Threads driving me crazy
 

When piecing or quilting all day, the little pieces of threads that accumulate on my clothes are driving me crazy. I won't mention walking through the house for something and the numerous times I've picked up threads off the carpet, or having to answer the door covered with thread. Sure I have one of those sticky rollers for lint etc that I try to use often, but it's not enough. Thinking about taking an old plastic flannel backed table cloth and making a bib apron from it to catch the threads.....maybe even put one on the floor under my machine. Would you do this, or am I suddenly getting excessive in my old age??

I'm having the same problem. I wear a couple of zippered sweatshirt things for warmth and comfort and one of them is a magnet! I have to pull each one off. The washer and dryer do nothing.
Your idea is hilarious! :D I probably will just pick and complain but you should go for it!

Same problem - the hardwood floors are fine because I can sweep them easily, but the area rugs are a real pain to vacuum. And don't get me started on my sofa - the fabric seems like a terry cloth and nothing gets the threads off that. I've taken to covering it with a sheet. Good thing the only person who comes over is my daughter and she has her own issues with dog hair.

Maybe if you go outside with your blowdryer you can get your clothes clean.

As a friend once observed, "We come with strings attached". I would rather deal with the strings than the fine belly hair left by kitty. I buy the sticky rollers by the carton. Like a mechanic with grease embedded in his hands, it goes with the territory.

I have small plastic containers on each of my machines for clipping ends. It does keep it a little under control but the area rug is a magnet. The lap cover is not a bad idea. I wove one for spinning, it is dark on one side and light on the other. When I sit at the wheel and spin if the fiber is dark, I use the light side and vice versa. Fibers are as bad as threads:D

Lint brush... one of my favorite 'notions'. I keep one on my sewing table and roll myself before I leave the room.
It helps a lot and keeps me from embarrassing myself if I jump in the car to run a quick errand.

I need to do this, recently went to Target and realized when I was there that my favorite sweater had threads ALL over it lol

I use a thread cup also. I keep a roll of wide masking tape and take a long strip of that and use it to pounce up and down on the carpet to quickly get the strays.

I set my sewing machine on a microfiber cloth. All the thread attach there. (there is no cleaning that cloth, I just rotate it, and flip it, until it is totally covered with threads, and then get a new one.)

I really don't have a problem, but I do so much chain sewing that I don't have many threads. The only thing the washer and dryer can't handle is a microfiber dishcloth. I wonder if one would be better for thread removal than a lint roller. When I was using lint rollers on my pants when I was working, the dog hair clogged them so quickly. There are some loose threads on my design wall. I will try a microfiber cloth and let you know.

This brush will take thread and pet hair off anything. I was skeptical but it works.
http://shop.flylady.net/p/(RUB-BOGO) Now it's buy one get one free.

Mine gets mixed in with the dog hair on my shirt! Seriously, using Guterman's polyester avoids the problem for me. I also have a "cat food" can beside my machine and pick up threads as I sew.

When people ask me what my clothing style is, I answer "dog hair and thread". LOL

I wear jeans & knit shirts when I sew. The threads don't stick to them too bad. I like the idea of making an apron of a tablecloth so that the threads shed off. That would be cute with some type of binding around it and wouldn't be hard to make. I wear an all cotton apron when I cook with good clothes on. I don't know why that wouldn't work for sewing.

I made and wear Janet Clare’s Artisan apron, there are lots of patterns on Pinterest for similar styles and it keeps my clothes clear of thread most of the time ;)

About stray pieces of thread: I just tell people, "I come with strings attached."

We purchased an under-desk mat for under the table where I quilt. It's a hard surface, flat, so easy to clean up.

I use a bristle brush, also known as toilet cleaning brush - that has never seen a toilet - to "scratch up" threads from the rug. It works.

I wear demon jeans & shirt for some reason threads do not stick to these. If I wear a sweater it's a thread magnet.

Cat hair and thread is a fashion accessory in my house.

LOL! You're going to have to explain this to me, because I am a seriously scandalous person when it comes to being presentable. During gardening season, if I'm working in the garden and need something from home depot, I just jump on my bike and go get it. Mud and all. I think it helps that I am short and buxom, so most of the dirt I accumulate is under the equator (my bustline) and therefore invisible to me, lol. I'm sure its the same with thread.

I was at a workshop with an Handi Quilter educator in the fall, she wore a bib apron, She said most threads and lint would stick to it, plus it had pockets for tools etc.

