This is one
of those no right answer questions. But I pin. Why? Because that is the way my
Grammy taught me. Like measure twice cut once, she and many others believe it
reduces errors. Some people think it is a waste of time. I made this very
protest to my Grammy, her answer was: Well, you can pin now or seam rip later,
that takes much more time. Which if you make a mistake is true. Rip the seam,
pull all the threads, re-iron…time time time. So I pin.
This rule
saved me a lot of time last night. I was sewing the last row of blocks on the
mystery quilt. And I pinned the row to the wrong side…luckily the quilt was not
yet square so it was obvious when I had a whole block left; so I just had to
unpin instead of rip a whole seam out. My daughter exclaimed that my Grammy was
looking down laughing her head off...it was pretty funny. Such a silly mistake.
But on the
subject of pins and pinning….like all things in sewing there are different pins
for different purposes. It really does make a difference. Pin
sets area an easy was to try different ones.
Some
machines do not like to sew over pins… broken pins can hurt your machine. I
always try to pull the pin before I get there, but accidents happen. I have to
wear glasses all the time so never had to worry much about the chance of a
broken piece hitting the eyes. But make sure if you break a pin or needle you
account for all the pieces. On the floor, if you sew barefoot like many of us,
they hurt when you foot finds them. In your machine they can do major damage. I
use a
magnetized telescoping pick-up tool to make sure.
Also, if
you nick a pin—throw it away (make sure you know your areas sharps disposal
rules—sewing needles and pins count as sharps.) I also change my needle (if it
didn’t break), because nicking a pin will normally cause a rough spot on the
needle that can snag your fabric and break your thread. Replacing the needle is
better than replacing the fabric. You will always see the snag, even if no one else
does
And the mystery
quilt from a retreat class my favorite sewing store in Reno, Sierra Sewing Center is getting its
borders now, so closer to a picture.
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