I've read a few pages of this thread and don't think we should be pointing fingers or laying blame on anything. First, go look in the mirror and point a finger at that person. I've done it plenty of times. I'm kind of a gadget girl and I'm guilty of "being sure" that I'll use that new cool ruler or "thingy" that the video showed was so darn easy and neat to use .... ha! I know good and well not to buy it until I've used half of what I already have. And sometimes I do it anyway. :-)

I say - you buy cheap, you usually get what you pay for. Do a little research - we have computers and the capability to do that or we wouldn't be on this thread. Let's look at ourselves first before we lay blame. Besides, if we didn't have the money, we wouldn't have purchased that "worthless piece of something we don't like or use". Maybe it was the attack stratagy that didn't sit well - how about a thread with information on items you've purchased, what it was supposed to do and your experience with it. Now for the pins - there are 100's of pins and prices. I paid nearly $9.00 for a box of the fork pins because a professional quilter and LA'er t I know and totally love her work, loves them. She showed us how to use them - I hate them. But that doens't make them bad - they just don't work for me. I spent $9.00 on some Clover Patchwork pins - they are .4mm shaft and slide like butter. I also paid $5.98 for some Dritz pins .4mm (for 150 vs. 100 Clover) that also slide like butter. Be extra careful when looking for the Clover pins - they have some that aren't the Patchwork .4mm shaft but still have the yellow and light blue glass heads. I bought them the same day. The Dritz are #172 Ultra Fine Glass Head Pins with navy blue glass heads that won't melt. I'd been using .5mm shaft pins and they were pretty nice until I read and tried the .4mm size. I'll use both - it just depends whether I'm piecing a quilt or hemming denim pants.

Let's try to be a little more positive and informative than the total blame game - JMHO. Lynne

P.S. - when you buy, keep the receipt and return it if it doesn't work.

Hello Kaye ~ I'm not sure if you are asking how to make it yourself or the pressing stick itself. Here is the link to the actual pressing stick http://thestripstick.com/buy_products and she has a video that explains the pressing stick in detail, both sizes.

I read how much BellaBoo liked the strip stick and several others commented that they liked it too, in a thread a few months ago. So I purchased the longer one 45" and love it!!!! I guess I could have made it myself but would I ever get around to making it? Probably not... :0)

So if your question is about making it yourself, I'll be of no help. But I can tell you that for right at $20 with shipping the strip stick for pressing seams was well worth my money.

I too see these comments as honest reviews of gadgets that haven't worked as expected. When I commented on one that had not worked for me, several members gave me suggestions of ways I might could make it work. If it had worked after I tried their suggestions, I would have been so happy. But it didn't. Also those of us who named a gadget that didn't work, we explained what we had expected it to do and all the steps we took to make it work for us. As Onalee said, when several people have had the same experience, good or bad, we can better judge whether we want to take a chance on it or not.

We are all different for sure, some can do something and make it look so easy, until someone else tries it. And it does not really matter the product. I have picked up items to use in the kitchen and wish I had left them. At the same time someone else raves about the item. Sewing and quilting is the same thing. That is the way the world works.

Maybe I'm weird, but I did not find this thread to be a blame game.

I love gadgets I've brought good ones and bad ones. The thing is the same ones I think are good someone else would call a bad one and visa-versa. They keep making em and I keep buying em!

Me either. I find this kind of thread enlightening and a helpful response to the media blitz and hard sell ads that we are presented with everywhere we turn around.

it is nice to hear (read) others' honest evaluation of things that worked for them, but in the case of this thread, things that didn't work for them. Too often we are told we "have to have" this item if we are going to do this and this and then buy it and it didn't work like it was supposed to.

I think anyone reading this thread understands that it will be "whatever works for you" and "we are all different". I appreciate the honesty in this thread.

Wow, you hit me where it hurts on the sashiko machine. I thought that was a terrific machine that many quilters would love until I heard the price. Babylock dropped the ball on that one, big time, so i thought. Then to hear it has a bad stitch OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

A question was asked and we answered. No blame there!