About a year ago I made a pair of sewing palms. My intention was to get a custom fitted palm, and not have to spend the farm to get it. It has turned out to be my most popular post. In fact I just had a question asked the other day about it, so apparently its still of interest to someone. What I really wanted to do though was take another look at the palms and see how they have held up after all the sewing they have had to do since last spring. Which included making a new mainsail, and a new staysail; whipping ropes, and a mess of other sewing projects.
What I have found is that they have turned out way better than I ever anticipated. They have broken in famously, forming to the specifics of my hand.
I thought for sure that the regular sewing palm would have been the most useful of the two, when I originally made these. Of course I defaulted to Emiliano's recommendation and made both. And, as it turned out, the roping palm became the most important and most used of the two. It is amazing the amount of pull you can get on the thread when it is wrapped around the leather on the thumb. In fact, I find that the only time I use the regular sewing palm is when I am doing very light stitching, where I normally would use a thimble.
The other thing that I have noticed, is that after repeated use over the last year, the palms have become very easy to use, to the point that I don't even think about it. The needle just fits where it is supposed to, and the motion is second nature. Which is nice to see, because when I first made these, they were very uncomfortable to use. The motion wasn't well, and the needle always felt like it was in the wrong place. So, if you have made these, and are unsure about the fit, use them for a bit first.
The only thing that I should mention, is to keep the area around the thumb a little loose. If it is tight at all then you will get a lot of fatigue in the thumb muscles. And, it after using it for a while, it doesn't become an extension of your hand, make a new one, don't give up. Sewing with a good palm is an incredible experience, sewing with a poor fitting one is an exercise in sado-masochism.
So, definitely one of the more useful things I have done with my time. In fact I have decided to keep some spare tooling leather on the boat, should I ever wear one of these out. As long as I am sewing, I will have a pair of these. By the way, if anyone has made them, I would love to see some pictures, or hear about your experience in the process. I figure with the traffic the post has gotten, someone must have tried it.
Cheers and fair winds.
No comments:
Post a Comment