I know this is a odd topic but my friend who is a quilter, we were discussing this issue last night. She has looong artificial nails and I have my natural longish nails so were were just wondering. Okay I am adding a pic here of the length I keep my nails. Now I am wondering. How other quilters keep theirs. I find sewing and machine quilting with longish nails fine. But hand quilting is a bit more of a challenge.

How do others wear theirs nails??

Lisa

I actually have my "fake" nails about that length also. When I was hand quilting I used the fake nail to push the needle thru the thread, made it easier for me.....ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh I am positive that is not the proper thing to do, but it worked for me :lol:
Sharon

I keep my nails at about your length and I have no problem with hand quilting -- except for my left thumb nail -- I'm always "splitting" it with the needle and we won't talk about how many times I've bled on a quilt because the needle slipped under the nail (ouch)!

See my friend said the same thingSharon. with her "fake" she uses her nail to push the needle through. I have done that with my real and the dern neddle either bent the nail back and broke it or like sewjoyce under the nail..very painful :(

I tend to use my left thumb (and nail) as a guide for spacing stitches...does anyone else do this??

hmm, I have never even thought about that.

Mine are about the same as yours and all I do is hand quilting. When I quilt a lot, days in a row, I will eventually get a callas on my pointer and middle fingers of my left hand, I switch between them to feel the needle on the bottom side. Does anyone else do that?

I keep mine about the same as yours. I do some hand stitching and mostly machine sewing but it annoys the heck out of me when I lose my right thumbnail. I break them occasionally. I try to keep them at the rught length so they own't break. I can't stand to lose my left first finger either. I use my thumbnail to open seams and it is hard when I don't have it for awhile. I couldn't sew without fingrenails!
My daughter has always chewed hers down to the quick. Her 10 yr old Joey was amazed that I had fingernails!!! Her 7 yr old also chews her fingernails.
This may be why my daughter has never been able to get the hang of sewing!!!! You need fingernails!!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I have been on both sides. I had my acrylic one very long, maybe twice the size of your nails, and had no trouble. I only needed help to open the chager hole of my cell phone, and I kept a safety pin near by for that. Since I have been gardening a little (or de-gardening) I now keep them very short. Either way I had no problem.

Maria

Oh yeah, I have a callus on my first left finger from hand quilting. You'd think I'd learn after a while not to stick it with the needle, huh?? :oops: :oops:

Mine are short since they crack easily and even with artificial ones I keep them short.

i have natural nails and they're about your length. i don't have a problem with hand quilting but i do have a problem beading with them.

:lol: :lol: I switch fingers when one gets so sore I can't stand it. I keep an Emory board handy or a low grade of sand paper to file the calluses down when I can't feel anymore. :oops: :oops:

My callas is on the second finger on my left hand on the side. I used to do all my sewing by hand years ago and I still have that callas. I am diabetic and I use that site on my finger to stick myself because it doesn't hurt much there. I never liked using a thimble so I used the side of that finger and it toughened up. I sometimes use the table when I get a stubborn needle that doesn't want to go through all the layers I want it to go through!!! But wear a thimble?!! Never! I have to feel what I am doing and a thimble gets in the way. I don't quilt by hand anymore tho.

i do this Ninnie - or I did til Hans made me buy some sticky finger pads - he got upset with me going 'ouch' every now and then. I cheated at first and stuck one on the middle finger but used my index finger to feel the needle (just to keep him happy!) BUT then I did an ouch and he worked out what I was up to! So I persevered with the pads and now I love them! And my stitches are just as good (or bad!) as without them;

Re finger nails, I keep mine short but that's because I garden as well and often without gloves, so I have to be able to get the dirt out of my nails easily before I can sew! :D

Thimbles - I never found one I could get on with and then on a trip to England a while ago, a guy in a fabric store got me to try the Roxanne's thimble - silver plated, 30 pounds sterling (nearly 50 dollars)! I said ooh no, too expensive what if I don't like it? But Hans MADE me buy it (he's so enabling! :D ) And now I don't know how I managed without it all this time! I've even been to the loo and forgotten I was wearing it until, well, you can guess when - it involves paper! :lol:

Being a guy, I never had any problem with my nails being too long. I tend to keep them very short. Never even grew my pinky nail long. :lol:

My nails are short. I can't do anything with long nails, not that yours are overly long, they're a nice length if you're not out riding and training horses, digging fence posts, etc.

