Gammer Gurton's Needle

“ Thimble.—Steel thimbles are the best; bone are very liable to break, and silver ones are not deeply enough pitted, to hold the needle. A thimble should be light, with a rounded top and flat rim.
The thread.—Except for tacking, your thread should never be more than from 40 to 50 c/m. long. [1] If the thread is in skeins, it does not matter which end you begin with, but if you use reeled cotton, thread your needle with the end that points to the reel, when you cut it ”

“ Formaldehyd catgut can be used if it is desirable; its fine strands withstand absorption to a greater degree than the ordinary.
Fig. 37.—5⁄8 Circle Haagedorn Needles.
Fig. 38.—Crescent Curve Haagedorn Needles.
Needles.—Very fine, flat, round-eye needles, such as Haagedorn’s, Nos. 12 to 15, 1⁄2 or 5⁄8 circle, are the most serviceable in skin work, as they incise the skin in penetrating and leave an elongated slit, which heals readily, rarely leaving a needle scar. The selection of needles, however, must be left to the operator, many preferring the one variety to the other. ”

“ Currecanti Needle is an object which excites the almost reverent wonder of every beholder. It is a symmetrical cone of red basalt, resting its feet in the Gunnison River and shooting up to an amazing height, its summit terminating in a spire that pierces the clouds, while its body is as variegated with bright colors as was Joseph’s coat. On each side of the stream the bluffs reach up 2,000 feet, but the needle soars very much more loftily, a great sachem among the stone giants that stand in colossal files along the river. ”

“ This groove seemed to me to have been produced by an amateur, though he must have been one accustomed to delicate microscopic manipulation; for the edges under the lens showed slightly rough, like the surface of a file on a small scale: not smooth and polished, as a needle-maker would have left them. I said so to Hilda.
"You are quite right," she answered. "That is just what it shows. I feel sure Sebastian made that groove himself. He could have bought grooved needles, it is true, such as they sometimes use for retaining small quantities of lymphs and medicines ”

“ The needle should always be a little thicker than the thread, to make an easy passage for it through the stuff.
To keep needles from rusting, strew a little stone alum in the packets, and workers whose hands are apt to get damp, should have a small box of it handy, to powder their fingers with. Blackened needles can be made quite bright again by drawing them through an emery cushion. ”

“ Blindly, the proteus obeyed. Herndon's finger caressed the firing-knob of the needler. He watched the proteus atop the low wall, staring down into the murky harbor water, and counted to three.
On the third count he fired. The slim needle-projectile sped brightly across the marketplace and buried itself in the back of the proteus' body. Death must have been instantaneous; the needle contained a nerve-poison that was effective on all known forms of life. ”

“ If a lump of it were placed in Lily’s work-box, all her needles and scissors, and her keys, if she had any, would jump to it, and cling to it in a minute, just as you would jump into mother’s arms.”
“Oh, I wish that I had a lump as big as my head! I should like to see the poker and the tongs and the shovel all jumping!” exclaimed Eddy, full of merriment at the thought.
“And the odd thing is,” continued George, “that when iron is well rubbed with this loadstone, it seems as though it grew just like it, for it gets the very same curious property of attracting other bits of iron. ”

“ From the thimble being cut slightly slanting at the top, it follows that the inside where the two ends meet is a little shorter than the outside.
The thread is drawn through in a loop to the front of the work by means of the hook, whilst it is held at the back in the left hand, and when the needle is put downwards through the stuff, laid round it. The needle in its downward and upward passage, should be kept in the notch in the thimble and the stuff pressed down with the thimble, as the needle is drawn up to the surface of the work, fig. ”

“ Netting, so easy to do, is most difficult to describe. The materials required are--a netting-needle and mesh (see illustration No. 302) . These are made of bone, of wood, of ivory, and most commonly of steel. The wood, bone, and ivory are only used for netting wool, the steel for silk, cotton, &c.
The needle is filled by passing the end of the thread through the little hole at the left-hand point, and tying it; then the thread is wound on the needle as on a tatting shuttle. ”

“ Fig. 160.—Netting Needle.
Fig. 161.—Netting Needle.
Hammock making requires a netting needle of one of the shapes shown by Figs. 160 and 161. It may be made from a piece of 3/16-in. pearwood, beech, or boxwood about 8 in. long by 3⁄4 in. wide. In needles as shown by Fig. 161 the cord is wound round as when filling an ordinary shuttle, and for Fig. 160 the cord is brought round the end at A up one side, round the pin at B, and back the same side, the process being repeated on the other side of the needle. ”

“ Position of the hands (fig. 2) .—The stuff, fastened to a cushion, must be held with the left hand, which should neither rest on the table, nor on the cushion, the needle must be held between the thumb and forefinger, of the right hand, and the middle finger, armed with the thimble, pushes the needle far enough through the stuff, for the other fingers to take hold of it and draw it out; the thread then comes to lie between the fourth and fifth fingers in the form of a loop, which must be tightened gradually to avoid its knotting. ”

“ The cotton should always be cut, as it is weakened by breaking.
Knotting the thread into the needle (fig. 1) .—When the thread becomes inconveniently short, and you do not want take a fresh one, it may be knotted into the needle, thus: bring it round the forefinger close to the needle, cross it on the inside next to the finger, hold the crossed threads fast, with the thumb draw the needle out through the loop thus formed, and tighten the loop round both ends. ”

“ Gum arabic ought never to be used for appliqué work, as it becomes so hard that it is impossible to get the needle through, whilst the saccharine it contains almost always causes ugly spots to appear in the stuff when it dries. ”

