Everyone, thank you for your comments. Really helpful. Much I did not know.
I am basically a garment sewer in transition and the one thing I cannot seem to quit doing is pulling a thread and asking DH to help me straighten. (Convincing him the value and the skills of doing THAT is another story.) (Somewhere are a couple of home ec teachers laughing.) I don't do it on the tiny bits because it is easy to see the straight on those. Now I know my compulsion to pull threads may not be the most generally effective.
It is so wonderful to be able to read and talk to people who sew.
Pat