Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Finger Sewing
And no, I don't mean sewing by hand. At our last 4-H sewing day, we had a girl decide that it wasn't enough to just sew on the fabric! I was standing at her table, helping another girl when I heard her machine stop. I looked over, and she had this panicked look on her face and her finger was under the needle. I kind of softly wailed to Mrs. Debbie. One of the other girls at the table yelped in surprise. Her head snapped up, and she dropped what she was working on and ran to our table. She assessed the situation and started camly giving out orders. She handed me her phone to call her mom. When I got back she needed the screwdriver. Apparently, she unscrewed the needle (it was in the down position) and held onto it with the hemostats (surgical clamp thingies) while rolling the wheel up. Then she told the girl to look at somebody and she pulled it out really quick. Apparently, it hit her fingernail and broke and slid at an angle away, but still through her thumb. It went all the way through, but it was just about a 1/8-1/4" in from the tip of her thumb. Anyways, that was our scare for the day. And all that happened after we had a safety talk in which we mentioned not to get too close to the needle. It wasn't the girls fault, though. It could've happened to anybody. So, who has actually done this? I plan on avoiding this if at all possible. These sewing machines are dangerous though! I had a little, tiny fragment of a needle hit the white part of my eye the other day while free motion quilting. So, safety goggles are in order next time I free motion quilt.
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9 comments:
I started reading this post earlier, but I had to stop.
That incident sounds HORRIBLE. If that had happened to me, I would NEVER sew again. . .. of course the needle fragment (how how how - scary) in your eye is as bad.
I may never sew again. . .
I guess I didn't make it very clear. It didn't get stuck in my eye, but it did hit it and bounced off (I guess). You could see where it hit though, which was kind of creepy.
What scared me though, was that the next day I almost immediately broke my new needle. I'm still sewing though! :) I have decided that my machine is really not cut out for free motion quilting. It can handle it, but not very well.
Well, bouncing off your eyeball is still Scooby-Doo scary. . .
What exactly do you mean by "free motion quilting"? And what kind of machine do you have?
Free motion quilting is the squilly stitching you see on top of quilts some time. You lower or cover your feed dogs and then "swirl" the fabric around.
I have a Singer Prelude 8280. I would really like to get a better machine someday, but we'll see. I have a feelin' that if I say anything Dad will just say, "When you get a job....." Oh well.
I'm getting nauceous just reading this. It is my worst nightmare EVER!! I had to stop reading but I really need to finish it so I will know what to do it that ever happens. I'm terrified it will happen to my daughter and I will passed out of the floor or throwing up by her while she suffers. Oh man!!!!
Yea, I'm terrified it is going to happen to me. My friends are just convinced that if anything bad happened to somebody while I am around, I would just break down and cry. I didn't though. I keep trying to tell them that I wouldn't do that (at least not until it's over!:)), but they don't believe me.
That is so scary! I am glad that I am not you or when that happened I would have totally passes out on the floor.
Yikes!!!
Caroline
On Saturday, my ten-yr-old daughter decided to sew a banner for me exclaiming "I love you, mom" when the needle went into her index nail and broke. I was wondering what the doctor decided to do with the young girl that was with you when this happened to her. Unfortunately in my daughter's case, the needle broke off just below the nail so we can't reach it. The ER doctor stated that he would rather see what the body will do with it for the next couple of days before performing surgery. She's taking antibiotics and we're keeping a close eye on it. However, as soon as my regular doctor's ofc opens on Monday, I'm going to get a referral for a 2nd opinion. Please post what the doctor decided to do. Thank you.
Bon Bon,
Since the needle was near the tip of her finger, the sewing teacher (retired nurse) just pulled it out. The girl's mom checked her records, and she was caught up with tetanus shots, so I don't think they even went to the doctor. I talked to the girl in person about a week later, and asked her how her finger was. She looked at one thumb, and then the other and then decided it was the first one that was hurt! :) We both laughed. She can't even tell any more which finger it happened to.
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