Favorite Tools: Dritz Thermal Thimbles and Creative Comfort

Hello!

I want to introduce you all to two of my new favorite tools, both by Dritz. The Thermal Thimbles and Creative Comfort support gloves.

1-Dritz Thermal Thimbles. These nifty little blue silicone finger covers are made to keep your fingers cool while you're ironing. The package comes with three thimbles, one for a thumb and two different sizes for two fingers at once (or if your pointer finger is bigger).

A--First, they let you get in close to the iron on tricky little parts to press, and help you hold down different seams at once while ironing so that you don't mess up the seams you've already pressed.

B--If you notice, there are little grippy nubs in rows all around the thimbles. 

C--Then they help grip the fabric to separate layers and hold them down.

2--Dritz Creative Comfort support gloves.  There is a whole line of Creative Comfort products. They are made of powerful, soft knits with flexible, firm strip supports. 

I love these gloves because they're comfy and have half-fingers so I can still feel and manipulate my projects.

Here, I'm trimming my half-square triangles (HST). The gloves give more support and stability to help me hold the ruler in place and also grip the rotary cutter.

(I also learned that using a larger ruler than the piece I'm trimming, is easier to hold onto, and doesn't slip off the center seam of the HSTs.)

I like to wear them while hand-stitching, trimming and cutting, pressing (on the hand that's holding the iron--it helps hold my wrist in a more ergonomic position to relieve stress, with the Thermal Thimbles on my left hand to hold my patch). And I wear them while piecing at the machine.

After all, I bought them because of repetitive stress injuries to my wrists...that I received while production factory sewing. These gloves are designed just for people like me with tendinitis, or arthritis, weak grip, poor circulation, or anyone that needs a little support. The gloves hold some heat in to increase circulation and soothe.

Where can you get these cool tools?

I bought the gloves and other supports in the Creative Comfort line at my local Joann fabric. I also saw the Thermal Thimbles there, although I bought them online at ConnectingThreads.com. 

I've also seen the thimbles at Annie's quilt and sew online catalog, and I think I even saw them at Fat Quarter Shop.

Annie's also has several different pairs of support gloves and wrist wraps too.