I glued a 1/2" round of the sticky side of Velcro on the right side about 4 inches behind my needle and I take the thread back there and rub it into the little "hooks" and they hold it and leave both my hands free. Not my original idea, I read it somewhere on the internet. You could just use a short piece of straight Velcro also, not necessarily go by the package of "dots" just for this project.