I’m getting old. When I’m ripping out quilting seams, especially when they’re nested close together and grey-on-grey, I have a much harder time than I used to, seeing what I’m doing. I tend to swear alot and that just doesn’t set a good example for the children. Or my husband. Or anyone nearby, really, although it does relieve my feelings.
So today, as I was ripping out a tricky patch, I mentioned to Ben that I couldn’t see a &#$% thing, and he says to wait a minute, he has the perfect tool for me. And he came back with this:
And lo, the vision of the damsel returneth and her very brow smoothed in release.
But, yeah, that thing is awesome. It’s a magnifier, obviously, but it also A) stereoscopic, B) works over my glasses , C) adjustable to fit both of us, D) has alift-up flap to return normal vision, and E) is just dead sexy. It really did work perfectly for seeing those stitches, and it worked *really* well for helping me stitch in the ditch. I can’t show you what that looks like, because I’m saving the mini quilt for a full-finished reveal next week.
I checked into this magnifying headset thing (this one is the Magni-Focuser and what an awesome name that is), and found that there are a bunch of options: you can choose different powers of magnification for work varying distances from your body. The one I am so suavely wearing works at the 10″ range, but you can get all sorts of different powers, and Ben said something about being able to switch lenses in and out depending on how far away you are from the work, but I’m not that motivated to check since these work just fine right now. They also have a lighted version. You know, for finding your other nerd friends close up. In the dark.
I can think of a bunch of applications where they would be useful in the sewing room, and even when doing longarm quilting. If Ben won’t hand these over willingly, I’ll just get my own set. They’re less than $30.
Spark a conversation!