Sewing Thimble - Sizes 0 to 12

A thimble is a small pitted cup worn on the finger that protects it from being pricked or poked by a needle while sewing. Ideally the thimble slips over the finger, or thumb, or both, to protect your finger from pressing the blunt end of the needle and the discomfort that arises from pressing a needle through thicker layers of cloth. Some people also use it to receive the needle point and protect the sewing cloth from getting blood on it.

This remix of the excellent thimble design Grandma's Thimble has a number of minor tweaks to the design after testing in real usage, and more importantly, models are provided for the complete standard range of thimbles, which range from size 0 to size 12. There are size 13 and 14 thimbles, but these are very large and were not provided (contact me for a custom size).

A size number has also been added to the side of the thimble to allow you to identify which size thimble you are using.  It does what a thimble should do - protect your skin and ease the pain that comes with pushing a needle into thick cloth. The small pits it provides some grip when holding a project being sewn and helps capture the eye end of the needle so it does not slide off and hit skin or waste time with missed stitches.

A chart has been provided to help determining what size thimble to print. I had to research extensively to pull together the size and range of thimbles used in the U.S.

An internal support is suggested for the best printing of the thimbles size 7 to 12. The model include painted support on the inside top of the thimble, which, when printing using PrusaSlicer the print support option should be set to “For Support Enforcers Only”. A small support is then printed inside to support the dome of the larger thimbles. 

Model was printed using 40% infill for greater strength. A large needle could penetrate models that have thinner side walls and less infill, however, an infill rate of 20% should be good.