it’s done.