Why Ritza Thread?

[SUP]

@sparctek, rather like I do with my laced bags, but that is much easier, since the lace is much wider. At this point, I am making items in which the beauty is in the pattern and leather itself and I keep the stitching discreet and in the background. Perfect time to practice until I get it right. Thank you for the detailed guidance.

[Mablung]

On 2/19/2024 at 4:37 PM, SUP said:

Nice colors, @DieselTech. But it is natural fibre is it not? I am a little leery of that because I wear a lot of cotton and linen and they always break down within decades - the stitching as well as the cloth. Will these not do the same?

About the Ritza, it knots at the base of my needles as I continue to stitch! I have stitched so much over the last year and that has never happened with any other thread. I'm a bit grumpy about it - I need  to do some more stitching with that thread to complete a backpack and see myself using a pair of pliers or cutting the thread  and re-threading the needles periodically.

I have trouble with my Ritza knotting at the base of my needle if I pierce it only once and bring the tail all the way to the needle eye. Otherwise, it’s fine. I generally pierce it twice in the “S” pattern. Occasionally I have to flatten out the pierced portions slightly, but usually it does what I want without whining. 
 

ETA: In reading responses that hadn’t loaded when I came to the page to make my comment, I realized my remark may not actually relate to what you guys mentioned about knotting. (Weird delta between when I originally loaded the page and the data that hadn’t gotten loaded on my end before I posted my comment.) Ignore me if that wasn’t helpful. 

Edited February 21, 2024 by Mablung

[SUP]

@Mablung it is helpful. Thank you. I do pierce my thread only once. Never sure of how to do the S-thing. If absolutely needed, I suppose I could learn.

But really! Such an expensive thread and then needing to go through all this trouble - thread the needle in a particular way, sew in a particular way, lay the thread in  a particular way. Unless they have a color that I cannot get from any other brand, it's just not worth the trouble at this point, at least to me. 

 

[DieselTech]

18 minutes ago, SUP said:

@Mablung it is helpful. Thank you. I do pierce my thread only once. Never sure of how to do the S-thing. If absolutely needed, I suppose I could learn.

But really! Such an expensive thread and then needing to go through all this trouble - thread the needle in a particular way, sew in a particular way, lay the thread in  a particular way. Unless they have a color that I cannot get from any other brand, it's just not worth the trouble at this point, at least to me. 

 

You just pull your thread thru your needle eye & leave a 4-5" tail of thread, then you pierce your thread with your needle.

Then from there just pierce your thread again, & it will create a "S" on you needle.

Then grasp the "S" & pull it over the eye over your needle. 

Lmao I hope you can understand my jibberish.

[DieselTech]

This is what the "S" looks like on your needle. Then from there you just slide your thread over the eye of the needle. From the pointed end.

[SUP]

@DieselTech got it! thank you, especially for the photograph. That really helps.

[tsunkasapa]

I tried that pierced thread thing once, about 25 years ago. Never did it again. I have found it to be totally unnecessary. YMMV

[SUP]

21 minutes ago, tsunkasapa said:

I have found it to be totally unnecessary

Not for me.  If I don't pierce the thread, it comes off the needle as the thread gets shorter, which is a pain. 

@DieselTech I tried this S-method and it works! Not had the thread tangle as yet this morning. 

[DieselTech]

1 hour ago, SUP said:

Not for me.  If I don't pierce the thread, it comes off the needle as the thread gets shorter, which is a pain. 

@DieselTech I tried this S-method and it works! Not had the thread tangle as yet this morning. 

Well I'm glad it's working out for you. I was hoping you could understand my jibberish instructions. 

 

That's also why I figured, i best include a picture of it. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. 

[sparctek]

22 hours ago, SUP said:

@sparctek, rather like I do with my laced bags, but that is much easier, since the lace is much wider. At this point, I am making items in which the beauty is in the pattern and leather itself and I keep the stitching discreet and in the background. Perfect time to practice until I get it right. Thank you for the detailed guidance.

Hopefully it helped some. I am still learning, and I still spend time practicing my stitching. I don't pierce the leather all the way through with pricking irons.So, I have to keep practicing with the diamond awl to make those neat straight lines on the back side. Learning to use the French stitching clam wast the hardest thing I've learned in leather work so far. LOL