by Linda in Winnipeg
Sticky hoops are a real pain during embroidery.
In my past I was a florist for many years. At Christmas time we would get extremely sticky handling the pine from the floral arrangements.
The very first shop I worked for used a pound of lard at every workstation to clean your hands throughout the day. It worked well and was far less harsh on your hands than the chemical cleaners.
When I started embroidering I used a variety of items to clean my hoops and remembered the lard trick from my florist days. Lo and behold, the lard worked wonders to clean the adhesive from my hoops. A little bit of lard on a piece of toweling to rub on the hoop and then washing the hoop in warm soapy water worked like a charm!
With an environmental science student at home she was thrilled with me not having to use chemicals to clean my hoops as well.
It’s green, inexpensive and convenient and doesn’t leave your hands feeling dried out.
Interesting idea! Thanks for posting it.
I do have a question, though. Does the soapy water remove the lard, without drying out or damaging the hoop? I always have a problem removing fatty things from plastic.
While your tip is definitely environmentally sound, my husband and I have used something else for years to remove pine pitch. It is WD40! That product is so versatile. It dissolves pitch in an instant and is also excellent to remove oil from your hands. The advantage of WD-40 over lard would be that it is non-staining and just about everyone has a can of it setting around in the garage or house. We’ve passed this tip on to many people, including some foresters and loggers!
There are lots of things you learn from experience, I guess and lots of every day things have multiple uses. In fact, my husband says you can fix almost anything if you have WD-40, duct tape, and a vice grips!
That is just too funny – who would have thought! Thanks for sharing and going green
I LIKE THIS! I have tried many things and had no success. I will try it later today. I will report the results.
That suggestion about using lard is a great one! I never would have thought of that, but I can see that it would make sense. Now, to find a small quantity of lard! We don’t eat it any more.
Yeah! I will try this…
Linda,
Thanks for the great tip!! Also remember if your using the temp spray like KK2000 please remember not to spray around your machine or threads or anywhere near your fabrics, its best to spray outside.
Bonnie
Thanks I’ve been looking for something to get the gook off. Got to try it.
Bring on the lard.
It’s a great tip, but using a different sticky stablilizer will totally eliminate the junk on the hoop. The stabilizers that I get from my local dealer never leave any stickiness on the hoop.
[editor's note: Sticky hoops usually come from spray adhesive, Cynthia. Many people love spray adhesive and cutaway stabilizer.
hugz
rob
editor]
Great idea! I am going to try that!
What a good idea, never would have thought of that one!
Great tip. I’ll pick some up next grocery trip. Thanks
What a great tip, I have used turpentine but your tip is much better,so off to the store to buy some.
Actually I’ve been using the antiseptic pads my husband uses for his diabetic testing. Just the right size and I don’t have to wash my hoop after.
When you wash the greasy hoops, rub liquid soap on the hoop before getting it wet. This lifts the grease and allows the water to then wash it away. Use the same when washing greasy/oily hands.
Hi all,
I never had an issue with the warm soapy water damaging my hoops. I like using Dawn as it cuts the grease quickly. Good luck everyone.
Wonderful! Did you know lard will remove black grease from fabric?
Thank you for sharing!
Oh Lardy to the rescue ;D
Like some others, I use the antiseptic wipes. I also use qtips dipped in alcohol to clean out my bobbin bay of sticky debris also. Also my needle. Lard sounds ok, but I sure like my alcohol.
Great idea, but I try to head it off at the pass before my
hoops get sticky. I take plastic milk cartons – qt & 1/2 gallon – cut off the top & bottom & place them inside the hoop before spraying with adhesive. Keeps the spray inside the plastic carton.
All purpose cleaners that contain orange oil work well too. I also use them to remove sticky residue from my needle. Recently I was trying to zig zag the edges of some sofa cushions, so I could throw them in the washing machine. (I was afraid that washing them would cause them to ravel too much). My needle kept getting sticky from the rubber backing on the sofa cushion fabric. The orange oil in the cleaner worked great to keep the needle sticky free.