Laying Tool

The little piece of ultraviolet Florentine, or Bargello, that I am stitching, turned up a connection to both beading and medicine. I'm using 6 strands of DMC stranded cotton for the embroidery. You can read about my colour choice in a previous post here.

When you use multiple strands of thread, stroking the threads with a laying tool as you form each stitch gives a nice smooth appearance to the embroidery. Mostly my pieces are quite small and I make do with a large tapestry needle in place of a proper embroiderer's laying tool.

This time I kept dropping the tapestry needle and had to search around on the floor to find it. To make the needle easier to find and keep track of, I attached a few beads. A bonus was that the weight of the glass beads settled quite comfortably in my hand and it made holding the needle a little easier. A few more beads would make it even more comfortable to hold but, if I were to stitch a large project and spend many hours working on it, I'd rather use a laying tool with a solid handle.

Basically, you hold a laying tool in the left hand and stroke the threads to keep them smooth and untangled. At the same time you use your right hand to insert the working needle into the canvas and take the next stitch. Sounds complicated but it's not. Once you get going, it becomes straightforward.

Serendipity! This week the Chilly Hollow blog published a link to a Tulip beading awl, at a reasonable price, that could also act as a laying tool. That jogged my memory.

Some years ago my daughter and I did a beaded jewelry making course in Hawaii. A quick look at my beading tools, and there was a tool with a long metal spike attached to a plastic handle - a perfect laying tool. I wish I could remember whether it came from the big, comprehensive Ben Franklin craft store in Kailua. The label on the little instrument doesn't say but it does say it's a teasing needle.

Apparently a teasing needle is used for medical dissections when a scalpel would be too large. Oh!

Who would have thought that this type of simple tool would be used for embroidery, beading and surgery. It seems rather gruesome to use it for embroidery and beading too, but it's practical and it certainly does the trick. It's also inexpensive compared to a well crafted embroiderer's laying tool.  My daughter pointed out that this teasing needle with its blue plastic handle is unlikely to be suitable for surgery. It was my beading awl. Now I think I'll call it my laying tool.

Enjoy your weekend and happy stitching!