The Right Needles for Your Sewing Machine

There are lots of different types of sewing machine needles on the market. And a lot of us don't really know what they're all for. We tend to stick to one type that we've had success with or that one of our friends told us was a great needle. So I wanna kind of explain a little bit about some of the needles that are out there and how you can get the best use out of them. What we want from our needle is a beautiful stitch and no aggravation. So we need to make sure that our needle is the style that we need along with the size that we need. And we're gonna match the style of needle to what we're doing and the size of needle to the size of thread that we're using. And that's really where the biggest confusion lies. So I'm gonna talk first about the universal needle, it's the needle that we have been taught to use to piece with, but I'm afraid I don't piece with it anymore. I like to have a sharper needle. This was great when all of our fabrics were more loosely woven, but now that we're using lots of batiks and hand dyes and things like that, a sharper needle is a better option. For machine quilting, we can purchase machine quilting needles, and a lot of people piece with these needles also. They're much sharper than the universal. In fact, the universal has a slight ballpoint, and we need this sharpness to go through all the layers that we're using when we quilt and to make a nicer stitch when we are piecing. So the machine quilting is a nice option, however, it doesn't really have a whole lot of different sizes. Usually you're able to find it in a size 75 or a size 90. For machine embroidery, you want a machine embroidery needle, the needle is shaped differently, and I'll talk about that in a second, but we need the point of this to really go through the fabric over and over and over again and make smooth stitches. We can also have jeans needles, and these are great if you're making fabric vessels or the wrapped bowls, anything that you're going through something really, really heavy. And of course, they're great if you're mending a pair of jeans or any other type of heavy fabric. But my favorite needle is the top stitch needle. And I've gotten to the point where it's pretty much all I use. And the main reason I use it is because it has a really large eye. And because I do so much machine quilting, I like knowing that the thread can go through that eye many, many times and not get irritated by the eye of the needle. So let's try to understand what's important about these needles. When we look at a package of needles, we see here that this one says top stitch, and that's the style that the needle is. And then right here, we have the size, it's a size 80. And a size 80 is an average size needle, it's going to fit an average size thread like a 50 weight thread. As the number on the thread weight gets higher, the thread gets smaller, but it's the opposite with the needles. When the needle's number gets smaller, the needle also gets smaller. It's important to understand what changes with the needle when it comes to size and when it comes to style. All needles have four basic important things that are important to us as stitchers. We have here what's called the blade, which is the long part of the needle. Then we have the eye, we have the point, and that's how long of a point that is, is important to us. And then we have the tip, and how sharp that tip is is important to us. There's also something called a scarf, and that is an indentation that runs along the whole long length of the shaft of the needle. And it actually allows the thread to run in that little indentation so that it moves through the eye of the needle easier. So all of these things need to fit the size thread that we're using. The reason I like this top stitch so well is because the eye hole is elongated, it's a very long oval. And most people don't understand that thread goes through the eye of the needle about 20 times before it finally interacts with the bobbin thread. And that's a lot of wear and tear on a needle. So try out different types of needles, and if you're looking for something that is very strong and in my opinion very universal, the top stitch is wonderful for quilt makers. It helps you get a really nice straight stitch and it's wonderful for going through all the layers when you're quilting. Check out some needles. I think you'll be really surprised at how much better your stitching is when you've got the right needle for the right job.