I imagine with a title like “A Public Service Announcement About Cutting Safety” you know where this is going. Yup. I cut myself with a rotary cutter. Badly.
I’ve been excitedly preparing to make hubby Dave a Negroni shirt from Colette Patterns. On Thursday evening after the girls were in bed I was getting my pattern pieces ready to make a muslin and had posted a peek on Instagram:
I like to use a quilting ruler and rotary cutter to trim my digital pattern printouts. I had set a little goal for myself that as soon as I had my pattern pieces cut and taped I would take a little television break. I was rushing through trimming the last few pieces and didn’t pay attention to where my fingers were on the ruler…
Next thing I pulled back my hand with a gasp. I knew it wasn’t good. I ran and grabbed a tissue and clutched it to my finger for a minute. After a bit I snuck a peek and saw that I had indeed cut OFF a section of the tip of my left index finger. I went back to my cutting table and found the little piece, including some of the fingernail, and sort of pressed it back into place.
Dave was up in our loft over the garage on a work teleconference so I went out to show him. After looking at it he hurriedly ended his call. By this time I was feeling a little shocky so I sat on our steps outside while he asked a neighbor to come and stay with the girls.
At the ER, we waited fore the typical parade of people to check my wound and fill out paperwork. A nurse practitioner made plans to try to stitch the piece on, but I don’t think she understood that I had cut it off. While trying to get it numb with injections around the site (incredibly painful!) it came off and she said that it would just heal on it’s own.
So, now that I’ve experienced a cutting incident, I thought it seemed appropriate to share some rotary cutting safety tips:
- Avoid becoming complacent, or rushed
- Keep your hands/fingers out of the path of the blade
- Keep hands/fingers away from the edge of the ruler where cuts will be made
- Cut away from your body
- Avoid crossover cutting (holding the ruler with your left hand and crossing over to cut on the left side of the ruler
- Always cut standing up
- Purchase and use cut resistant gloves
- Use a cutter with a safety shield and move it back over the blade edge after each cut
Oh Jenn! i am so sorry that happened to you. But the Lord had a plan. He knew that you would not let pride get in the way. He knew that you would get the word out to all the rest of us. That is just who you are. Did you get your tetanus shot? Oh Honey, thank God it wasn’t any more of that important finger. Like i said, God knew! Take care of yourself, be careful cuz we need you. God bless you.
Yup, adding insult to injury I needed a tetanus booster so now my left deltoid is super sore in addition to the finger injury. I also have bruising and tenderness along the finger where they made the injections. I’m on Keflex antibiotics and those were not my friend for the first couple of days. Thanks for your kind words!
Oh NO! I am so sorry you went through that! I get queasy when there is gorey blood involved. Twice now, my girls have had cutting accidents. I had to suppress my gag reflex.
SO glad you are OK and it was a minimal (sort of) injury.
~Michelle
I hope it’s always me not them! Taking Hadley to the ER for a head lac was enough for this mama!
Ouch! At least there were no tendons or bones involved (sorry that’s the nurse in me) so hopefully it will heal soon. Great tips, I may need to rethink some of my cutting strategies! Hope it feels better soon…
It’s already feeling and looking much better. I hope this helps keep others from repeating my mistakes. Always thought it wouldn’t happen to me!
Wow, i knew those things were sharp but it didn’t realize it was mutilate your fingers sharp. I will definitely heed your warning and be more conscientious when I’m cutting.
Mae
If you’re coming from Simple Simon’s Super Scary Sewing Stories, I thought I’d give sn update. It’s healing surprisingly well and aside from what looks like a wonky manicure and some peeling skin it is hardly noticeable. It’s only paunful if I bump it and feels sort of like I have glue on the tip if my finger – that rough and reduced sensitivity feel. Sew safely ladies!
I am a migraine sufferer. When I get one that does not require me to go straight to bed or the medicine has worked but left me “out of it” I am left with nothing to do. I can’t sew because the lines wouldn’t be straight and too much work. Cutting would be easy enough…..but no. I have said numerous times “I would love to go cut out such and such” but know that my attention/focus/reaction time is not what it should be, and using my rotary cutter is NOT a good idea! So I usually end up laying down. Time wasted is better than no fingers 🙂
I’m glad to hear that you understand when you aren’t able to cut safely and choose to be safe!
I had a nearly identical injury, although it was a little lower and more slanted so they were able to remove half of my fingernail and put two stitches in to hold the top on (although most of it fell off anyway). The catch was… I was less than two weeks away from having a baby! I was working on her baby quilt and my ginormous belly bumped the ruler and pushed the rotary cutter into my finger. Two years later it still has that “glue” feeling like you described, though.
Oh no!! I do not envy you taking care of a newborn while recovering from this!! Hadley, my two year old thought the big gauze bandage I wore for the first several days was highly interesting and would grab and pull it off, effectively ripping the scab loose. Ouch! While I can live with this “glue” feeling I do hope it gets at least a little better.