omgosh...NO! you're not the only one! this happened to me just a few weeks ago....scared me silly! (ok...sillier!) So, the hubs happened to be home at the time....freaked him a little bit, too!! I can't remember if I was actually sewing or maybe just poking??? At any rate, first thing i did was to reach over and turn the machine OFF. Didn't know what to do so I figured to turn the flywheel to lift the needle, but didn't know which way. Hubs came and determined to move it...ouch ouch ...hahhaa...oh it was a scene. Finally, I tried to lift the whole mechanism UP without moving the needle - did not work and considered having Hubs get a cutting tool to snip the needle but figured that would REALLY hurt...finally I got the fraction just enough to pull my finger out...luckily was only in the outter skin layers. So, Nancy...you have company in your plight!!! Hope you fared as well as I did!

Ouch! very scary!

I've never run the needle through my finger, but I had a funny thing happen years ago when I was in my twenties. I was sewing something, probably clothes for my kids or me. I was concentrating very hard and evidently getting closer and closer to my work. All of a sudden I was slammed on the forehead by something very hard. I had gotten so bent over and close to the machine that the take-up lever whacked me right on the forehead. I was more shocked than hurt, but I did have a sore spot on my forehead for a while. Talk about a dummy!

When I did it I was thinking 'Oh no, oh no". The needle had broken and part was still in and the other part was out the bottom. I slowly raised the pressure foot to got the big part out and tried to move my finger out. Then I realized the eye part of the needle was still threaded. OMG. So I cut the thread and the small needle part fell off then I pulled the thread back thru the hole. It is really quite scary. I don't think there is any needle part left but I will watch for that. I was working on the Sunny Lanes block and of course a drop of blood hit one of the white patches. I got it to the water quickly and it looks fine. I will do my best not to let that happen again!!!

I can remember our neighbor coming over to use Mom's White and he sewed his finger to whatever he was working on. So when I was told to be careful you can bet your bottom dollar I was.

You're not the only one. Just like Beth, I was well caught by the needle and sat there knowing that I would have to turn the wheel. Would I be lucky and the needle rise up or would fate get a second chance to laugh at me? I was down in the basement all on my own, too, because that's where my sewing area is set up. It was years ago, but I remember it so...painfully.

Trouzernc, read your story out loud to my own DH. "Up periscope" LOL!

I also did that for the first time a few weeks ago. I thought I could beat the needle and adjust a piece of fabric while my embroidery machine was running. I wasn't very successful :-( Luckily, it only went through the tip end, so it wasn't too bad. Of course, that was a needle I had just replaced!

So sorry to read these stories...I've only been lucky enough to trim my fingers with the rotary cutter.....not once, but twice.....talk about a bloody experience!

Yes, last Fall, I was replacing a zipper in hubby's coveralls, and was doing the top stitching. Was watching to see that the 2nd line was even and pushing the thick fabric to help it along. Well bang, the needle hit my finger and broke. Thought, darn, i broke the needle, then I looked at my finger that was throbing, and the needle was sticking out of my fingernail on my left ring finger. There was a small piece still showing above the nail, so I thought if I pull it straight up, it should come out. Must have gone in a little slanted, because I pulled with pliers and it just broke off, just below the nail. The pointy end was all the way to the other side, just below the skin, but I could feel it. This happened on a Sunday, so when I went to outpatients, was told had to wait for a plastic surgeon til Wednesday. I'm a little more careful when helping fabric along close to the needle.

I had my finger get completely impaled by the sewing machine needle yesterday my finger ended up near the top of the needle, took needle out of machine told mom proceded to push it back out from the pointy side till i could pull it out through the other side. Mom suggested I use the pliers but that could have made it worse. Now i cant bend the finger it hurts to do so, most likely caught plenty of nerves.

OHHH!

Wow! That would hurt! I haven't done that since I was a kid. I remember doing it more than once, though.

bkay

Welp I can officially join the community of “sewing injuries“. Yesterday while feeding fabric through, the needle snapped of its own accord just as my middle

finger was nearby pushing fabric along. At first I thought I had sewn myself. But then realized it had just snapped at an unfortunate time. Sliced the whole top of my finger down to the nail and even had some lovely slivers of broken needle In it. I had to play surgeon on myself to fish out all the pieces. Not even sure if it got them all. Shocked me more than anything, but was also quite painful. Anywho, back to sewing face masks for the coronapocalypse! These things are selling like hot cakes!