“ The clusters must all consist of an even number of threads. The upper and the lower band of open-work is to be copied from fig. 58, the centre one, from fig. 57. Divide the threads of the perpendicular clusters in two; insert the needle, from left to right, underneath half the second cluster, turn the needle’s eye, by a second movement, from left to right, and take up the second part of the first cluster, drawing it under, and at the same time, in front of the first half of the second cluster. Be careful not to draw your thread too tightly. ”

“ One of the boys at my school had a large steel magnet—that is, steel that had been rubbed with the loadstone—and it was the funniest thing in the world to see a dozen needles sticking to it at once, like so many quills upon a porcupine.”
“But what has this to do with the compass?” inquired Lily. ”

“ The needle, too, is a feature seldom absent from the man’s neck and girdle, being a sharp-pointed bit of iron or brass with which they pierce the skins and fasten them together with threads of bark; these needles are fitted into a wooden case, which the more fanciful decorate with bands of brass wire. ”

“ Iron needles are rubbed on the top of this; wherefore they turn toward the same pole as if they had been prepared on that part of the stone with the acorn removed. Let the stone be large enough and strong; the needle, even if it be rather long, should be sufficiently thick, not very slender; with a moderate cusp, not too sharp, although the virtue is not in the cusp itself only, but in the whole piece of iron. A strong large stone is not unfit for rubbing all needles on, excepting that sometimes by its strength it occasions some dip and disturbance in the iron in the case of longer needles ”

“ Fig. 8. Hemming-stitch.
Narrow hems do not need to be tacked, but wide ones, where the first turning should only be just wide enough to prevent the edge from fraying, ought always to be. In hemming you insert the needle and thread directed in a slanting position towards you, just below the edge of the hem, and push it out two threads above, and so on to the end, setting the stitches, two or three threads apart, in a continuous straight line. ”

“ Fig. 58. Double hem-stitch.
Antique hem-stitch (figs. 59, 60, 61 and 62) . In the old, elaborate, linen needlework, we often meet two kinds of hem-stitching seldom found in modern books on needle-work. Figs. 59 to 62 are magnified representations of the same. At the necessary depth for forming a narrow hem, a thread is drawn, in the case of very fine textures where the edge is rolled, not laid; then fasten in the working thread at the left, and work the stitches from left to right. ”

“ To ensure the hem being straight, a thread may be drawn to mark the line for the second turning, but it is not a good plan, especially in shirt-making, as the edge of the stuff, too apt in any case, to cut and fray, is, thereby, still further weakened. Hems in woollen materials, which will not take a bend, can only be laid and tacked, bit by bit. In making, what are called rolled hems, the needle must be slipped in, so as only to pierce the first turning, in order that the stitches may not be visible on the outside. ”

“ Use of the spindle (fig. 242) .—Gold embroidery thread should be wound double upon the spindle. It is laid backwards and forwards and secured with two stitches at each turn, as described in fig. 234. Small holes where the stitches are to come, have first to be pierced in the material with the pricker, from the right side, for the needle to pass through. In soft stuffs, this is unnecessary, but in brocaded materials, and in plush and leather, where every prick shows and would often spoil the whole effect, it is indispensable. ”

“ The needle is not in the least like the delicate, slender articles employed by European seamstresses. In the first place, it has no eye; and in the second, it is more like a skewer than a needle. If any of my classical readers will recall to their minds the “stylus” which the ancients used instead of a pen, he will have a very good idea of a Kaffir’s needle.
As the Kaffir likes to carry his needle about with him, he makes a sheath or case of leather. There is great variety in these cases. The simplest are merely made of strips of hide rolled round the needle, and sewed together at the edges. ”

“ The operator should now and then stop to ask if the patient be relieved; and the needle should always be allowed to remain five or six minutes before it is withdrawn. This mode of introducing the needle, neither produces pain (or at least very little) to the81 patient; nor is productive of Hœmorrhiage, which Dr. Haime says arises from the fibres being separated, rather than divided by the passing of the needle; the former of which (the absence of pain) is a point in its favor, which few surgical operations possess. ”

“ Now the theory is, that if you clutch the cylinder firmly with the right hand, leaving the left perfectly passive, the needle in the galvanometer will move from west to south; if, in like manner, you exert the left arm, leaving the right arm passive, the needle will deflect from west to north. Hence, it is argued that the electric current is induced through the agency of the nervous system, and that, as human Will produces the muscular contraction requisite, so is it human Will that causes the deflection of the needle. ”

“ The needle weir has, however, attained its greatest development in the United States across the Big Sandy river at Louisa, where, instead of needles 3 to 4 in. square, beams 12 in. square and 181/2 ft. long have been resorted to, provided with a steel eye at the top and a ring near the centre of gravity to enable them to be worked (fig. 5) . The needles are put in place one by one against the raised frames, or trestles, by a derrick on a barge lifting them by their ring, whilst a man on the foot-bridge, taking hold of the eye at the top, arranges them in position close together. ”

“ Then two button-hole stitches, and take your needle up to the top edge of the hole, near where you began.
This forms bars about 1/16-inch apart, and with two button-hole stitches in between.
This completed, turn the glove and do the same thing across from side to side, knotting the thread each time it crosses the under-threads. By this means, a tiny net-work is made.
This net-work is elastic, and will wear and wash into shape and last as long as the glove itself.
Making a Neat Patch.
Next to the fingers, the thumb is the worst problem. ”

“ The needle, having no head like a pin to stop it, slips right into the flesh. Sometimes the patient is not certain whether it is there or not, as it may have worked out again, for the danger in these cases arises from the tendency of the needle to travel through the flesh, doing great mischief as it goes along. What is the doctor to do? If he is quite sure that it is there and can feel it, he will of course cut it out; but he has to be very cautious. A needle is so fine and slender, that sometimes, even when he thinks he can feel it with the point of a probe, he finds himself mistaken. ”