No, things have not been that stressful in life that I felt the need for drastic action. It sure looks like it though. I just accidentally touched my arm on the iron last week. This latest burn is healing nicely. It criss crosses a previous burn. And goes nicely with the other two scars on my arm from the same type of injury. Quilting is a dangerous activity!
It is dangerous indeed. We use sharp tools all the time. Hot tools too. All while creating something soft, cuddly, and beautiful. Here are some of my quilting injuries:
... Burns, as described above.
... Dropped a ruler and caught it with the top of my hand, where it landed on the corner and dented my hand nicely.
... Sewn my fingertip to appliqué (just a flesh wound, but a dramatic look).
... Sliced off the tip of pointer finger with the rotary cutter. Pay attention when cutting and don't look away because someone called your name from the top of the stairs. Or else you might almost require a skin graft, if it wasn't for having a brother who is a doctor who can bandage you up properly. And it is nice to be able to keep cutting and do simple things like flick on a light switch with that finger.
What about you? What are your sewing room injuries?
22 comments:
OUCH!
So far, my sewing room injuries are pretty much just minor burns.
My husband however had a rotary cutter (locked!!! We found it only locked in the horizontal plane, not the vertical plane, the hard way) fall on his toe and slice all the way down to the tendon.
I've stepped on pins too, but never more of an issue than just getting them out. I also hand sew wrong and beat the crap out of the second joint of my middle finger with the back of a pin. A band-aid won't work, and I can't find a thimble that covers it. That will hurt for days after binding or sewing a hanging sleeve.
Knock on wood, but so far I haven't cut myself with the rotary cutter or sewn through my finger.
I have had minor burns from the iron, I cut my middle finger on my left hand with a rotary cutter including a bit of the nail, and I dropped a scissors and stabbed my foot. When I had my improv piecing class this past spring I talked to the ladies about rotary cutter safety and told them do not talk and cut at the same time! If you want to talk, stop cutting! I didn't want any accidents.
Just last week, for the first time in my 45 years of sewing, my finger got in the way of the needle. When I pulled the broken needle out of my finger, I also pulled 5 inches of thread through my finger before I realized it was still attached to the machine and I had to cut it. I whined a little.
My nickname as a girl was ' Catastrophe Kate '.
To think that I would have grown out of that phase was pipe dream to my parents.
To think that I would grow up to spend time daily with razor sharp blades and skin melting iron can still give my mother fits.
Burns occur with regularity. Sewing my finger to project, cuts from rotary cutter ( 4 stitches when I sliced down the center of my pinkie finger ? The time with 8 stitches and just missing the tendon between thumb and pointer finger ?) , and all the tiny slices where the blade just lightly grazes fingers, hand, arm.
Lets please celebrate the times when rotary blades can be replaced and no cuts or nicks occur !
I keep a jar of cocoa butter in sewing room to help tamp down the scars.
I once cut the top of my middle finger, right under the nail bed, with the rotary cutter. I apparently slightly dinged the forming nail, because the nail grew out with a slice in it! Fortunately once it grew all the way out, all was well, no permanent damage. Never a dull moment in quilting land! Hope you heal quickly :-)
*I found out that ther´s something white inside the fingers (called bone.
*My blood is red and runs well.
*That fingers can change shape if they are in to close contact with the cuttingknife.
* The needles can go through the fingers.
*My irons are hot and that it really hurts when contact with the skin!
* I also had to buy new headphones to my pocketradio, twice!!! when I lean forward to cut the fabric, the wire has been cut...
I just love to quilt;-)
Back in the day...we won't say how long ago, I did my rotary cutting while sitting on the floor. Standing at the ironing board I wondered why my foot felt wet. Well you guessed it, I left the blade open and kicked it with my bare foot. So sharp I didn't feel a thing. Shortly after that hubby set me up a cutting table :)
I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but the cutting "joke" at the beginning could be construed as triggering and offensive to those who struggle with this problem.
Mostly just the normal nicks, scrapes and burns....except for the time my seam ripper rolled off the table in front of my sewing machine and I instinctively tried to catch it by swiftly bringing my thighs together. Ouch! I have a nice little scar from that puncture wound.
