Thimbles

Over the years I have tried just about every quilting thimble there is.  I do not like to wear a thimble due to some medical problems that I have I have had trouble with rashes over the years I have some small scarring on my fingers here and there which wearing a thimble can irritate over time. I tried for a time not to wear a thimble and I used my thumbnail a lot — so much that I wore a hole through the nail! Now that was a sight, a needle right through my nail.  After that I tried leather thimbles that go over your finger, leather patches that are round disc that you stick on your finger .  My favorite thimble is called a hand held thimble or as I refer to it a “paddle thimble” it can be found at House of Quilting

There are instructions on how to use this thimble at the link I put in.  It works great once you get the hang of it.  It does take a little practice but for anyone who has trouble with a metal thimble over the fingertip this one works great.  It also works good for people with joint pain.  I have 3 of these thimbles just in case I loose one I have a back up.  I use this for all of my hand quilting.  I have been using this thimble for about 8 years or more.

 Another thimble that I have is the Roxanne Thimble.  I thought I would be able to use it and my husband bought it for me one Christmas.  It doesn’t quite fit my finger right and slides off a lot, it is heavy also.  It is a very good thimble though and I occasionally use it for short periods of time It comes in different sizes and different kinds of metal:

It can be found at the Roxanne product site, Roxanne thimbles are expensive though so if you have the opportunity to try one on at a quilt show vendors booth please do so.  You might find like I did that it is a bit heavy.

There are so many thimbles sold from so many places that if you are searching for a thimble that you think you will want to use see if you can try it on at the store.  Some places will let you do that.  Sometimes they will have them on display.  At the Quilt Bus site there is a whole page on thimbles, here are some of them, look for notions and thimbles:

 this is a coin thimble

 jelly roll thimbles all colors and sizes they are soft rubber type of item

this one is called “my favorite thimble” it is metal covered with a rubber substance which is supposed to grip the needle.

And here we have “Ted’s Thumb Thimble” – Ted won the 1st place prize with her quilt at Paducah, Kentucky quilt show this year.  It is beautiful.

this is my favorite thimble it is simply called an Open Sided Thimble to use when I am doing applique, it is a little longer than some metal thimbles so it doesn’t seem to bother the scarring from my rashes on my fingers around the knuckles, it is open ended so your fingernail will not feel cramped.  You can find it at Keepsake Quilting

There are so many thimbles to chose from, remember try them on if possible at the store for fit and comfort.  There is nothing wrong with having more than one thimble if you get tired of one try another.  Thimbles range from very expensive to cheap as dirt!   Most of the thimbles pictured here are in the $5.00 to $15.00 range.