Help! Trying to remove tiny stitches
#21
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 3,430
I use the tiny rotary cutter to take out tiny stitches and big ones too. Once I can get to where the layers can be separated a bit and I can see the stitches holding the layers together, I pull up the top layer and start cutting with the rotary cutter little by little while continuing to pull up on the top layer and holding down the bottom one. Does that make any sense whatsoever? I have become a master at this technique .... which is a sad statement about my sewing/quilting. Good luck and take your time.
#22
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Southern California
Posts: 341
Great idea! I am really trying to avoid separating the layers as I glue basted this quilt. Have been dabbing it with warm water to open it up, but seems like that process is taking forever, too.
#23
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Southern California
Posts: 341
I've been saying lots of prayers, and asking forgiveness for my thoughts and words, thru this process. And yes, even with the magnifying glass and lots of light, these old eyes are straining almost out of their sockets.
#24
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Reno, Nevada
Posts: 794
I love my seam ripper with the very thin, small, curved blade. It's actually designed to rip out serged seams, but works fantastically on small stitches. I've found it especially useful on the small stitches such as used when paper piecing.
As to the black on black, I'd recommend doing it right under an Ott light or some such and get every 3-4 stitches. Once you get a tiny area opened up, you'll be able to spread the seam apart somewhat and get to just the thread a bit easier.
Hope this helps.
As to the black on black, I'd recommend doing it right under an Ott light or some such and get every 3-4 stitches. Once you get a tiny area opened up, you'll be able to spread the seam apart somewhat and get to just the thread a bit easier.
Hope this helps.
#26
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,821
Can you get into the seam? I didn't know (or had forgotten), that little bead of plastic on the short end of the seam ripper has a use. Turn the ripper so that little bead is on the underside of what you want to open up, take a deep breath and start pushing it into the stitches. That little bead seems to guide the ripper. Clipped threads will collect in the ripper so take it out and remove those every few stitches. Good luck! (You might want to make a sample line of stitching to try this before working on your "good" piece so you understand and feel a little more confident in what you are doing? Otherwise that method of clipping every few stitches and pulling the thread on the other side works really well, too.)
#27
Super Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Central Wisconsin
Posts: 4,391
Using the small curved blade seam ripper will get it done fast. Separate the layers and cut the threads as they open up when you pull on both layers. So it's one hand on the top layer, one hand on the bottom layer and one hand on the seam ripper. That's three hands, right? You have three hands! I put the bottom layer under the presser foot and put the needle down just so that the fabric is caught. Gently tug on the top layer as you cut downward with that curved blade. The blade will cut the third or fourth thread down as the fabric separates.
I gave a demo at our quilt group on how to do this, but didn't have my sewing machine handy. I had a C-clamp, so clamped the bottom layer to the table edge for my third hand. I could undo a WOF seam in just a few minutes. (Yes, I sewed way too many of my strips together when they should have been added in a "quilt-as-you-go" method.) Didn't take me long to undo them all.
I gave a demo at our quilt group on how to do this, but didn't have my sewing machine handy. I had a C-clamp, so clamped the bottom layer to the table edge for my third hand. I could undo a WOF seam in just a few minutes. (Yes, I sewed way too many of my strips together when they should have been added in a "quilt-as-you-go" method.) Didn't take me long to undo them all.
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