There are lots of good things to say about the Buffy Ann Designs Stitch Light. The bulb won’t ever burn out. It comes with its carrying case attached. It’s small. It has three light settings.
But ultimately I think the light fails as a tool for stitchers. While it does effectively allow you to work without having larger lights on, there are too many flaws in its design and construction to make it a good choice for needlepointers.
Size: The light is small. Because of the size two problems occur. Most importantly it’s unstable. I could not get the light to hold still for more than a second. Breathing made it move, let alone the natural movement of the canvas as you stitch.
Second, the small size limits the size of the light. Although you can widen or sharpen the beam, it doesn’t illuminate much of an area when you hold it at stitching distance. In a second test, we tried reading with it, holding the page further away. Although the area illuminated was larger it still wasn’t very big.
Hanger: The bag attached to the light is then attached to an adjustable web hanger. Unhappily both ends of the webbing are attached in the same place, coming to a point. Instead of having a broader base with two points of attachment, this single point also increases instability.
Light: The light is a digital LED light, rated at 300 lumens. It will not burn out and the light is nicely bright. It has three settings: high, low, and strobe. You cycle through the settings by pressing the on/off button on top of the light.
For stitching the bright light is best. I found the lower setting to be a little bit too dim and the strobe to be totally useless.
The on/off button is also easy to hit accidentally.
All in all, while this light could be good for other kinds of needleworkers and possibly for some needlepointers, I found its limitations to be too great to make it a useful light for needlepoint.
Please note: A BAD Light was provided to me for testing and review purposes.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
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