What's needling you?

A lot of people who sew ( I have a hard time calling them sewers in print) don't have a clue as to how important their needle is to the successful completion of their project. Today's topic is all about needles.

Several days ago, a customer called the shop to ask if we carried Singer sewing machine needles. We have a limited supply of Singer needles, because most machines can use the Schmetz brand of needles and we have a much larger supply of those. I told the customer this and she remarked that she had a very old Singer. I assured her we could help her and a few hours later, she came in and had with her a package of needles that looked like the original package that came with the machine. Inside the package were pieces and parts of needles, some obviously broken and others obviously bent.

She asked us for needles for her machine, and we asked her what size needle she needed. She said one that was like the ones in the package. We then told her that the size needle she needed depended on what fabric she was using. She was incredulous, asking us how we knew the needle would fit her machine. Sometimes we have trouble keeping our faces straight when we come across something that is so obvious to us. This dear lady was thinking that the size of the needle meant how long it is, not the diameter of it. That's why she was concerned that it wouldn't fit in her machine.

Most machines made in the last 30 years or so take the same type of needle:  130/705. The variations come in the diameter of the needle and the different points they have. Most of the time you will need a universal needle, which sews most woven fabrics. They range in sizes from a 60/8 (for very lightweight fabrics like chiffon) to a 110/18 (for very heavy fabrics. I can't even think of an example here because when I sew very heavy fabrics, I use a denim needle with a sharper point.) What do the two sets of numbers mean? The 60 is the metric version, and the 8 is the American one.

What happens if you use the wrong needle? If your fabric is very thin, and you use a needle that is too big, your seams will pucker and you will have large needle holes in your fabric. If your needle is too small, it will break.

What other kinds of points do needles have? There are a lot of specialty needles out there: quilting, embroidery, metallic, jeans and ballpoints to name a few. Each one is designed specifically for the task at hand. Quilting needles have sharper points to penetrate the layers of fabric involved in a quilt. Embroidery needles again have a sharper point to go through the fabrics as well as stabilizers. Metallic needles have a different hole in them designed to reduce the amount of friction that builds of when using metallic threads. Jeans needles are generally stronger and sharper, to go through the dense denim fabric. Ballpoints have a more rounded point to use on knits, so that the fibers are pushed out of the way, rather than broken, so your knit won't run like nylon stockings. There are other specialty needles too, but these are the usual ones.

The other mistake that people make is not changing their needle frequently. It is nearly impossible to tell if a needle is slightly bent or burred on the end. If a needle is not perfect, when it goes down to meet up with the bobbin thread, it can hit a vital part of your sewing machine. This often causes a burr on the hook, that vital part I was talking about, and the result of that can be threads that keep breaking. It can also result in ugly, crunchy noises, and those are never good for your machine.

So I change my needle when I begin a new project. There are two reasons for this. First of all, I want to match the size of my needle to the weight of my fabric. At this stage in my life, I have "mature" eyes, and I can no longer read the size that is etched into the shank of each needle. But I can read the much larger notation on the outside of the package. The other reason is I want to start my project with a new needle, because chances are I have used the old one longer than 6 - 8 hours of actual sewing time.

So make sure you use the correct needle and you shouldn't have a problem with your project. If you don't know what needle to use, just ask. It really is one of the easiest things that can cause the most problems. When someone is having trouble with their machine, the first thing I ask is, "When was the last time you changed your needle?"

www.schmetzneedles.com