Lesson (Re)Learned

You should never, ever  put your fingers close to the needle when sewing. The risk of getting your finger caught is low when using a sewing machine, but an embroidery machine is different. Sewing machines sew in a line; embroidery machines jump around as they form letters and pictures. They also stitch very, very fast.

I know that. And now, I know that even better from sad experience. Yesterday I had a needle accident and it was my own fault. I'd been embroidering for quite a while, I was tired, and I let my guard down.

I had been experimenting on a scrap piece of fabric and trying to determine which color of embroidery thread to use for a donation to NaMoPaiMo. I practiced for quite a while, and when I was finally happy with my choice, I hooped the stabilizer and got started. 

Problems began immediately. I didn't float the fabric tightly enough and the embroidery work was a puckered mess. (Floating is where your fabric is placed on top of the stabilizer in the hoop instead of actually bound in the hoop with the stabilizer. The fabric is held in place with pins or medical tape.)

I was frustrated, I was tired, and I did something that I knew was risky - I floated a new piece of fabric only this time I kept my hands close to the stitching lines, smoothing out any possible puckers. After all, I'd practiced this many times already that day and knew where the needle would be jumping, right?

Wrong! I got too close and the needle went through the side of my finger.

Looks like a snake or vampire bit me!

And of course, that knocked the needle over a bit and ruined the stitches' alignment so I had to start over AGAIN.

I was very, very lucky. Embroidery needle speeds vary from 400 to 800 stitches per minute which gives you little reaction time. I was stitching at 400 and was able to snatch my finger back and only took one stitch. (I know women who have ended up in the ER needing stitches [no pun intended] or worse.)

Lesson learned! Or maybe relearned since I knew I should keep my fingers back.

Third time was a charm and I was able to embroider traditional, classic, and stablemate sized pieces of fabric that will become haversack donations to NaMoPaiMo.

Now to sew them into haversacks without any more needle accidents!