Kilt making problems.

[Barb T]

I find betweens to be just a little too short for stitching pleats, but this is just a preference. I do use a very fine needle - something like a between but a little longer. I find that, if I use a fatter needle, it kind of pushes the threads around, rather than piercing them, and you can't pleat as accurately. You think the needle is coming up and going down in a particular spot, but it isn't really, and things don't line up perfectly. I haven't had that trouble if I use a finer needle.

I do find that I put a lot of stress on a needle when I'm sewing pleats. After a kilt or two, my needle typically has a bend in it, and after several more, it will just snap in half at some point (metal fatigue, I assume).

[Tetley]

I find betweens to be just a little too short for stitching pleats, but this is just a preference. I do use a very fine needle - something like a between but a little longer. I find that, if I use a fatter needle, it kind of pushes the threads around, rather than piercing them, and you can't pleat as accurately. You think the needle is coming up and going down in a particular spot, but it isn't really, and things don't line up perfectly. I haven't had that trouble if I use a finer needle.

I do find that I put a lot of stress on a needle when I'm sewing pleats. After a kilt or two, my needle typically has a bend in it, and after several more, it will just snap in half at some point (metal fatigue, I assume).

I thought that bending the needle was just me. I'm glad to hear that it isn't. The first fine needle I tried bent after the first pleat and in the end I had to just a thicker one. I had put it down to too much brawn and not enough brains.

Mark

[Pleater]

So it isn't just the poor quality of the needles. As I sew left handed most of the time - I can use my right hand but not so accuratly, I assumed that a combination of my guitar playing, death grip on the neck, left hand strength and the supermarket bought needles was the cause of the bending and breakages.

I am awaiting new reading glasses, which the optician took great pains over finding the exact corrections that would give my brain the same view through both eyes. I then plan to do some machine sewing of pleats, as so far it has not been all that sucessful - mostly due to not being able to see what I am doing.

My own problem is not enough time, and I have cut down on the housekeeping far too much already...

Anne the Pleater

[Tetley]

My own problem is not enough time, and I have cut down on the housekeeping far too much already...

Anne the Pleater

Housekeeping? What's that?