Getting To The Point

The best advice I can give you regarding your sewing machine needle is to change it regularly!!!  It is amazing the difference this makes to your stitches.  Their are many different types of needles that are designed to penetrate fibres of fabrics in different ways to get the best result possible.

The point of the needle is designed with the fibres of the fabric in mind.  For example the leather needle has a chisel tip to penetrate the hard fabric.  The ballpoint needle slides in between fabric fibres to prevent pulls.

It is also important to understand that needles come in different sizes.  The size of your needle will depend on the type of fabric you are sewing, how thick the fabric is and the weight of the thread you are sewing with.

Janome have just launched the Purple Tip Needle to their range.  These needles are designed to eliminate skipped stitches in stretch fabrics.  The green sample fabric below was stitched with the Purple tip needles on the last two rows of stitching.  It has made an enormous difference to the quality of the zig zag stitch.

 It is no secret however that my personal favourite are the Titanium coated Topstitch needle by Superior Threads.  These needles come in a variety of sizes and are perfect for applique, quilting, piecing or using difficult threads such as metallics.  Another great thing about the Titanium coated needles is that they last twice as long.  BONUS!!!

It is recommended that you change your machine needle every 8 hours of sewing.  You can usually tell if your needle is going blunt when you hear it popping into the fabric.  Many sewers change their needle for every project.  If in doubt, change it.  The needle is the cheapest item to replace on your machine and amazingly enough will eliminate 50% of problems that occur when stitching.

So off you go and change your needle!

Happy Stitching! Kimz Team x