Simple Machine Stitching Tip For Cutting Threads At Project End

[RawhideLeather]

Hello all,

There's a good possibility that this simple tip may be on the forum already (I did do a quick search but didn't see it) anyways here is something I recently stumbled upon while playing around with my end stitching. To preface this, I normally just make knife sheaths and so I'm stitching pretty thick material but it should work on most everything but the thinner stuff I would think.

I wanted to try to improve the appearance of the thread that I cut off after backstitching several stitches and have tried everything from cutting very close with slightly rounded toe-nail clippers (works pretty good) - to burnin' with a lighter (works ok) - to using that battery operated thread burner (forget the name but works pretty good) - to trying to stuff the end down into the hole with the round end of a modeling tool (doesn't work very well), etc., etc. blah, blah. No matter what I did the end result wasn't quite what I wanted.

Well, I finally got smart (now how'd that happen?) and tried pulling the top thread upwards from the finished - or "top" side of the sheath if you will - until I could see a bit of the lockstitch showing. I then cut the top thread off flush and pulled very carefully on the bottom bobbin thread until the cut-off thread and lockstich on the top disappeared completely. I then finished by cutting off the bobbin thread as close as possible. No more tufts of thread or burned ends showing on the front side of your project!

Or maybe everyone already does this and I'm just the last one to figure it out???

This last is a bit off topic but I for one think it would be nice to have something like a Machine Stitching Tips forum since it seems to be a never ending learning process... anybody else?

Hope this helps a few fellow machine stitchers in their quest for that perfect stitch!

Richard

[UKRay]

I'd agree that the stitching tips seem to get lost in amongst everything else at present. Unfortunately they do seem to crop up during discussions about other things so I reckon it might be hard to separate them.

Ray

[Saddlebag]

I learned this trick while lacing the hand area of a walking stick. Took the same technique and applied it to my machine stitching. Like you I was not happy with trimmng the last stitch. I apologize for not thinking to share this with others.