Choosing Sewing Machine Needles: Trying to Understand Needle Type and Size

February 13, 2014

We all know the recommendations about sewing machine needles.

Change the needle at the beginning of every project or after 8 hours of sewing
Use a needle/needle size appropriate for your fabric and thread types

But how many of you have branched beyond the Universal? Most of the time, when I've come across an article on needles, it goes in one ear and out the other.

Charlie Brown's mom style: blah, blah, blah...

Until one day, you actually need this information.

And for me, that day came this past month. I was having trouble with puckering that I'd never experienced before. I'll admit it - I've sewn for years.... years.... and never really swayed from plowing through everything with a Universal. Well, except for those "special" projects like hemming jeans with a denim needle.

Frustrated and hungry to solve the problem, I got out my Nancy Drew magnifying glass and started a little research....

Get the point. The point of the needle varies from a rounded ball to a sharp point. More rounded needles are used for knits. Sharp needles are specifically designed for woven fabrics.

Universal needles fall somewhere in the middle of the ball and sharps. They are often good enough to do the job and work with both knits and woven fabrics - why they are named universal. Their slight rounded point makes them best for casual sewists who vary the types of fabrics they sew.

But if you are primarily a quilter, best use a needle up to the task. For piecing with quilting cottons or other high thread count fabrics it is recommended to use sharp (also called microtex) needles. (from Better Homes and Gardens: Complete Guide to Quilting, 2002)

Quilting needles. These needles have a tapered shape designed to stitch through may layers and across intersecting seams. Schmetz recommends using their quilting needles for both piecing and quilting. The finer 75 size is specified for piecing with 50 wt. threads and the 90 size is for quilting with 40 wt threads.

Needle Type should be selected based on the type of fabric (knit, voile, linen, cotton, denim, leather) you are sewing with unless you are adding special embellishments. Check your users' manual on your sewing machine for needle type/needle size suggestions based on your machine. Schmetz has a good resource on their site to understand the details behind it all - Schmetz Needle Primer. If you are adding special embellishments to a piece, there are also special needle types to accommodate those specialty threads (i.e. topstitching, metallic, embroidery).

Needle sizing. Typically defined by two numbers. The first number is the European size (in millimeters x 100) and the second is the American size. The lower the number, the finer the needle and the smaller the eye.

Often each needle type is offered in several sizes.
Selecting your needle size should be done in conjunction with the type of thread you plan to use.

For example:

Aurifil recommends using 50 wt thread and mictrotex 80/12 needles.
Gutxrmann recommends using Sew-All thread and Universal 70-90 needles.

Are you confused yet? I think it can be boiled down to this:

1. Select Needle Type based on your fabric and kind of sewing to be done
2. Select Needle Size based on your thread

You want to select a needle based on your fabric type with the smallest diameter - to produce the smallest hole - that still accommodates your thread thickness.

I am by no means an expert on this - I simply wanted to share my findings as related to quilting in doing my own research.

Here are some other good reads I found on Sewing Machine Needles -
Sew Mama Sew - Sewing Machine Needles and How to Choose Them
Sew 4 Home - How to Choose the Right Machine Needle for the Job
Craftsy - How to Choose Sewing Machine Needles
Schmetz Needle Primer

What kind of needles do you use for piecing? For quilting?

Next: A Pincushion tutorial for keeping track of all these slightly used needles.

Embroidered Granny Square Pillow

January 28, 2014

The abundance of cold temperatures this winter has kept me cuddled up close to the fire this winter.

And in my book, sitting by the fire and hand work go.., well.... hand in hand.

I picked up a FQ bundle of Dowry in the Rubies & Pearls colorway from AMH, and I immediately felt drawn to stitch up some embroidery with the fabrics. I wanted something that would accent the colors in this floral print.

I also wanted something "quilty" even though I was going to be embroidering the motif. I settled on stitching a granny square on Kona Ochre. I sketched the square in Touchdraw and racked my brain for different "filler" stitches to put inside each square.

I'm especially fond of this little flower. I think my satin stitching is improving!

To make the embroidery into a pillow, I framed it with the AMH inspiration print and then quilted in a square only on the framed portion of the block. I didn't want the quilting to distract from the hand needlework.

I am loving envelope back closures for pillows right now! It's so easy - simple to sew and simple to trade out one cover for another.

I hope to make a couple more pillows from that bundle of Dowry - but I'm only allowing my self one hand project at a time.

Gatekeeper Quilt Finish - in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts

January 13, 2014

It's finally time for me to share a finish I am quite proud of! This quilt, called Gatekeeper, is an easy quilt with lots of spring in her step. Maybe we can pretend the cold temperatures don't exist wrapped up in this quilt. It's featured in Fons & Porter's Easy Quilts, Spring 2014 issue, on newsstands now.

This quilt mimics the elegance of an Irish Chain with a little sass on the side to give it a light and modern feel. I love how the strips at the edges of the quilt extend out into the negative space.

For once, this truly IS an "easy" quilt. No triangles or other fussy pieces to play with. Nope, just simple squares and rectangles. This whole quilt breaks down into 3 basic blocks, which makes it simple to put together.

These colors come from Michael Miller's Happy Tones remind me of sherbet... they make me happy and hungry.

The little butterflys that scatter over the quilt top are too cute! I cannot take credit for those - I sent this quilt to my local longarm quilter, Beany. She always does such a wonderful job for me.

This quilt design reminds me of a garden gate and trellis. Spring flowers in full bloom. This quilt actually came to be just as I envisioned it in my mind. Design, colors and all. Sometimes when you submit designs to magazine editors, colorways or designs can change or be tweaked. My original design is extremely close to this - with the sherbet colors and all. I usually design all my quilts with solids first, so I can really visualize the blocks and secondary patterns within a quilt. After those are apparent, I go about choosing fabrics, and often the colorway changes by publication. Not this time!

And how appropriate.... here is Gatekeeper seated on a gate. :)