Friday 6 September 2013

Thread Thrift

My Nan's tip for saving thread
My Nan did a whole lot of sewing and was always moaning about the cost of thread! This was her top tip for saving thread and therefore money, especially if you are doing patchwork or sewing lots of little seams.

Just think how much thread you use each time you start and finish. It must be at least as much as you use on the actual sewing. 


Pin your pieces together in pairs.



Stitch across your first piece then line the next one and stitch right over without stopping.


You finish up with something like this.


Just snip the thread between each pair then pin the next lot and repeat.


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Hello, I'm Julie. I love making things and this is where I share my enthusiasm.

4 comments:

  1. We do waste thread stopping and starting. I've tried chain piecing as your Nan used to do and for some reason or another, I always seem to muck it up.

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  2. Oh, sorry to hear that, the gap between the fabrics needs to be really pretty small, so you are just wizzing from one bit to another. It's best for seams when you are going to be stitching across them at some point - not for seams that might unravel. I hate looking at that big pile of thread ends next to the sewing machine that I'm just going to throw in the bin!

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  3. I stopped snipping my bobbin thread in between letter appliqué when I'm stitching them onto a pillowcase! Saves my bobbin thread:) My top thread got bunchy if I didn't cut it though.

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    Replies
    1. It's interesting to find out what other people do, I guess it depends on lots of things - your machine, the thread, the fabric. I have only tried applique a few times with some limited success, maybe I was being mean with the thread instead of thrifty!

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