Titanium Top Stitch Needles – Product Review

Just tried the new Titanium Topstitch needles... and my consensus? Awesome!!!

I love Topstitch needles, they've been around for years and have made my sewing so much more easy and fun. I just recently discovered that if you blog and are the type of person who raves about a product to all and sundry when you love it, that people occasionally send you free stuff to test out :) How cool is that??!

I use Topstitch needles for about 90% of my decorative work. They were recommended to me a few years ago when I'd just started sewing and was having a horrible time with threads breaking and shredding.

One of my works using metallic and specialty threads with a Topstitch needle.

It probably didn't help that I love specialty threads like metallics and holographic foils. I use rayons a lot too because of their sheen, and they're not the strongest of threads. Using the Topstitch needles really helped and I seldom get a breakage anymore.

A couple of weeks ago I was making fabric postcards for the very first time. I used Fast2Fuse for my middle as it made a nice firm base and being fusible both sides I could just iron my fabrics straight on. I fused shapes with Heat & Bond Ultra over the backing fabric as I didn't want to have to sew around everything. This version of fusible web isn't recommended for stitching, but it is strong enough to use for applique that you can throw in the washing machine even without it.

My needle gummed up (lots), my bobbin thread (Bottom Line which I love!) broke every couple of inches, my top thread shredded and snapped. All I was trying to do was a plain straight stitch!! On top of this there was a nasty scratchy sound every time the needle went through the card. Admittedly what I was sewing through was asking a bit much of even the best sewing machine.

I mentioned my troubles on a web based sewing group and next thing I new had a little package on my doorstep of Titanium coated Topstitch needles to try thanks to Judy Hall from Punch with Judy.

I just tried them out on the same swear-inducing postcards of the other week and everything sewed perfectly!!!

It wasn't even a fair test as I used freemotion sewing (so even more pull on the thread, especially with how I change direction a lot).

I picked the most troublesome card first (below) - it has layers of curtain block out lining, Fast2Fuse (super thick stabiliser used for bowl construction etc), cotton fabrics fused with the very thick Heat & Bond Ultra, metal leaf flakes and then the whole thing is laminated behind another layer of Heat & Bond Ultra.

The new Titanium Topstitch needles sewed the circle part of this with gold thread without a single break!! So impressed as this card is thick and coated with dense fusible web. The straight stitching had kept breaking and breaking with traditional Topstitch needles.

I used King Tut in the bobbin and Madeira metallic in the top and it sewed perfectly! My needle did still gum up a little - but about a quarter of what it did using the normal needles. I was stoked so thought I'd up the ante.

I put in the Bottom Line bobbin i'd had so much trouble with the other day and tried again. Remember I said it was breaking with a straight stitch every couple of inches? Well with the Titanium Topstitch needle is was perfect. I was still using gold in the top and sewed a small heart going over my lines of stitching 5 times in a row to really test it out.

 The tech specs:  

All Topstich needles have:

• A much larger eye. This cuts down on friction on the thread as it's got more room to move, and that means less breaking or shredding.

• A longer / deeper groove that runs down the length of the needle to guide the thread, again less wear and tear on the thread.

• A sharp point.

Titanium Topstitch needles:

• Last longer - 5 to 8 times longer according to what i've read on the web. That's 40 to 60 hours compared to 8 for a normal needle.

• I haven't read anything to back this up, but my own experience shows they gum up less when using fusible web.

• Are better for very thick or multi layered stitching like my pieces above.

• Cost about $4 more a pack, but given the extra hours they last you should still save 80% on the cost of needles. (I stole that stat from the Titanium topstich needle page on Judy's website).

So after my experiment it seems I picked a good time to run out of the normal Topstitch needles and will stock up at Judy's stand at the AQC in Melbourne next week. Hmmmm maybe that was the plan all along....

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Quilt Binding, Edging and other finishes

When I work on a quilt one of the things I sometimes think of right at the start is how I'm going to want to finish it's edges.

I'm not a big 'functional sewing' fan - I'm the opposite of most people I know in that the artistic side seems to come easily, but give me a hem to take up and there's often serious unpicking. I am getting better, i've probably even managed a couple of shift type dresses without too many nasty swear words, but it's something I need to concentrate on to do - and even then cross my fingers and hope.

The same goes for traditional patchworking, which I'll admit to not having tried much of - matching points and inset seams (which still irk me so badly I don't design with them) just seem to be more luck then skill if they do work.

For this reason - and because I don't hand sew much at all (unless I want blood stains on my quilt :) !) while I am always after the edge treatment that suits my quilt the best, I'm also after the absolute easiest way to do it.