Knew someone who had this done while at a university sewing class. The instructor called for an ambulance, but the student had not approved her own transport nor the treatment and went along with it due to the shock of the situation. Ultimately, the university wouldn't pay for the bill. I forget, but it was $1K or more that she was stuck with for the treatment. Thereafter the class syllabus was re-written with instructions that if you injured yourself during class, the university staff would not call for nor pay for any treatment. Bottom line is just make an extreme habit of keeping those fingers with a margin of distance to the moving needle. Also avoid threading or re-load the bobbin with the machine on. Get used to turning that machine on and off. You want to think, "Would I do this task if the machine were runnning?" If not, then turn it off. I will sometimes thread the needle with my machine on, but I always take my foot off the foot pedal and deliberately place my foot far away from it when I am doing so and keep my fingers in such a way that they are never under the needle even with my foot off the foot pedal. I frequently turn the machine off for any more complex tasks. If you are leaning over the shoulder of someone helping them with the machine, always turn the machine off because you never know where their foot is.

I'm having trouble just reading these accounts without feeling ill. I have never impaled my finger (knock on wood) and I hope I never do! So sorry for all who have and I hope it never happens to you again.

Sometimes when I'm watching someone sew on TV or a video and their fingers get so close to the foot I just want to scream at them to stop! That video that Bonnie Hunter put out on the masks was a little dicey at how close her fingers got to it.

Ok so I have just been inducted into this class. I was sewing a mask and tri to get the pleats sewn perfectly. I was on my way until I ran my pointer right under the needle. Thankfully the need didn’t break Into my finger, but went straight though my nail. it scared me as I jumped up and immediately applied as much pressure as I could stand. I then found a clean rag to tie around my finger. I’m waiting to see when the blood will stop to pour hydrogen peroxide on it. What else can I use I don’t want it to get infected?

Toya,

That's scary! You have my sympathy. I'm wondering how so much blood can get out through a tiny needle puncture. But that's good, because bleeding serves to wash out a wound, and unless you have been sewing on dirty fabrics or your hands were dirty, the needle is unlikely to have left many bad germs. You can probably rest easy tonight. But an under-the-nail infection would be harder to deal with than a simple finger puncture, so if you have any lingering fears, why not give your doctor a call?

Needle in finger has happened to me multiple times in my life and fortunately has never resulted in an infection, but it has never been so horrifying as the things that happened to some of the people here. But now--at an age when I certainly should know better--it happened again a couple of days ago as I was sewing masks for some family members. Only this time, instead of the needle running into my finger, my finger apparently leapt to meet the needle. I meant to remove the plate and clean up the lint down around the bobbin and elsewhere and didn't think to remove the needle. Somehow, although there was enough space for my forefinger to impale itself on the needle, it was a hard job figuring out how to twist my finger so as to get unimpaled!

Reading all these accounts, I can't help wishing that sewing machines had some sort of button or lever on their left side, that would raise the needle extra high, something like the way a jet pilot can get speedily ejected from a plane that is going down. There are times when being able to move the wheel might help, but there it is, way over on the other end of the machine and inaccessible when your right hand is being held in place by the needle.

Ritaweeda: Lol! Like watching a horror movie. "No! Don't open that door!"

By the way, reading Nancy Morris' now old comment, I was reminded of a good way to remove blood from fabric (probably no good for silk or wool, though): Soak the spot in cold water that has table salt dissolved in it. Works like a dream on cotton.

I'm reading all these experiences and feeling sorry for all who've passed through this. I pray none of us have to tell these stories again. I've had my own experience but not as horrifying as the last. I was sewing smoothly with my machine when boom! that needle clamped its way through my finger, all the world shut out and there was I wondering if by turning the hand wheel the needle will go further down or not. I took a chance as the pain was already too much, the needle went up and I felt air rush into me again. I thought that was all about it until two days later the edge of the finger started swelling and throbbing very painfully accompanied with fever. I had gotten an infection. I used some drugs and deeped the finger in hot water frequently and two days later the pain reduced. Now, though the scars are still there. I'll advise anyone who gets punctured by a needle to handle it with utmost care to prevent infection. That pain is HORRIBLE and I don't wish it on anyone!

I'm so sorry for your experience. It sounds horrible.