While we're on the subject...

I thought I blather on about how much I LOVE twin needles. At one time in the not so distant past I was intimidated by them. How do they work? How do I set my machine? What are they for? Now that I have played with them a bit, I can't imagine sewing without them.Here is a nice assortment! As you can see, they come in several widths and even as a triple (which I haven't tried yet...). Although not pictured here, there is also a "stretch" variety that has ball point needles - perfect for knits for those of us without coverstitching capability.
Here is my current WIP - Logan's birthday shorts. As you can see, there is a significant amount of doubled topstitching, made so easy by the use of my twin needle.

So, how do you use a twin needle? I admit that this is what stymied me for so long. Although I have discovered that Janome is very well suited for twin needle stitching, there isn't a mention of it in her owner's manual (AKA my personal sewing machine Bible). What is up with that?? Fortunately, I found several web and print resources to help me out. I mostly used Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing, which has a nice section on using a twin needle. (Note to self, I ought to buy that book!) There is also a How-To on Sewing.org, and a cool reference chart on Threads. But it really is simple! Here is how. Make sure you have a machine that can zigzag (since that is what the bobbin will be doing). Set your machine for a straight stitch. Put in the twin needle. Thread your machine with two spools of thread with each spool rotating in opposite directions if possible. If your tension discs are visible, thread the separate threads to either side of the discs. Many machines have separate thread guides at the needle holder. If yours doesn't, just leave one of the threads out of that thread guide.

Now sew!
Here is how the stitching will look. The top is the needle stitching and the bottom sample is the bobbin. As you can see, the bobbin makes a zigzag, which leads me to my favorite thing about the double needle. It stretches!
It can also be used for lots of decorative things, besides just plain topstitching. Here you can see what happens when you change up the tension a bit. Set at 0, you can see that the stitches are flat, but once you tighten it up a bit, they begin to mound up just a little in between. By the time we get to an 8, you have a little faux pintuck going on. Cool, huh? You can also use a twin needle with decorative stitching, just be cautious of the stitch width. Be sure that the needles will clear your machine's throat plate before you go to town.

Go to the fabric store! Get a twin needle! Play!!

Round the bend

I did something fun this morning and I wanted to share!

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my twin needle? There she is. Ready to rock.

I am working on these shorts for Logan's birthday. All of the topstitching is done with a twin needle, but there are several corners on the patch that are topstitched. I had read in Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing about a method to pivot a twin needle, and here is my chance to try it out. It worked great! So, I'm going to show you how to do it, too.
Start with your needle in the fabric, as you would to pivot with a single needle. Drop your feed dogs, as if you were doing free motion work (you sort of are!). If you forget to drop your feed dogs, you will have a mess of tangled thread.
Turning the handwheel toward you (always forward!), allow the needles to just clear the fabric. The feed dogs are down, so your fabric shouldn't be moving here. Turn the fabric slightly in the direction you are pivoting and with the handwheel, advance the needle with the inner needle reentering the original hole and the outer needle moving a millimeter or two in the direction of the pivot. Continue this process, keeping the inner needle in the same hole, until you are pivoted all the way around.
Now you are ready to go forward again! To clear the 45ish degree angle above it took me about 5 passes.
Here is how it looks on the outside.
And on the wrong side, you end up with a little starburst, fan-y thing. I think it is kind of pretty.