 Hi, you guys. So as you may or may not know, I taught some sewing classes at the original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Raleigh last week, two weeks ago. I'm losing track of time. And while I was there, I was actually able to meet up with Jan from Thimbles for you. She was a vendor there. I was a teacher there. So it was the perfect opportunity for us to meet up and film a video together. So we are going to get a crash course in Thimble fitting. So I encourage you to get out any thimbles that you might have as you watch this video, because Jan is going to show you what a thimble looks like when it fits, but also when it doesn't fit. So we try on a bunch of different examples. We have the closed thimble, but we also try a tailor's thimble as well. So you guys can get an idea of how that works and how that should fit. So so grab your thimbles and let's sit down with Jan and get an experts tutorial on how a thimble should fit. Hi, this is Jan Larson and I'm trying thimbles on with Lindsey today. So I'm the maker of the thimbles and so I can make any size in any shape and any style that I want to make. And so for garment sewers, it's usually worn on the middle finger. So we've been trying them on Lindsey on her middle finger. It should sit solidly to the end of the thimble. You've got a little bit of a gap in there now. I don't know if you put it on maybe it'll go in better. Yeah, it feels a little a little tight on the on the knuckle. Okay, let's try a little bit different one. So that one is a medium length. This one is a little bit longer. Can you get that one all the way in there? Yeah, that one goes definitely over the knuckle. So the two things that I always have everybody try is solidly on the end. You take your thumb and just push it to the end and be sure you're sitting solidly on the end and then just dangle it upside down and see if it's going to fall off and if it falls off, you're going to be chasing it all over the room all day and that makes everybody mad. So then they quit. But we want it to be able to be stuck on there good enough. Sometimes it takes a little bit of moisturizer or a little tiny bit of beeswax. If you're a beeswax user, that'll be in your kit already. But a little bit of something on the point of your fingers so that it'll stick and stay in there. Sticks really well. That one's good. Yeah, the other thing that we do, this one's a little bit too small. See that gap up here? A lot of you when you wear the closed top thimbles will have this gap and you kind of have to because the closed top ones are round and your fingers are never round. And so there will be a little bit of an air spot at the top and actually you can turn that into a little suction if you push your finger too far in and get the air out. It'll be a little suction cup and it'll stick in there. But those are never comfortable. The ones that are the most comfortable and the easiest to use are the ones that sit solidly on the end and tighten up that they don't fall off. Yeah, and this one's really tight on my knuckle and I can feel my heart beating in mine. This is not good. We try to avoid throbbing with what we're sewing. The other one that this one's a little bit too big and I wanted to show you that because see you can just pop right out of the top of it. We want your finger to sit down in there so that your nail sits right on top of the nail guard and it should be a good match. But you've got a lot of gapping in there. And even though it may be a little bit snug on your knuckle so it's not falling right off, it's still really too big. Yeah, it's very loose and you can especially feel it like in this little cupped area in the back how my finger doesn't just sit. Yeah. There's like a whole gap in there. So what that means for you while you're sewing is if you were trying to use this one that's a little too big, you'd be constantly putting your thumb up there to hang onto it. Right, right, right. And then your whole technique gets sideways. Right. Nothing really works very well. So if you can get one that really hangs on all by itself without having to do any work, that's better too. The other thing if you look at this one when you bend your finger, there's a big old gap here and you can see all the way up to the top. And when you've got that and I've got my little fixing tools, my customizing tools, I will take a tool and push this down so it's laying right on top of your finger and I'll pull the sides out so that they fit right on your finger. And so there's a lot of customizing that I do using my tools. And can we do this virtually? I can send you pictures and you'd be able to do it that way or this is really an in-person thing. Well, it works a lot better in-person. I can help you with it virtually. Yeah, okay. You can use a channel lock pliers and put it on the front and back and kind of squeeze it. Right. I've done that a few times. I have a riveting tool that I put inside the thimble and when I squeeze the handles on that one, it gets bigger. And so that's how we pull it out to the sides. A lot of people will have a big bump in one spot on their finger or an arthritic problem. And I can take the tool and just pull a little bump out right on your finger right there where your bump is and then it'll fit in a really custom way. Yeah. You can really tell when something's too big. A little harder to tell when something's too small but when it's too big, it feels a big difference. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Talk to me about these. Yeah, the other piece I wanted to show you, these are Taylor's thimbles and Taylor's thimbles are meant to be worn with just a peek. I should be able to feel your flesh like when you level off the flour when you're cooking. You should be able to feel just a little bit of flesh on the end. These are used a lot by garment sewers because when you're done using it here and pushing with it there, you can wear it there to just hang onto it. Oh, so you always have it close by. Yeah. And so I actually am working with somebody right now who's designing with me a whole line of these and he really specifically wants them to go on my finger and then on my pinky. Right. And not everybody's hand is set up for that. Well, that's true. Well, that's very true. And my pinky isn't the right size to hold the one that went on my middle finger. Yeah, it depends. Yeah, it depends. And you were saying earlier too that you can use your index finger if that's Yes, the index finger works good. I work a lot with quilters and the applique quilters really like to wear them on their index. They're using that finger nail of the index to needle turn, to turn under a little tiny hem. And then they've also got that little pushing spot right there too. So I apparently nobody else is making Taylor's thimbles right now. So mine is the big production line. Yeah, this is not something that I would have thought of when looking at thimbles, you know, because you're used to them looking a certain way. But this is very sort of intuitive to me and how I hand. So I can see how this would be one of those things where you can wear it all the time either on your pinky or here and it would be comfortable and wouldn't get in the way of your sewing machine. But you'd be able to pull it out quickly to get those buttons on or get that whatever little bit of hand stitching you need for your garments on there as well. Really? So Taylor's thimble. And I mean, we didn't make up the name like they've been called that for a reason. Yes, they actually were invented by men in New York City at the turn of the century. They were sewing a lot of wool. And I have pictures on my website of they made young men sit up on tables and sit on their knees. And they taped all their other fingers down except that middle finger with the Taylor's thimble on it. And so there was an older gentleman that came up to my booth one day to show and he said, oh my gosh, I just look at that Taylor's thimble and my hand all gets wadded up into that taped down place. Yes, I bet the PTSD from that is real, is real. All right, cool. Well, I hope you guys thought this demonstration was helpful in determining whether or not the thimble you have at home fits or if it's even the style that you like. So be sure to check the description box, head to Jan's website, find out more about where you can see her in person if you want a custom fit or try and do it virtually online. Of course, I already knew how knowledgeable Jan was in the world of thimbles, but actually getting to sit down and meet with her and kind of geek out over thimbles for a few minutes at the expo, you really get a handle on just how good she is. So if you would like to meet Jan in person and get a personalized thimble fitting with her, you can check out her schedule of expos in conferences that she will be at. You can also do all of this virtually if you're not in any of those areas or you're not traveling for whatever reason, you can do this via photos and videos with Jan as well. So check the description box. I have a link for you guys to Jan's website where you can learn a lot more information about where to find her and how to order a pretty much custom fit thimble just for you.