Saturday, January 30, 2010

Thread the needle - followup

So based on that poll I had here last week, most people with a clear opinion, said that the needle should be threaded using the end that was just cut from the spool. Although a clear majority of all respondents seem to be sure that either end of the thread is fine!

But I had a comment from Suzanne, which seems to resolve the issue for me. She said:

Which end you thread from has to do with which direction the twist is in the thread. You want the thread to travel in the direction of twist. BUT you don't have to get all technical and microscopic about it - there's an easy test.

Holding on to one end of the thread, take it between the nails of the thumb and forefinger of the other hand and quickly run down the thread - sort of "stripping" it. If it bunches up - thread from the bottom end, if the thread stays straight, thread from the end you are holding. If you observed which was the spool end - so much the better.


Thank you Suzanne!

Actual poll results:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! Love your journals! Found you on Etsy while looking for a leather binding kit. However, I need a kit which I can use for rebinding my favorite bible. Do you have any suggestions or a kit which would work for that? My bible is 4.5" x 6" x 1.5" thick. Do you have anything that will work?
My email address is: emcurtis@hughes.net
Thank you!
Michelle Curtis

Dan Flynn said...

Hello - I've been trying to tackle book binding myself and have become very frustrated because I'm stuck at the very first part... where to get correct paper with the proper grain. I've purchased paper online only to find out it is in the wrong direction. The only paper I can find seems to be 11x17 laser print paper, and that is just cheap I think to make a book out of. I've searched all over... Can you please give me some suggestions where to find good paper? Where do you get yours? Thanks! :)

MyHandboundBooks said...

Michelle, rebinding a Bible can be a BIG job... I will email you.

Dan, I don't think any paper has the "wrong" grain... I buy whatever paper I can find that I like, and then make books that are whatever size that paper folds down into... if that makes sense. If you are trying to find paper that will fold once into a particular size, that may be very difficult. Usually if I need to make a very specific size, I have to start with really big papers and cut them down, to get the grain direction and size that is needed.