Un Stitching!

Yesterday the County Quilting Gremlin hit my house. (He's been making the
rounds here this month!) I sewed the wrong strips together in four sets, so
had to un-stitch 8 width of fabric seams. Tedious and boring task that
seemed to take longer than it should. Maybe some of you have a quicker
un-stitching technique.

Here is how I do it. I apply my seam ripper to the top thread, cutting a
stitch about every 3/4 to one inch; I do this along the length of seam. Then
I pull up the bobbin thread and bit by bit gently yank it off. I am left
with lots of tiny pieces of thread to pick out. As I said, this is a time
waster, so I would appreciate any helpful hints.

PAT, un-stitching in Virginia

Do you use tweezers to putt the thread, Pat? or do you just use your
fingers? I found (being quite well practised in the art g) that I got
on far better with tweezers - must quicker. If you remove the thread
from the side where you have cut the short pieces (just use a stitch
ripper to 'lift up the first stitch to give you something for the
tweezers to get hold of), the bobbin thread just comes off in one go at
the end.
..
In message , Pat in Virginia
writes
Yesterday the County Quilting Gremlin hit my house. (He's been making the
rounds here this month!) I sewed the wrong strips together in four sets, so
had to un-stitch 8 width of fabric seams. Tedious and boring task that
seemed to take longer than it should. Maybe some of you have a quicker
un-stitching technique.

Here is how I do it. I apply my seam ripper to the top thread, cutting a
stitch about every 3/4 to one inch; I do this along the length of seam. Then
I pull up the bobbin thread and bit by bit gently yank it off. I am left
with lots of tiny pieces of thread to pick out. As I said, this is a time
waster, so I would appreciate any helpful hints.

PAT, un-stitching in Virginia



--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

Well .... I forgot to use tweezers, but will try that this evening. I have
some nifty tweezers from my recent round of shoulder repair. I still hate
those bits on the front, but I guess there is no way out of that, eh? "As
you sew, so shall you rip."
Thanks, PAT

"Patti" wrote in message
...
Do you use tweezers to putt the thread, Pat? or do you just use your
fingers? I found (being quite well practised in the art g) that I got
on far better with tweezers - must quicker. If you remove the thread from
the side where you have cut the short pieces (just use a stitch ripper to
'lift up the first stitch to give you something for the tweezers to get
hold of), the bobbin thread just comes off in one go at the end.

I actually use my rotary cutter. I do the first inch or two with the seam
ripper -- then I take my rotary with a VERY sharp blade -- and hold the two
strips (one in each hand) and pull them apart every so gently to expose the
next stitch.

With the super sharp rotary blade -- I pull the stitch up against the blade
and just keep going... stopping every now and then to adjust the strips in
my hand.

People always ask me ... "don't you cut your fabric" -- I never have -- I'm
not putting enough pressure on it to cut the fabric -- just pulling the
exposed stitch against the blade.

I can do a strip pretty darn quick.

Again -- I pull gently so I don't distort the fabric -- and this might not
work on a bias strip -- unless maybe if you starched it first.

But for me -- the seam ripper only sees the first inch or two.

I suggest you give it a try. Take a few scraps and sew them together and
discover how quickly you can separate them!!

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves



"Pat in Virginia" wrote in message
...
Yesterday the County Quilting Gremlin hit my house. (He's been making the
rounds here this month!) I sewed the wrong strips together in four sets,
so had to un-stitch 8 width of fabric seams. Tedious and boring task that
seemed to take longer than it should. Maybe some of you have a quicker
un-stitching technique.

Here is how I do it. I apply my seam ripper to the top thread, cutting a
stitch about every 3/4 to one inch; I do this along the length of seam.
Then I pull up the bobbin thread and bit by bit gently yank it off. I am
left with lots of tiny pieces of thread to pick out. As I said, this is a
time waster, so I would appreciate any helpful hints.

PAT, un-stitching in Virginia

Don't you just hate that?! The only suggestion I have is to use
masking tape to pull off the little bits of thread.

--Heidi

http://community.webshots.com/user/rabbit2b



On Aug 10, 4:20*pm, "Pat in Virginia" wrote:
Yesterday the County Quilting Gremlin hit my house. (He's been making the
rounds here this month!) I sewed the wrong strips together in four sets, so
had to un-stitch 8 width of fabric seams. Tedious and boring task that
seemed to take longer than it should. Maybe some of you have a quicker
un-stitching technique.

Here is how I do it. I apply my seam ripper to the top thread, cutting a
stitch about every 3/4 to one inch; I do this along the length of seam. Then
I pull up the bobbin thread and bit by bit gently yank it off. I am left
with lots of tiny pieces of thread to pick out. As I said, this is a time
waster, so I would appreciate any helpful hints.

