productive designs

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I don’t post pics of my buys. There’s always so much else to share ….

But here are 2 things I’ve been very happy to have bought – it is their Product Design that I’d like to talk about.

A handy bead box and a hooked needle threader
Placed alongside a Pony shuttle for size comparison.

Old & New Needle Threaders

I recently saw this needle threader in my old craft shop (it’s been 4 years since I stepped into that shop!). I liked the unusual shape & instantly bought 4 – one in each available colour. A very happy & useful buy in more ways than one !!!

Hooked Needle Threader as Beader

The hook at the end is ideal for size 30 & finer threads. It works for size 20 and 10 too but one has to be careful to hook the thread completely before pulling through.

The shaft is flat. So inserting into the tiniest or thinnest needle hole is pretty easy.

But an additional advantage I realized was that it could act as a beader too !!!! I’ve been using it since to load beads onto a picot, with great results.

The black lace in above pic is Anchor size 20 (almost double the thickness of Lizbeth 20) & this threader was used for the blue & green beads.

The old-style threaders are of no use when it comes to loading beads on a picot (my preferred method - LBP without beads), and crochet hooks may cause a mismatch between thread & bead size.

Bead box with rotating slotted lid

You might remember this bead box from an earlier post. Bought it on Amazon.in . 

It has a rotating lid with a triangular opening that stays on the white part when not in use; thus locking the beads in their respective compartments.

Rotate to the colour one wants and work with the beads. Or tilt to remove those beads on to a tray – the others stay in their place.

Once locked into default position, the box can be upended without fear!

And it is so portable (see 1st pic for size comparison) and reuseable !

This came with size 15/0 seed beads. I like the colours, weight & gloss, but the hole and width is not consistent :-(

Earlier I had bought transparent beads for their elegance. But they don’t photograph well ;-P Hence opted for these opaque ones.

Product design and practicality matters just as much as the pattern design.

Increase the fun & comfort quotient with the right tools !

happy tatting always :-)