Security at work: Safety rules in the sewing/quilting room
 

Last week I was happily sewing by machine when suddenly the needle broke and a part of it jumped into my eye. Luckily, it didn't nail (prick?) the eye pupil, it was only a blow which caused a spill. Now I'm fine, but I had to wear 'mafia' sunglasses for a week (I didn't want to scare the children with my 'zombie' eye in Christmas :cool:).

Well, now I've learnt the lesson... so I've purchased security glasses for sewing and I recommend everyone to do the same.

I don't want to learn 'the hard way' again, so I thought it would be good to collect some useful tips for keeping us safe at work.

http://www.sewmyplace.com/tip/sewing...e-sewing-room/
http://www.craftsy.com/article/sewin...ne-safety-tips

Can you think of something else? I know that most tips can be obvious or common sense, but they are worth remembering.

I wear glasses so I assume I am safe.

What a scary thing to have happened to you! Thanks for the safety reminders. I have trouble finding pins in my carpet when I drop them. They embed in the plush. My husband got me a magnet on a long rod so that I could find them easily. I had to learn to keep my sewing room door closed when I got my new puppy. He'd get into the trash can in the sewing room. They say it takes two months to change a bad habit which is probably true as it seemed it took me forever to remember to close that door.

I'm glad they mention the danger in holding pins between your lips. I used to work in a hospital and people do get hospitalized from accidentally swallowing pins.

Thank you for posting this. I also wear glasses and have been hit by a flying needle but fortunately the glasses did stop it from hitting my eye area. I am constantly changing from a ziz-zag to the single hole throat plate and have taught myself to automatically lower the needle with the handwheel to be sure the needle is in the correct position and will not hit the plate and break. I usually take about three stitches this way which will check needle position, throat plate and zz setting.

Good for you, ManiacQuilter!

Nice to read you again :)

Good idea, thanks. I also have a dog, but I sew in the living room, so it's complicated not to let him enter... fortunately, he doesn't seem interested in my quilting stuff other than the fabrics.

Uh... that sounds even worse than what happened to me!

It's important to be careful about this. Good tip, thank you :thumbup:

While taking a class, I was asked if there was something wrong with the light on my sewing machine. I was turning off my sewing machine after each time I sewed in the class. At home whenever I leave the machine (even to iron) the machine is turned off. I guess every time the instructor glanced at my machine, it was off and light wasn't on. I explained that I was used to sewing with animals and small children under foot and didn't want anyone "sewing" on their own. So I started this safety habit AND didn't even know I was doing it. The instructor laughed and said this was fine as long as my machine was not computerized (which it isn't). She said the many on/off's may cause the machine to loose its settings.

Thanks for the reminders to be safe. My bad habit is that I sew over pins. I am working to change this one!

When I had cats, I would set my cold iron on the floor. Did not want them knocking it off the ironing board.

Some cats are more "into things" than others. One of my cats LOVED to get at the thread on my machines. Even when they were covered. Thread is not good for cats.

I tend to throw my rotary cutter in a bag with other sewing items and have nicked myself several times, even though the blade is in the closed position. I have a separate box to put it in, and vow to do better next year!