tessagin

First time I rammed the eye of the needle under my finger nail, I learned real quick. I have small bones structure and it was hard to find a thimble that fit. My grandmother taught me to wrap bandaids or tape or gauze around my finger then put the thimble on. My little niece has her own sewing case that has a few different thimbles. She keeps them in her backpack along with some little projects like yo yos and hexies. And she also uses gauze for her thimbles.

bearisgray

I think we were encouraged to use a thimble when we had sewing in our home ec classes - way back in 1955-1959! Plus my mother used one. So of course, I learned to use one, too.

Mom would flatten her thimble into an ellipse instead of leaving it round. Seemed to fit better then. She also taped the inside of another one to make it fit better.

I think I finally figured out it was easier - and way less painful - to push a needle through fabric with a thimbled finger than a bare one.

qwerty

I am working on my first hand pieced/ hand quilted quilt and have purchased several thimbles. I am hand piecing with a Clover leather thimble on my bottom hand and no thimble on the top hand. When I get ready to quilt it, I will probably use the same leather thimble on the bottom and try to find one that works for my needle hand.

happyquiltmom

I don't remember. It seems I was born with a thimble on my finger!

homecaregiver

Great answers. I guess I learned from watching other quilters. I hand quilt and when I first started, my fingers hurt so bad I wanted to cry and my husband said why do you do that if it makes your fingers hurt so much and my reply Because I love hand quilting. My fingers finally toughened up so I started using the thimble. I really have to search when I need a new one to find one that is comfortable for me. Thanks everyone.
Pat

quiltin-nannie

I think over the years I have tried every thimble out there. For many years I had "tips" on my fingernails and thimbles just didn't take kindly to those long fingernails. Even when my nails were short, I couldn't stand a thimble on my finger. I don't hand quilt too much, but I do hand applique and use an Ultra Thimble. It's a small round metal disc that attaches to your finger with a little adhesive "dot". You can place it right at the exact spot your finger hits the needle to push it in.

BCM

Pain was my motivator to wear a thimble. Sometimes it bothers me and I try without it - but not for long. Still haven't found one that I would call a favorite.

DogHouseMom

I'm still learning!!

I discovered I needed a thimble to help plunge the needle (by pressing on the eye end) while doing hand sewing through heavier thicker fabric - and tried several thimbles on middle finger of my right hand. Didn't like any of them. So I still suffer.

Then I started needle turn applique. "Plunging" the needle was not a problem but "catching" and "directing" the needle from under the fabric required another thimble. For this I tried several of the thimbles I acquired from the previous experiment and the leather needle with a tight fit and an opening for a long fingernail is the one I like best.

So my learning was all by myself and by trial and error. Mom never taught me to use a thimble (although she taught me to sew, we didn't do much hand sewing that required a needle - mostly just hem's), and I never did any sewing that required one while taking sewing classes in school.

QuiltMom2

"I learned out of sheer necessity after I had poked so many holes in the tip of my finger that I had to wait a week to do any more quilting!"
Right there with you alisonquiilts!
I came to realize that that was why my grandma had a funny little bump just before the knuckle on her right hand.

Pinkiris

I have tried several thimbles over the years and still can't say I have a "favorite". Most stores have thimbles on cards out of necessity for display, but I think I'd like to find a place where I can try on several different ones before buying!