Thread Straighteners

Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?

http://www.silversites.net/gadgets2.html

Thanks,
Allie Orange
Tallahassee, FL

On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 23:07:01 -0400, "Chip Orange"
wrote:

Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?

http://www.silversites.net/gadgets2.html
My LNS is selling these now. I just separate all the strands, run 'em
across a damp sponge, let them dry, and stitch. No fancy gadgets or
expensive chemicals.
Darla
Sacred cows make great hamburgers.

"Chip Orange" wrote:

Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?

A lot of threads will straighten out if you tug on them. This is just
a prettied up way of doing it. The soft grips keep the thread from
slipping, and the rods are easier to hold than the thread.

You can do it at home, but it won't be as pretty. Take a couple of
soft pencil grips, put them on a pencil, and gently pull the thread
over the pencil grips.

It's a way of putting a gentle tug on the thread to flatten it, and
it's prettier than a couple of cushioned pencils.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley

WIP: Art Stitch Rose Trio, Emperor's Coat, FrankenFlora, Romance, Halloween Circle
Most recently Finished: Santa Christmas Stocking, Will Work for Freezer Space, Turnberry Ridge

Forgive my idiocy, but you need to straighten thread because?? Thread
has kinks because??
Dianne

Jenn Ridley wrote:

"Chip Orange" wrote:


Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?


A lot of threads will straighten out if you tug on them. This is just
a prettied up way of doing it. The soft grips keep the thread from
slipping, and the rods are easier to hold than the thread.

You can do it at home, but it won't be as pretty. Take a couple of
soft pencil grips, put them on a pencil, and gently pull the thread
over the pencil grips.

It's a way of putting a gentle tug on the thread to flatten it, and
it's prettier than a couple of cushioned pencils.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley

WIP: Art Stitch Rose Trio, Emperor's Coat, FrankenFlora, Romance, Halloween Circle
Most recently Finished: Santa Christmas Stocking, Will Work for Freezer Space, Turnberry Ridge

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:
Jenn Ridley wrote:
"Chip Orange" wrote:
Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?

A lot of threads will straighten out if you tug on them. This is just
a prettied up way of doing it. The soft grips keep the thread from
slipping, and the rods are easier to hold than the thread.

You can do it at home, but it won't be as pretty. Take a couple of
soft pencil grips, put them on a pencil, and gently pull the thread
over the pencil grips.

Forgive my idiocy, but you need to straighten thread because??

Because some people like it that way.

Thread
has kinks because??
Kreinik threads will often have kinks or bends in it if you take it
off the spool wrong.

Rayon threads often have bends in them as well. Neon Rays and Fiesta!
are really bad for that....the kinks in Neon Rays cause the ribbon to
be narrower at the bend, and that affects coverage.

A lot of the 'specialty' threads cover the fabric better if the kinks
and bends are smoothed out before stitching.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley

WIP: Art Stitch Rose Trio, Emperor's Coat, FrankenFlora, Romance, Halloween Circle
Most recently Finished: Santa Christmas Stocking, Will Work for Freezer Space, Turnberry Ridge

Because you've wound it on a bobbin?
"Dianne Lewandowski" wrote in message
...
Forgive my idiocy, but you need to straighten thread because?? Thread
has kinks because??
Dianne

Jenn Ridley wrote:

"Chip Orange" wrote:


Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product
called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle
of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each
piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens
and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or
even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?


A lot of threads will straighten out if you tug on them. This is just
a prettied up way of doing it. The soft grips keep the thread from
slipping, and the rods are easier to hold than the thread.

You can do it at home, but it won't be as pretty. Take a couple of
soft pencil grips, put them on a pencil, and gently pull the thread
over the pencil grips.

It's a way of putting a gentle tug on the thread to flatten it, and
it's prettier than a couple of cushioned pencils.

jenn
--
Jenn Ridley

WIP: Art Stitch Rose Trio, Emperor's Coat, FrankenFlora, Romance,
Halloween Circle
Most recently Finished: Santa Christmas Stocking, Will Work for Freezer
Space, Turnberry Ridge

Forgive my idiocy, but you need to straighten thread because?? Thread
has kinks because??
Dianne

Kinky floss just doesn't lay or cover as well as straight or non-kinked floss.
I never use bobbins myself for just this reason.
For cotton flosses I just separate the strands, run them across a lightly
dampened sponge to straighten them and then re-combine them before use. You
can see the difference in the coverage and they lay more nicely when this is
done.

Rayons are a whole different story. They twist and tangle and can be difficult
to manage even in shorter lengths and even with dampening. For that reason I
was not looking forward to a Brazilian class I took last year as I thought it
would be a nightmare stitching with nothing but rayons. However, the instuctor
showed us how to tame rayons by simply stretching them slightly between two
pencils. The slight stretch takes all the devilment out of them and does not
decrease their sheen or shine one bit. Makes them a real pleasure to use and I
find I don't need to dampen them after doing this. Try it, it works!

These "thread straightener" tools are just a prettied up version instead of
using two pencils or pens.
--
Happy Stitching!
Kathy :-)

"Chip Orange" wrote in message
...
Hi, all

I get Silver Needle's newsletter and Lindy talks about a new product
called
Thread Straighteners. Two acrylic rods with squishy foam in the middle of
each rod. You wrap the cut ends of floss or other fiber around each piece
of foam and then pull the acrylic rods apart. Somehow this straightens
and
takes the kinks out. For the life of me, I can't see how this works or
even
how to do it. Can anyone else figure this out?

http://www.silversites.net/gadgets2.html

Thanks,
Allie Orange
Tallahassee, FL



It's just a gimmick product.

CrossStitchGal wrote:
However, the instuctor
showed us how to tame rayons by simply stretching them slightly between two
pencils. The slight stretch takes all the devilment out of them and does not
decrease their sheen or shine one bit.

Ok. Trying to picture stretching thread between two pencils. Wanna
elaborate how you attach the pencils to the thread? Tie them to the pencil?

Jenn mentioned pencil grips and swiping the thread over them.

I'm not doubting any of this . . . and I have plenty of rayon threads
around to try (they don't bother me except that I know they are ornery).
I just cannot figure out what we're doing here.

Smockers use floche because they iron it flat. Why wouldn't that work
for other flosses to increase coverage? Can't you just see us all
ironing our floss?

Dianne

Dianne Lewandowski wrote:

CrossStitchGal wrote:
However, the instuctor
showed us how to tame rayons by simply stretching them slightly between two
pencils. The slight stretch takes all the devilment out of them and does not
decrease their sheen or shine one bit.

Ok. Trying to picture stretching thread between two pencils. Wanna
elaborate how you attach the pencils to the thread?
Just hold the thread on the pencils with your thumbs. You don't have
to pull really hard. You don't *want* to pull really hard, as a
matter of fact. Just pull hard enough to flatten the thread out.
Holding on the pencils makes you pay a little bit more attention to
how hard you're pulling

It's just like smoothing the thread over the back of your scissors or
your laying tool. It's just a fancy tool for doing it.

Jenn mentioned pencil grips and swiping the thread over them.
the only reason to use pencil grips is that they lessen the chance of
snagging the thread on a rough corner of the pencil. It's also
slightly grippier, so the thread isn't as likely to spring away. (and
with the acrylic rods, it keeps the static down....)

(the only threads I do any of this with are the ribbon threads, and an
occasional length of Fiesta!.)

They're not gimmick tools, they do serve a real purpose. You can do
the same thing for a lot less if you want to. Or you can buy the
pretty things.

jenn