Me, I have 5 pets, a few loose threads are not going to make any difference. I do not have carpets in my home, so cleaning them is not an issue.

I do notice that some fabrics, denim as mentioned and Ponte knits do not attract thread and lint as much as other fabrics. Wool sweaters are the worse.

I was in my LQS the other day and noticed we all had strings attached! I wear them proudly and I do sweep my floors a lot! Lol

Tartan....I do have a thread catcher on my sewing desk, trash can underneath the desk and lint rollers on the cutting table....sometimes I make little piles of threads and then throw them away making sure they hit the can. So why am I always covered with threads??? I swear, they multiply faster than rabbits!!

Like others, my threads are camouflaged by the dog hair from two Goldens. But seriously, the only time I am cautious about leaving the house without either one is if I'm going to a restaurant, volunteering at the hospital or going to church. Other destinations have to take me as I am.

I saw a suggestion that we should place an area rug at the door to our sewing area. It is supposed to catch threads and snippets when we exit. As far as your clothes go, a sticky roller works. Denim and chambray shirts don't seem to attract threads, sweaters do.

Another good "thread catcher" is to place a scrap square of batting next to your machine, or at your ironing station. Threads will cling to it easily and then you can just throw the whole thing out when it is "full"
Some fabrics do shed or "thread" more than others, I know when I made a jacket out of homespun cotton, it was like working with cut chenille.

I like that idea! I'm going to try it!

What I really hate is when I have a piece of thread on me that is still attached to a spool. One time I tracked it from my basement sewing room, all the way up the stairs, and into the bathroom!

My husband reminds me of those little monkeys that picks nits off of each other. He is always picking the threads off of my clothes. I tell him that I wear those strings proudly, as I paid a lot of money for them (fabric at $14.00/yard).

Personally, I am not a neat-nick, never was. As a kid, everyone said that my older brother always looked like he came out of band box -- me, not so much. I was the one in striped capris, a tee-shirt with circles on it, a multi-bandana on my sloppy hair and bright orange tennis shoes that I swore went with everything -- even those dreaded dresses that they made me wear once in a while. I have a picture of me as a 7-year-old, wearing vertically striped capris pants and a tee-shirt with the stripes going horizontally and suspenders. I have this goofy looking smile on my face and my hair is in ponytails that are a little lop-sided.

There was a British Documentary, Seven and UP and in the beginning the scientist says, "Show me the boy at seven and I will show you the man." I'd say that he was right, my picture showed me the woman I was going to be. If you have never seen the document series, Seven and Up, and can get a hold of it, you would be really amazed. It is about the children they followed and interviewed once every seven years. It is several movies and it was fascinating.

I think that I might make a cobbler's apron from a man's shirt. This way when I am sewing or I am sewing at the senior center, I can just remove the apron and stick it with my sewing bag.

I have a giant coffee cup that started life as a flower vase, featuring “Maxine” that sits to the right of my machine for clippings and threads. Works for me unless I am working with white thread in a black shirt. Nothing is ever perfect in my world, and I am OK with that.

Good one! I have four cats, one dog, and no door on the sewing room. I have given up trying to look neat.

I am cracking up at this thread. I just finished a baby quilt and by the time I got to the binding the threads were driving me so crazy I was throwing them over my shoulder a la Eleanor Burns. Usually
I go out in the afternoon after sewing for a few hours, and guaranteed I always have "strings attached"! Could have worse problems!😸

The gray minkee I used for my daughters Christmas pillows was like trying to sew in a blizzard, a grey fuzzy blizzard. It was all over me. People at Safeway commented about the gray fluff in the back of my hair. I still have fuzz in my burgundy carpet.

Someone referred to the threads as "quilter's bling" sorry can't remember who.

madpatter, you crack me up.

My friends know if I show up with threads hanging off me, they can count on me being in a great mood. They don't care about anything else.

I have one very similar to that, works great, especially for dog hair! I think I got it at Walmart.

So what are a few threads.....I have been known to go to church with threads attached....Oh well it shows that I am working....

Lint roller usually works for me...plus a thread catcher sits near. I vacuum my sewing room after each top is completed (plus a couple times a week) to keep the threads from attaching while sandwiching. Most of my thread problem is not the beginning/end threads we snip away but the unraveling of fabric thread underneath top. If I am handling top a lot, this can get knarly... I clip the back a lot while sewing.

I wear a bib apron. I like wearing comfy leggings when i sew, hence the reason for the apron. I also leave a scatter rug just outside my quiltroom door. Both are great thread collectors.