Sewing Area
Do Not Try This At Home
The deadline was approaching. The annual Costume College was the next weekend, and I was desperately trying to finish my costume for the Gala. You know the panic.
I had a narrow ¼” seam allowance with several fat layers of fabric under my presser foot to stitch on the bias for finishing. Go! Go! Go!
Then, in the living room, my husband hears: “Oh my gosh! I hope I don’t pass out.” (Yeah, I actually said that.) He throws his book down and comes running into the sewing room. “What?! What is it?”
He sees me sitting on the floor in front of my desk where my machine is and I have my right hand elevated. “What happened? Do you need to go to the emergency room?”
“I don’t know. I just sewed my needle into my finger. And it went all the way through!”
The very same machine needle that punctured my finger
OUCH!
Because I was sewing quickly and using a tiny seam allowance, AND my fingers were just TOO close to the foot, my hand slipped into the needle’s path as I was trying to push the fabric under the foot. I’ve done the process lots but this time my finger got in the way.
I released the foot pedal as soon as the needle went in. But of course the machine wasn’t powerful enough to keep stitching my finger – Thank God!
I had to stop and assess the situation.
My right ring finger was stuck in my machine with the needle in it so I couldn’t very easily move. So I stretched across with my left hand to turn the fly wheel to release the needle. I had indeed put the needle clear through my finger. Yeah. Fortunately it missed all the blood capillaries and the bone as it was sore but not bleeding or stinging.
What an experience!
You wouldn’t think that sewing can be that dangerous, but don’t underestimate working with sharp objects! Pins, scissors, rotary blades, buttonhole cutters, needles, seam rippers, tin snips, etc., etc. The sewing room is filled with pointed items just waiting to take revenge out on you.
Machine needle that hit a metal bone but did not break
I’ve also nearly lost an eye by hitting a metal bone in a bodice when the needle broke and the end flew up to my face. The second time it happened, the needle was a large size and I only managed to bend it into a fish hook.
The sewing room is a wild place. Caution must be exercised!
- Keep cutting implements in the center of tables and not teetering on the edge.
- Have a magnet handy when you spill pins on the floor
- Clean up your main work area after a sewing session (you don’t have to put it all away (who does anyways?) but at least put your tools up)
- Store your hand needles in a case or corkboard
- Leave machine needles in their packaging until needed
- Pay attention when machine sewing with a tiny seam allowance
- Be extra careful when sewing around metal bones
- Above all: slow down!
Pin Cup Turnover
Do you have a cautionary tale of a sewing room medical disaster or injury?
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Very good points indeed (no pun intended). Glad you and your finger made it ok.
I’m a natural klutz, so I seem to be making blood sacrifices to the sewing gods on a regular basis… LOL.
There was an incident that happened at a “stich and bitch” party. I was very lucky there were other people around and I wasn’t alone. I inhaled a pin. Yes, inhaled, not swallowed.
911 was called and I got a trip to the emergency room. At the time the paramedics thought I had swallowed the pin, I could feel it on the back of my throat. They didn’t want me to talk or swallow. Once at the emergency room they took an x-ray and there it was as pretty as a picture lodged in my windpipe.
They wanted to go in and get it, but they had to put me under and of course, I had just eaten. They put me in a room for 4 hours to wait for my stomach to clear lying flat and trying not to swallow. At one point I had to cough, so I did. It seemed like nothing happened, I could still feel the pin.
After 4 hours they took another x-ray. Now the darn thing had moved. They thought it was in my lung. They started preparing me for surgery and quite possibly be opening me up to take it out. I was a bit loopy on drugs and remembering asking a nurse jokingly if they could remove a rib or two so my corsets could fit better.
But thank goodness for a the radiologist. She insisted that it was in my stomach. So they brought in the Chief of Thoracic Surgery to consult. He agreed with the radiologist.
When I coughed I had apparently brought it up out of my windpipe and then immediately swallowed it. In the words of the Chief, I cured myself. Now it was just a matter of *ahem* nature and I would pass it naturally. And I did. A week later they took x-rays and it was gone (and no, I never found it myself… eeewww).
Moral of story… never, NEVER sew with pins in your mouth.
I ran a sewing machine needle through the end of my right index finger, while trying to work jumbo piping on a pillow sham. The good news is that it missed the nail; the bad news is that I jerked and tore it out the side of my finger. Fortunately, I just ran over to my neighbor’s & she helped me bandage it. Scarier yet, when I was not at home one of my kids ran a metal presser foot through my serger to see what would happen. It split the presser foot in 2 and one end went flying. I’m lucky they didn’t lose an eye!
Last fall I borrowed a friend’s mother’s sewing machine to sew some velcro onto a shirt for an onstage quick change and about halfway through one side, the needle broke and the tip landed right at the corner of my eye. Luckily it didn’t touch my eye, but I’m now very cautious when using unfamilar machines that are particular rickity
I’m of the (unfortunate) opinion that those of us who sew fall into two categories: those with at least one cautionary tale (stepping on pins/needles, sewing through fingers, cutting something with a sharp implement that shouldn’t be cut, etc.) and those who are merely biding time until they have their own cautionary tale(s)!
I have also sewn through a finger. Unfortunately, when it went in, I instinctively pulled my hand away, ripping open the finger. It has since healed but there is now a very strange looking, numb area of my finger.
I’ve broken needles more than once, mostly on corset bones or too thick fabric. It teaches you to take time with your sewings, othervice you end up hurt. Having glasses or protective eyewear is actually a good idea to wear while sewing if you think the needle might not handle it, this is from a person who has had broken needles hitting right to the eyeglasses, without them I’d probably lost an eye already.
The other handy thing is a stick with a magnet on the other end. We had this kind of instrument when I was in grade school (kids drop a lot of needles) and it was easy to pick the needles up with the magnet. I’ve used this at home too because my kitties have a tendency that if they find my pincushion, they just have to pull out the pins and drop them on the floor (naughty kitties!). The stick is very helpful for finding needles you just KNOW are on the floor, but cannot see them anywhere.
My biggest sewing injury actually came from my tape measure. It was one of those yellow ones with the metal tips on the end, and I wound up stepping on one of the ends. For some reason, instead of flattening itself to the floor, it stuck straight up and cut off a huge chunk of my big toe. It took a couple months to heal.
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