I am good with burns and cuts and dropping the occasional scissors on my foot. I do have two good burn stories, though. I accidentally steamed my leg once, have the steam holes from the iron as a scar to prove it. And I dropped a block when I ironing once, when I leaned down to pick it up I hit my forehead on the iron. Quilting can be dangerous. :)
So I work in public health and one of the areas we focus on is injury prevention. My list though is long - I cut the tip of one of my fingers with a rotary cutter on my last elf hat for the Christmas float for preschool - ER visit required. I stepped on a needle that fell in my ugly orange shag carpet in a house we owned 20 years ago and they had to dig around my foot and pull out the broken piece… So no more barefoot or sock foot sewing. And a few steam burns! You are right quilting is a dangerous profession - steel toed boots and hard hats should be required :).
Definitely have fallen victim to iron burns and rotary cutter nicks. And also bashed up a knuckle pretty badly by forgetting myself and trying to adjust fabric while the sewing machine was running - that screw thing can really do some damage! :D
I rushed into my studio to finally finish that last block. Flipped on my machine, put the pedal to the metal and FORGOT to move the needle position. THe needle came down full force onto the plate, snapped and bounced into my left eye. Yep. Really. At first I cursed for the delay a broken needle was going to cause me, then I realized it actually hit my eye. Jumped up, looked in the mirror, hmm, seemed ok. Blinked a few times...getting blurry. Called the eye doc, (it's 6:30pm BTW) and he met me at his office (hubby drove - by now my vision is like a drunkard with the lines in the road crossing each other). Turns out I actually took FIVE shrapnel hits to the surface of my eye - minor scratches. After much numbing, magnet dragging across my eyes, test and retest, lots of lights shone in my eye and an x-ray...it was determined none of the needle parts had entered my eye - JUST scratched the surface. I am thankful for sure and hubby brought me 3 pair of bifocal safety glasses! And I also changed to a machine that starts in the center instead of to the left on the needle plate!
Other than the occasional minor burn mark from my iron (which I haven't had in years now that I use the auto-lift irons), I don't have any drastic sewing room injuries. I think that means I don't spend enough time sewing...
I've also caught my finger under a moving needle several times. The worst was dropping a ruler on my foot and having the sharp corner dig in. The scar is lovely!
I've never burned myself while ironing, only cooking. However, I don't think I could ever top sewing through my left middle finger while making a stocking just a few days before Christmas. I was quite the object of curiosity in the local emergency room. Take care, Byrd
I had a needle break on my sewing machine that would have taken my eye out if I hadn't been wearing my glasses instead of my usual contacts that day. Binding a quilt without a thimble is also a bad idea.
I have had a lot of minor burns usually on my fingers. I also sliced the side of my pointing finger while rotary cutting...that was a bleeder for a good long time. You are right never look away. It was really hard keeping in bandaged up and still wash my hands. Recently, my daughter sewed one of her fingers when she was reaching to remove the bobbin on her longarm machine. The head started to roll away and as she reached for it she accidently hit the switch. We do not have a doctor in the family and she choice not to go an emergency room because of the cost but sent her husband to the store for butterfly bandages and had him close it up. It took several weeks to heal, it took a good chunk out of her finger and she does have some nerve damage.
i have sewn through my finger - twice. ouch!
Impaled my foot on a needle so deep it disappeared and it took me 3days to work out why my foot hurt. One trip to emergency later and they had to use xray to find the darn thing!
When I was in sewing classes as a child, I sewed through my thumb with the sewing machine on my tenth birthday. You learn pretty quick not to push fabric through the machine with your thumb! I also caught a falling hot iron a few times with the palm of my hand. A girl in my sewing class thought it was cool to be really speedy and ended up sewing a few fingers together. Sewing machines skip over little girl fingers really well. Our teacher calmly pulled all the thread out with the hemostats we used to stuff doll limbs, benefits of repurposing surgical equipment I suppose? I always think I have done all my sewing injuries, but then I'll knick a finger with the rotary cutter and realize I am still a clumsy human who needs to be more "attentive" as my mother says.
Yikes! A finger injury can really bring us such lingering pain. That is certainly the stuff that can get us really skeeved, considering the very mundane source of such impacts. Injuries do line in wait in the course of our everyday. I do hope your finger is fine by now. Take care!
Clinton Scott @ US Health Works
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