PAT, un-stitching in Virginia

Kate:
I've heard of this method. You have a strip in each hand ... so how do you
hold the cutter??
Ta, Pat

"Kate in MI" wrote in message
...
I actually use my rotary cutter. I do the first inch or two with the seam
ripper -- then I take my rotary with a VERY sharp blade -- and hold the two
strips (one in each hand) and pull them apart every so gently to expose the
next stitch.

With the super sharp rotary blade -- I pull the stitch up against the
blade and just keep going... stopping every now and then to adjust the
strips in my hand.

People always ask me ... "don't you cut your fabric" -- I never have --
I'm not putting enough pressure on it to cut the fabric -- just pulling
the exposed stitch against the blade.

I can do a strip pretty darn quick.

Again -- I pull gently so I don't distort the fabric -- and this might not
work on a bias strip -- unless maybe if you starched it first.

But for me -- the seam ripper only sees the first inch or two.

I suggest you give it a try. Take a few scraps and sew them together and
discover how quickly you can separate them!!

Kate:
I've heard of this method. You have a strip in each hand ... so how do you
hold the cutter??
Ta, Pat

"Kate in MI" wrote in message
...
I actually use my rotary cutter. I do the first inch or two with the seam
ripper -- then I take my rotary with a VERY sharp blade -- and hold the two
strips (one in each hand) and pull them apart every so gently to expose the
next stitch.

With the super sharp rotary blade -- I pull the stitch up against the
blade and just keep going... stopping every now and then to adjust the
strips in my hand.

People always ask me ... "don't you cut your fabric" -- I never have --
I'm not putting enough pressure on it to cut the fabric -- just pulling
the exposed stitch against the blade.

I can do a strip pretty darn quick.

Again -- I pull gently so I don't distort the fabric -- and this might not
work on a bias strip -- unless maybe if you starched it first.

But for me -- the seam ripper only sees the first inch or two.

I suggest you give it a try. Take a few scraps and sew them together and
discover how quickly you can separate them!!

would those front bits come out easily if you had a bit of tape around your
fingers?
then just pat your way along that side picking up all the threads along the
way.
just a thot,
j.

"Pat in Virginia" wrote...
Well .... I forgot to use tweezers, but will try that this evening. I have
some nifty tweezers from my recent round of shoulder repair. I still hate
those bits on the front, but I guess there is no way out of that, eh? "As
you sew, so shall you rip."
Thanks, PAT

"Patti" wrote in message
...
Do you use tweezers to putt the thread, Pat? or do you just use your
fingers? I found (being quite well practised in the art g) that I got
on far better with tweezers - must quicker. If you remove the thread from
the side where you have cut the short pieces (just use a stitch ripper to
'lift up the first stitch to give you something for the tweezers to get
hold of), the bobbin thread just comes off in one go at the end.

the cutter is in my left hand -- it doesn't move -- and I have fabric in
both hands too... (kind of wrap a finger around it on the left.

I let the right hand do all the work. I kind of "walk the fabric" through
my hands if that makes sense.

I then use blue painters tape to snap up the bits. Doesn't get them
all - -but gets most of them.

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves



"Pat in Virginia" wrote in message
...
Kate:
I've heard of this method. You have a strip in each hand ... so how do you
hold the cutter??
Ta, Pat

"Kate in MI" wrote in message
...
I actually use my rotary cutter. I do the first inch or two with the seam
ripper -- then I take my rotary with a VERY sharp blade -- and hold the
two
strips (one in each hand) and pull them apart every so gently to expose
the
next stitch.

With the super sharp rotary blade -- I pull the stitch up against the
blade and just keep going... stopping every now and then to adjust the
strips in my hand.

People always ask me ... "don't you cut your fabric" -- I never have --
I'm not putting enough pressure on it to cut the fabric -- just pulling
the exposed stitch against the blade.

I can do a strip pretty darn quick.

Again -- I pull gently so I don't distort the fabric -- and this might
not
work on a bias strip -- unless maybe if you starched it first.

But for me -- the seam ripper only sees the first inch or two.

I suggest you give it a try. Take a few scraps and sew them together and
discover how quickly you can separate them!!

still a bit confuddled on that.
how about taking a pix of the hand/fabric/cutter positions?
j.


"Kate in MI" wrote...
the cutter is in my left hand -- it doesn't move -- and I have fabric in
both hands too... (kind of wrap a finger around it on the left.

I let the right hand do all the work. I kind of "walk the fabric" through
my hands if that makes sense.

I then use blue painters tape to snap up the bits. Doesn't get them
all - -but gets most of them.

--
Kate in MI
http://community.webshots.com/user/K_Groves