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Home
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Patterns
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Thimbles
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About Us
Meet Delphine and see her class list | View a virtual quilt show
A Tale of Two Thimbles
This whole thimble
thing happened as my husband (a plastics engineer) and I were
taking a long autumn drive through Michigan's Upper Peninsula. As
the drive progressed the discussion turned to quilting in
general. Somewhere in the discussion I remarked that it was
difficult to find a thimble that meets all the demands of a
quilter. It's like the story of Goldilocks. The metal ones
are too hard, heavy, and uncomfortabe. The plastic and
leather ones are too soft. A leather one reinforced with metal
fits nice but the needle quickly wears a hole through the
leather, causing it to slip. All I wanted was one that was
"just right". Needless to say, I have
a thimble
"collection" sitting in a drawer of my sewing cabinet.
Being a good engineer, my husband immediately began problem
solving. He really thought it would be a piece of cake, that a
thimble can't possibly compare to the highly engineered products
he has worked on. Four years and innumerable prototypes later
he's ready to admit that a thimble really does have some serious
demands placed on it. He had to dig deep into his materials bag
of tricks to find something that meets the demands such as:
toughness, wear resistance, penetration resistance, flexibility,
non-slip surface, light weight, and comfort. He came up with the
same material found in roller blade and skateboard wheels. It's
such a unique design that he actually patented it.
When quilting friends saw and tested our prototypes, we heard,
"let me know when it's for sale. I want one!" Well,
it's for sale now. We call it the Diamond Thimble after the
diamond pattern on the working side. He's busy producing them
on production tooling installed in our basement.
Along the way, we thought that the base of the original Diamond Thimble
would be suitable for protecting the finger under the quilt. As
guild members tested the prototypes we realized that this style
would be ideal for many applications. That design has been
refined and we are offering it as the W'nder Thimble. This patented
thimble provides thin, flexible, puncture resistant
protection for the finger under the quilt or under your applique
blocks. You can feel the needle point as it exits the fabric
without having to prick yourself or build up and maintain a
callous. It is also excellent as a light thimble for piecing,
stitching down bindings and applique work.
Our Website
To round out our website we decided to add some of the patterns and instructions developed for the classes that Delphine teaches. These are tried and true patterns with the paper pieces drawn on commercial drafting equipment. We think that you will find that they make difficult looking quilts easy to make.
This is our business and our website. But more than that, it may be the only way you have of meeting us and we want to make a good impression. Please, if you have any problems with our products or services, let us know so we can try to make it right.
Our business is founded on the biblical principle outlined in Colossians 3:23, 24; "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."
