Needle craft (hand work) – Includes knitting, embroidery, crocheting, needlepoint, crewel, candle
wicking, chicken scratching, hand quilting, tatting, huck embroidery, hemstitching. Also pulled, drawn
and counted thread work and punch needle work.
Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for
construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as
crochet, wNAME:
orked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a shuttle.
en Important Hand Sewing Safety Rules:
1. Don’t Hurry
Always start off slow with any type of sharp object. In this case, your needles. Needless to say, it
is generally quite dangerous to just rush into things before setting it out properly. And when it
comes to needles, such thin pointy metals could easily poke your fingers if you are being hasty
while handling them. It’s never a bad idea to keep calm and steady while working with things
that could pose as a potential risk.
2. Keep Those Equipments out of Sight
When we say “out of sight”, what we really mean here is to keep them away in cupboards or
containers high up on shelves. Mishandling your needles and scissors may result in someone,
most possibly you or a child getting injured by it. Also when you are done working, if you are
indeed thinking about keeping those stuff stacked away in a container, don’t forget to put on the
lid. Just like knives and skewers, you wouldn’t want your tin of needles or tray of scissors to
scatter on the floor if something ends up pushing them off of the shelves.
3. Stay Focused!
If you know you are about to be bothered while you are in the middle of your work, it is
advisable to start it later. When you are working with things that need precision such as sewing,
it can get pretty annoying if you have other things to do in the middle of it. If it is very important
for you to perform the other task while working, stow away your equipments before leaving your
workstation. You might drop needles or the thread itself while hurrying away.
READ 10 Sewing Machine Safety Rules
4. Proper Tools
Even with something as simple as hand sewing, using the right tools for it can be essential. Not
all needles are made for the type of fabric you might be planning to work on. Specific needles
are assigned for specific fabrics, as well as specific types of hand sewing techniques. If you are
interested in working on a quilt, it is recommended to look for thick and sturdy needles with a
larger eye. Vice versa, if you want to work on satin or anything of that sort, thin needles and
threads are more preferred.
5. Flat-ironing Before Sewing
No one wants to sew a fabric that is wrinkled. It not only makes working harder and frustrating
but also ends up as a waste of time when you continuously have to flatten it out. That is why
always make sure to flat iron your fabric before you start stitching. It doesn’t need to be flat as a
table, just enough for your own comfort.
6. Short Nails is a Must
If you like keeping super long nails for fashion, hand sewing may not be the right hobby of a
profession for you. Sewing requires neatly trimmed nails, as it is not very surprising for sewers
to accidentally cut away their nails tips while trying to cut through a fabric. Not only does that
risk stay evident if you have long, but rough and untrimmed nails may also pose as a disturbance
if in case it snags into very fine fabrics. You wouldn’t want your fabric to have loose threads just
because of not cutting your nails beforehand.
7. Keep the Children Away!
Not only does having children around become some sort of fuss when you are trying to work, but
it also becomes risky for the little ones around. If you have children around where you usually
sew, make sure to make it clear to them that they are not allowed to roam around you when you
are focused on your sewing. The best option here for you could be to generally just set up your
workstation someplace where you are perfectly sure no one will hover around you, and that
includes kids too.
READ 20 Easy Sewing Tips
8. Your Tools Need Maintenance too
As much as we say we use every single item that we have in our homes, it turns out that most of
the things we don’t even realize we had before we throw them out by the end of the year. Just
like that, you might have lots of tools for your sewing, but even with that, you might have some
specific needles or cutters that you use the most. But what about the rest then? Turns out, if
someday you have to use another equipment for your work other than your specific favorites,
you’ll most possibly find it covered with rust or just simply broken. Unless you want that to
happen during a possible deadline, it is better to only buy tools that you really need and properly
maintain them by using them frequently.
9. Rest Periods
Just like writer’s block, hand sewers can occasionally get stuck with their designs. Not to
mention how your fingers may start to get numb or hurt with the constant working. To prevent
that, it’s necessary to sometimes just take a break. Read a book, make some coffee for yourself
and just relax. Maybe, you’ll be back to working with even more ideas afterward!
10. Know When to Stop
Like jogging, sewing is a mental stress reliever. But sometimes it can get boring and repetitive.
That is when you should stop for a while. Prevent yourself from getting frustrated with sewing
by trying out a completely new design on a new fabric if possible so you don’t keep making the
same mistakes and give yourself some time to get creative.
Wrap Up!
Sewing is meant to be fun and relaxing. If you want a nice experience, be sure to follow these
Hand Sewing Safety Rules if possible. If you can, we guarantee that you will have a pleasant
experience by the end of the entire process.
