Embroidery Articles - Shadow Work

The Sharp Needle
© 2002

This is the last Sharp Needle column and I’ve decided to write about needles themselves instead of about a specific technique. Next year I’ll be bringing you embroidery techniques from around the world.

There’s quite a bit of history on needles, all the way from ancient bone to the present day steel needles.  Rather than go into the entire history, I’ll share some interesting tidbits that I discovered in the DMC Needle Guide.

‘Spanish’ needles were probably brought to England by Catherine of Aragon, who is also attributed with bringing blackwork to England from Spain as she contemplated her marriage to Arthur and subsequently, King Henry VIII.  Once steel needles arrived in England, the English began to manufacture high quality needles and have continued this tradition to the present.  Early needles were made by the Needlemaker’s guild, who hung a coat of arms displaying three needles.  Their street became known as Three Needles Street and later Threadneedle Street.  

And a tidbit from your chemist-in-a-former-life: Early steel needles were precious and rusted easily so stitchers kept their needles in good condition by running them through emery and storing them in wool chatelaines that they hung from their waists.  Because modern needles are plated, they no longer need this treatment. Emery is aluminum oxide, and is the second hardest mineral known in nature, diamonds being the first.  As you can imagine, emery can remove the plating from your needle much faster than canvas threads and body chemicals can.  So while diamonds may still be a girl’s best friend, emery for your needles is not.  It is best to store needles in wool felt (not synthetic felt) when not in use.

The larger the number size of the needle, the smaller the diameter of the needle.  What’s up with that?  As I was muttering about this one day, my electrical engineering husband explained wire gauges to me, since needles are made from wire.  American men measured wire diameters in terms of 1/1000’s of an inch and then assigned a gauge number to the various wire sizes and decided, rather perversely, that as the diameter of the wire increased, they would decrease the gauge number they assigned to it.  And that is why a size 13 needle is huge compared to a size 28.

In the discussion below, a long or large-eyed needle (sometimes referred to as an oval eye) has a wide eye like a tapestry needle.  A round or short-eyed needle has a small eye like a regular hand sewing needle.  Needle size ranges are listed from the largest to smallest.  The three basic features of a needle are: the type of needle eye, whether the needle is sharp or blunt, and whether the needle shank is long, average or short.  If I don’t specifically mention the length, you may assume the needle has an average length.

Tapestry needles are large-eyed, blunt-pointed needles and are used when a stitcher wants the needle to pass through the holes of canvas or cloth and does not want to pierce the ground fabric.  Tapestry needles range from size 13 to 28.

Chenille needles are large-eyed and identical in size to tapestry needles, the difference being that they are sharp-pointed.  They are used when a stitcher does want to pierce the ground fabric. They are the needle of choice for silk ribbon, stumpwork and crewel embroidery.  Chenille needles range in size from 13 to 26.

Milliner needles originated with the millinery trade for making hats and headdresses.  Milliner needles have small, round eyes, are sharp-pointed and are long-shanked.  They are perfect for making bullion, French and colonial  knots because the eye is the same width as the shank of the needle.  Milliner needles have two size ranges: 15 and 18 are the largest; sizes 1 – 10 continue the range to the smallest size.

Darner needles are long-eyed, sharp-pointed, long-shanked needles that are used for darning.  Cotton darners comprise the small end of the needle range while wool darners comprise the larger end of the needle range.  Darners-come in two sizes; 14 - 18 are the wool darners; sizes 1 – 9 are the small, cotton darners.  A longer version of the wool darner is sometimes referred to as a soft sculpture doll-making needle.

Embroidery needles have long eyes and are sharp-pointed.  They are finer-shanked than chenille needles and are used for fine crewel, silk ribbon, shadow work and smocking.  They are sometimes called crewel needles.  Embroidery needles range in size from 1 to 12. 

Sharps are also referred to as embroidery needles.  However, there is a difference in that they have a round eye instead of a long eye.  They too are sharp-pointed.  Sharps are typically used by dressmakers.  Sharps also have two size ranges: 16, 17 and 18 are the largest and then sizes 1 – 12 continue the range to the smallest size.  Carpet needles are known as heavy sharps.  They are sharp-pointed with a round eye and a fairly thick shaft.  They are meant for sewing carpets and rugs and come in sizes 16, 17 and 18, the largest size of the sharps.

Quilting needles are also known as betweens.  They have small, round eyes, are sharp-pointed and are short-shanked,.  Their short size allows a quilter to stitch faster than is possible with a longer needle.  Quilting sizes range from size 1 – 12.

Beading needles have a very small eye, are sharp-pointed and are long and extremely fine-shanked.  They are used to thread beads and stitch beads to fabric.  Sometimes it’s possible to substitute a size 26 or 28 tapestry needle for a beading needle.   Beading needles range in size from 10 – 15.

Bodkins are large-eyed, blunt-pointed needles that may have either a flat or a round shaft.  They are a specialized needle used to thread ribbon and elastic through narrow sleeves.  Bodkins come in size 17F (flat) and 17R (round).

Leather needles or glovers are specialized needles for working on leather.  They are sharp-pointed with a round eye.  Their tip is tapered somewhat like a triangle to allow the needle to pass through the leather with the least amount of abrasion.  Leathers range in size from 1 to 8.

Upholstery needles are long-eyed, sharp-pointed, curved-shanked needles that are used for sewing on a hard, flat surface when you can’t bend the fabric to sew with a straight needle.  The smaller sizes are excellent if you need to repair needlework that is already framed (without the glass, of course!)

The Needle Index from the Valley Quail EGA chapter is an excellent reference and storage keeper for your needles.  Individual pages show you the type of needle, the actual size of all the needles in the category, has wool felt in which to store your needles, and lists the type of thread and number of strands that is appropriate for each size needle.  Look in your Needle Arts magazine on the Designs and Accessories page that lists EGA chapter items for sale.

Your choice of needle size is predicated on two factors: the size of your thread (or number of plies) in the needle and the count of your ground fabric. First, your thread should fit within the eye of the needle so that the needle doesn’t fall off the thread when left to dangle.   Second, the correct size needle should pass easily through the holes of the ground fabric without distorting the fabric.  The needle is meant to open the hole of the canvas enough so that the thread can be drawn through with a minimum amount of abrasion to the thread.  If the ground fabric is very abrasive and the thread is very fragile, it is better to choose a larger needle to open the hole of the ground fabric so that the thread retains its sheen.

If you can see the entry or exit hole that your needle makes in the ground fabric AND you have not specifically chosen a large needle to prevent wear on fragile thread, the needle you have chosen is too large.

If your floss becomes frayed after stitching for a short time, it may be because the eye of the needle, and thus the needle itself, is too small.  It may also be due to imperfections within the interior of the needle's eye. Discard needles that continue to fray or shred your thread. 

Needle eyes have a right and wrong side.  Since the eyes are punched into the steel of the needle, one side of the eye is slightly larger and slightly smoother.  If you look closely, especially at a larger-eyed needle, you can see the difference.  This is the side through which you should thread the needle.

http://www.stitching.com/shay/shay1.htm

http://1st-sewingsuppliesandnotions.com/pages/makeneedles.htm  (how needles are made)

http://www.sew-whats-new.com/handneedles.shtml (short description of many types of hand sewing needles)

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/3939/ndlchart.htm (Schmetz needle description for machine sewers)

Copyright © 2002 by , used by permission.

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