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So, I was sewing with a friend the other day, and I noticed that she didn't trim the thread tails after sewing each seam. I asked her about it, and she said that she waits and does them all when the project is finished.
I always trim the threads at both ends of every seam as soon as I finish it (unless they are gathering stitches, of course). It never even occured to me to wait... I think it would drive me crazy to have those threads hanging while I continued to work on the project. (Not that I'm OCD or anything!) ;)
So, how about you? When do you trim your threads? Individually, with each seam? Or all together, at the end of a project? Or just whenever you feel like it?
22 comments:
Every single seam!! My 7th grade sewing teacher would not talk to us about our project until we "gave it a hair cut" and that has stuck with me. My newest sewing machine trims threads at the push of a button and I love that, but still sometimes it leaves a bit of a tail and I have to grab the scissors and trim it off. I have learned, from experience, to live with slightly longer tails on serged seams because if you cut them too closely they start to unravel.
Lois K
I trim after every seam. All those little bits hanging out drive me crazy. Plus, there is a danger of the dangling threads being caught in a subsequent seam allowance and sticking out on the right side.
I am still trying to find the perfect solution to serger tails.
By the way, this is one of my least favorite tasks when sewing. My newest machine does trim at the end of the seam, and forms a knot at the beginning so I now have only one thread to manage.
on the sewing machine, i clip after every seam. on the serger, if the seam is going to be crossed with another one, i leave a tail and let the other seam trim it. if the seam isn't going to be crossed (like at the hem), i take a needle and thread the serger tail back through the seam.
I am definitely a snip as you go person. I can't stand having all those threads hanging around as I sew.
I am way too OCD to leave the thread tails. They would drive me crazy so they must be clipped. I do exactly like Mamafitz does with the serger tails.
Leave them to the end. Many get cut off if I serge a something anyway. I just find it more in my "time management" to do them at the end. Usually when I am doing the final pressing I get them all!
I used to be a snip as I go type. After reading a Palmer & Pletsch book (Painless Sewing, I think?), I now wait to trim. I sew as many seams as I can before needing to cross any seams. Then I go back and trims the tails. Some of the tails are joining 2 fabric sections because I don't cut them before sewing a new seam. It ends up looking like a clothes line full of clothes but it makes it easier to find the tails to trim later.
I'm pretty random about it-- sometimes I trim after each seam in that particular procedure (sew both side seams and then trim, for instance), sometimes I just clip the ones coming off the machine and leave the other end until later, and sometimes I just clip them when they're getting in the way. Otherwise, I'll just leave them to the end.
So, ever watch Project Runway and see the designers follow the garment out the door on the way to the runway with scissors cutting the hanging threads? If you cut while you go you won't have this happen. I've gotten the habit of picking up my scissors as soon as I finish my seam to clip the threads. I've been doing it so long my body just goes through the motions without thought of doing it. It's creating habits so you have less thought process.
I love the machines that clip the threads and lift the pressure foot to get you ready for the next stitch when you finish sewing. Great feature on a higher end machine.
And serger tail threads get pulled back through the stitches to "keep it from coming apart" (the right way to do it) but I just cut them off.
We're all on different levels as far as perfection. I think this question addresses this issue. Some people just don't care, others - drives them nuts.
I think I would break out in hives if I didn't trim the thread ends after every seam.
Who are these weirdos that can leave them all 'til the end? Blasphemy!! :)
Being a pedantic virgo (& it sounds like there's a lot of us around!), I trim as I go. I would go insane if I didn't. Yeah, I know...I already am. :)
ALWAYS trim as I go.
The only tails I leave are gathering and basting.
As Alison above says it must be a Virgo thing. See Summerset, Shannon Alison and yes myself. All Virgos!
I try to do it as soon as possible. By the end of a project there are just to many threads hanging and I know I will miss one. Beside, to many loose threads gets in my way as I sew other seams; they get caught in the feed dogs, presser feet. ooohhh! Cut those threads as soon as possible!
Oh, I am totally OCD and couldn't sew another seam until the previous was was thread-trimmed! I can't even think about it! Yikes!
I keep a small pair of scissors right next to my sewing machine. When I sew assembly-line style (several different pieces in a run), I cut off the parts that will be taken to be ironed and pinned to something else. If I'm not going back to the machine right away, I will cut off all thread tails.
I couldn't make it without my snips, I have two pair, applique scissors or tiny embroidery scissors near at all time so you can tell that I'm a snip as I go person. It's funny how the things our 8th grade sewing teachers taught stick to us. If I left trimming until the end I feel I'd surely miss a few and that would never do. As for serger tails I thread them through an large eyed needle (don't whether its an embroidery or tapestry needle) and interweave it back into the serger stitches. I didn't know that my way of dealing with serger tails was the right way to do it until I later read about that method in my serger book.
I trim as I go also, I like working on neat project else it drives me crazy....
Wow! I guess I am in the minority. I trim when the threads start getting in my way or when I have finished the part I am working on (waistband, pocket, collar, etc). Trimming takes too much time. I want to get on with the next step.
I trim each seam as I go. Period. To me, snips are like seam rippers...you can't have too many:)
@Debbie add my name to the Virgo list.
LOL - definitely not a Virgo here!
For regular seams, I snip when the mood strikes (or when they're getting in my way).
Serger seams, though, get trimmed, and woven back through the serged seams right away, unless they are going to be serged over with another seam that will trim them for me.
I do a little bit of both. If it's important that the thing I'm making look it's best, for say, something I'm making someone or a fancy outfit, then I clip them as I go. If it's something simple I make for me, then I usually put it off. I spend a lot more time trying to think of ways to minimize the amount of clipping I'm going to have to do, like chain piecing.
I do them as I go. I don't always catch them at the end, and I never have scissors when I find them...so I prefer to save myself an annoyance. And I don't like to burn strings of, even though I smoke, which is my other option.
I also french seams things, so the cutting is part of every seam anyway, for the most part.
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