Just a sewing thought on a stormy day here in Nova Scotia.

You use thread to sew. At the end of the seam, or whatever it is you are sewing, there are some thread you tie off and/or cut off. You have to, in order to do your sewing practically.

But have you ever thought how much that wasted thread is of all the thread used?

It’s not an easy thing to figure out or estimate, considering it varies a lot since every time you sew something, the amount differs a bit, but what you leave at the end to cut off is probably similar length. Then you have “weighted” situations, like serged seams, that are 3 or 4 times each regular sewn seam with one thread at a time.

Then depending on style for each of us on how we sew and what we cut off, the answer will differ for us all.

There’s probably an answer range that would encompass the answer for most of us, but I’m not sure what that would be, even, though it wouldn’t be something ridiculous like 100% or 50% even.

Still, I look at the thread wasted as I finish each seam and cut off excess to put in the garbage, and often wonder. But whatever the answer, one thing I can do about it is to try and waste as little as possible. It’s only a tiny difference here or there from what I might have left otherwise at the end of my seams. However, like anything each one of us can do that helps the world, it’s the accumulation of small bits over time that will ultimately make the difference.