My nails are fairly short. I would love to grow them longer. However 6 mos of strong antibiotics last year destroyed my nails. Now they flake and crack and break like crazy. I am hoping that they will recover!

Jim's Gem- Try a product I use called T.I.P.S

http://askcosmetics.com/nailcare.htm...FRpN5QodgVZXpA

I have been using it for years. My nails would always crack,. peel and split. Since I have been using it my nails are great.

Lisa

If I can see my nails from the backside of my hand, they're too long. I can't wear artificial nails.

Thanks lisa, I will consider this. I feel I should do something, they break all the time and look terrible!!!

My nails are the length of yours. It is hard to keep them clean and filed, but I do. I garden almost everyday during the warm seasons. I always had nice long manicured nails until I learned to love gardening an quilting. LOL! They don't botter me while hand stitching or quilting at all.

My friend next door is a quilter and she has the acrylic nails. She doesn't like to do much hand work though. My friend in california who is a quilter also has the acrylic's and she does applique beautifully.

I work 50 hours a week and the job I do does not allow me to keep nails at all. lol I only hope some day I will have your problem. lol
Judy in Ohio

My nails are a bit longer than yours,,,,reminds me, I need a mani and pedi.....
Anyway, Ihave no problem with them, but then again, I don't hand quilt

Short and cracked. My nails reject artificial product, so I just deal with the unmanicured look. Call me rough and tumble.

No long nails here, so no problems.

I just cut 2/3 of my nails off and they are down to your lengths now, mine grow very fast and do not chip until they get too long. I do not hand quilt, but they are handy for hand sewing. AND my grandsons love to play with my nails when they are longer while watching tv on my lap...it's better than a fidget stone :lol: :lol: :lol:

I work in a hospital and when I started we were told "no artificial nails ". Mine are very short and give me no problems.

My nails are weak and break just about the time I think they look good. But I do hand quilting with a thimble and occassionally use a nail to get in a position that I can't get the thimble into. I am left handed and use my right thumb and forefinger to rock the fabric after I guage the stitch length with my thumb! :?

I do this. I keep my nails short. But my thumb nails are just a hair longer so I can feel the needle point and then guide it back through to the other side. My thumb nails looks pretty bad when I am hand quilting quite a lot.

Kyia

K, I too use a Roxanne thimble like yours. But I was young and foolish and bought mine in gold. It is great. I used to have long fake nails, but nowdays nurses can't wear them, so it's a moot point. But I still love my thimble.

[quote=gaigai]Well, not the REAL nurses who work in hospitals, anyway! :wink:

Yeah, that would be me! And I guess I'm going to be working a lot more than I had planned, because I just found out my lab needs to have surgery to the tune of $2,000.00. Yes, that was two thousand dollars. Evidently she has "laryngeal paralysis". Very early, but what happens is eventually the dog can't breathe. The surgery is to tie open one of the vocal cords so air can pass. Fortunately it's early, and I have time to earn some big bucks. The things we do for our furbabies!!!! So if I'm not around on the QB much for the next month or so, it's because I'm trying to work extra. Fortunately I went to see MY doc last week, and he gave me some stay-awake medicine!

Oh poor doggie! AND I'm sorry for your wallet too Gai! I guess you don't have pet insurance? I used to have it in England but vets are much cheaper here so we don't bother.

i keep mine short. just easier on me and the stuff i do

with long fingernails, - know just what you mean...OWWWY!!!! :cry:

My nails are about the same length as yours, and I wear a finger guard on the left forefinger, because I tended to let the needle hit the back of that nail and was ruining it. I have never been able to keep going long enough to develop a callous. On the right hand, I wear an open backed thimble, as I could never keep a regular shaped thimble on that finger, my nail was always hitting the top inside.

I keep my nails short. I find if I let them grow out long I end up scratching myself, mostly in the eye. The last time I scratched my eye with my French Manicured fingernail it cost over $600 and I was miserable for two weeks. Not worth it to me.

[/quote] Re finger nails, I keep mine short but that's because I garden as well and often without gloves, so I have to be able to get the dirt out of my nails easily before I can sew! [quote]

Me, too, I totally forget the gloves when I'm walking about and of course I always find a weed that needs pulling or a plant that needs some mulch moved. The other problem is my nails are very weak, all the water and soap for caring for Roy kept my hands raw and bleeding a lot until I finally found Dial green tea and honey pump soaps. That helped a lot.
Sharon