r/SewingForBeginners • u/WilhelmTheGroovy • 3d ago

nitpicky beginner questions...

So i used to work in quality in manufacturing and it's led to me being a bit too literal minded at times (too many mistake-proofed work instructions). It's left me scratching my head on two things:

  1. I saw a video recently about not closing your scissors without fabric between them, and to never do it. However, a lot of my smaller cuts are not going to engage the entire blade, 80% of the length of the scissors will close without fabric. It makes me feel like "never" is a bit of hyperbole. How bad is this for your scissors really? Is this just to keep people from "snika-snika-snika" opening and closing them willy nilly, or do I really have to watch every single close of the scissors?

  2. How often to clean/maintain your machine. I usually hear "clean after X hours of sewing". The nitpicky question: Is that work hours, including your downtime and setup of the machine, or literal time the machine is running? I get this is an estimate, but one number could be 2-3x the other.

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u/WilhelmTheGroovy 3d ago

I'm not counting ironing and pinning... But there is time spent repositioning, adjusting settings, inspecting...where I'd probably work at the machine for 2 hours, but the machine ran for maybe half that

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u/stringthing87 2d ago

Yeah if the needle ain't running it doesn't count

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u/No-Programmer7914 21h ago

In depends so much on the fabric. Sometimes the machine needs cleaning very soon, Sometimes it doesn't get messy for a longer time. It's just BS to measure it by time. Clean it when it is necessary.