 Binding: 

For traditional bindings I always go back to this 3 part Sharon Schamber tutorial on You Tube. She uses a wash out craft glue (No pins! My third sewing nemesis after hand sewing and unpicking!!) to position and fit the binding - and check for mistakes before you sew. This method takes a little time (but less then hand sewing or unpicking!) but gives a wonderful tight, neat binding, even for functional sewing misfits like myself. :) Best of all the glue washes out completely!

For Sharon's wash out glued binding tutorial click here!

For the glue there is a wash out one available at Spotlight if you don't want to try and find the Elmers.

 Facings: 

For Facings I always go and revisit this tutorial page on Brenda Gael Smith's blog. I love how it links to a whole number of different facing finishes, showing how to do each one. There is also a pic showing 4 different ways to clip a corner and how each finishes up, that means I get to pick the one that suits my quilt the best without having to trial for myself :)

For Brenda's blog tute on facings click here!

There are so many other ways to finish the edges of a quilt though. 

 Selvedges / Transparent fabrics: 

This small quilt below (click on it for a bigger pic) submitted for a Self Portrait challenge had the selvedge edges (complete with fringing) cut from organza with a soldering iron (so there was no fraying). I just used a metal ruler on my glass hot plates to position the fabric, held with a ruler and then drew a line down the edge with the soldering iron to cut and seal it in one go. 

I then folded one of these over the top, another on each side and one on the bottom. To help manage translucent fabrics you can fuse them down with misty fuse (a see through fusible web) or do what I did hear and use wash out glue. A quick dunk in a water when finished washes it straight out and there's no slipping to worry about when you sew.

You could use conventional cotton selvedges cut with scissors or rotary cutter- with the branding etc printed on them and just hem the side that will go on the back and fold the selvedge to the front.

You could also use felt, vinyl or other non fray fabric.

 Melting the edge: 

For synthetic fabrics only - the quilt below was made with acrylic felt and lots of speciality synthetic fabrics (organza / satin / tulle etc). For it's edge I used the soldering iron to very slowly trace around the edge sinking it into the quilt a little more here and there to give an uneven edge. I had to wipe the soldering iron off frequently on a metal wool ball (which i purchased in a stand together with the soldering iron itself).

I used this same technique on the leaf quilt below. This one is backed on vinyl and I left some of the organza and tyvek leaves (also cut with a soldering iron) to over hang the edge.

You can use this technique for silk, you just have to work much slower and I'm not sure how it would work on battings etc. For silk it burns a fine edge as opposed to melting it.

 Stitching: 

You can use conventional close up zig zag stitch but if your machine does decorative stitches try out some of those and adjust the spacing closer together. The quilt edge below was done using the one sided grass stitch on my Pfaff. I upped the length to it's longest setting the made the width the smallest. (9mm and .2 respectively). Remember you can really change the look of a stitch by playing with it's length and width settings.

The red quilt is with grass stitch and the second has a metallic satin stitch.

 

 Couch a decorative edge: 

For this just do a basic zig zag (or small satin stitch if you like) all around the edge in a colour to match or contrast with your trim, then use your couching foot to apply a ribbon, brocade, yarn or even cut fabric strips to the quilt edge. I don't have a quilt to show you this one from myself though I know i've done it in the past - but the best example i've seen lately is in this really amazing quilt Judy Coates Perez created and uploaded to her blog. Her work is just wonderful.

 Remember your decorative presser feet: 

Along with couching over the top of zig zag you may want to try out any decorative feet you have for your machine. For the pfaff I have a fringing foot, a cording foot (which allows me to thread up to 9 decroative threads through holes and then to a fancy stitch over the top of them) and may others.

Here's a short video that shows the 9 hole cording foot from Pfaff. I think it looks great with a metalic thread in a decorative stitch on top.

Lastly:

 Freemotion the edge: 

Treat your edge like an extension of your quilt. For this small thread painted and fused collage piece I did a freemotion zig zag (but it could have been a straight or decorative stitch) over the edges and drew back into the quilt. I matched the thread to what I was working on - so oranges for the sky etc.

Basically as long as the edges are sealed you're good to go! If fraying is something you want - and you don't mind your batting showing (i think this would be a good look if you dyed your cotton batting to a colour that matches or contrasts your quilt) just do a line or two of straight stitch or freemotion around the edge. The purpose of a binding to to secure the quilt layers and stop them coming apart - so as long as you're pleased with the finished look and it's structurally sound it really doesn't matter what type of edging you use.

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Tutorial for machine needle felting and heat fusing synthetic fabrics.

This is a Journal quilt (A4 size) created with layered synthetic fabrics on felt, the whole lot is covered in organza, the figure stitched and then felted on my needle punch (embellisher) machine. I've felted predominantly from the back of the piece to make the black of the felt push through to the front.

You can see the back and a close up below.

There's a tutorial for the technique on my website here:

http://web.me.com/eiloren/eiloren/Tutorials/Entries/2009/1/4_Machine_Needle_Felting_and_Fusing_Synthetics!.html