Have you ever been sewing when suddenly your fabric gets pushed down into the throat plate
and gets stuck? Or had a needle break while you're sewing? Or seeing your fabric get all
bunched up behind the presser foot? So there are a few reasons this can happen, but one of the most
common is simply using the wrong needle. The good news is there's a super easy fix. So sewing machine
needles come in a variety of types and sizes and you just need a little bit of information
to choose the right one. In this video Haley and I will show you how to understand sewing machine
needles so you can match the right needle to the fabric you'll be using for your project. But before
we get to that, if you're someone who's interested in making your own clothing with more intention
and joy you are definitely in the right place here at Seamwork, so hit that subscribe button
and turn on notifications so you can follow along with us and never miss one of our weekly videos.
When you look at a packet of needles you might see some terms like universal needles, ballpoint,
stretch, jeans, denim, quilting. Haley's here to help me show you how to interpret this information.
We're going to talk about the two most important characteristics of needles - the kind and the size,
then we're going to show you how to match these to your fabrics so you always have the right needle and
avoid most of the problems that I mentioned. Okay so Haley what should people look for when they're
looking at a package of needles? So there's two main things that you're going to want to look for
when you're looking at a package of needles. You're going to want to look for the type of needle,
this is going to be like a word like universal, knit, jeans, that kind of thing tells you what the
needle is used for and then you're going to want to look for the size and that is just the size of
the needle and it corresponds to the weight of the fabric and that's just going to be a whole
bunch of numbers with some slashes in there that guy is your size. Okay so this one says universal
on it, so tell us what that means. So universal is a really good kind of multi-purpose needle.
You're going to be able to use it on most wovens, some knits, it's just, it's what I have in my
sewing stash that I keep in a bunch of different sizes because it's really good and multi-purpose,
most ideal for things that are in the medium weight range and it comes like this, like this here.
Yes this would be exactly the type of thing I would use a universal needle for. This is a cotton
linen blend, I believe it's kind of in the medium weight family, so this would be a great pairing
for a universal needle. And then what about this one? This one says knit. Yes so knit
needles sometimes are also labeled as ballpoint needles. What differentiates this needle from a
universal needle is that it has a kind of ball rounded shaped tip and that helps the needle to
not cut through the fibers quite as much, it pushes them to the side instead so then you don't
get runs in your knit fabric. If you've ever had a run in your stockings that's what can happen
with knits if you use a needle that's too sharp and sometimes universal needles can do this to
your knits so switching to a knit or a ballpoint needle is really ideal. Okay so something like this
knit, it's got a stretch to it but this one says stretch, so what's the difference between a stretch
needle and a knit needle? So a knit needle is going to be able to handle something with a little bit
of lycra or spandex, any kind of elastane fiber in it but if you are doing something that has
um like this one here this is an athletic knit, it's super stretchy, there is a ton of elastane
in here that's when you're going to want to switch to a stretch needle and the difference between a
knit and a stretch needle is that a stretch needle is a little bit sharper to kind of pierce through
that elastane, which is a little bit tougher than cotton fibers say. Okay so like a knit needle you
would use on most knit fabrics but if you're using something with a lot of stretch, a lot of elastic
in it you want to go for the stretch needle. Yes exactly. Okay and this next one says micro microtex.
Microtex, this is one of my favorite needles so kind of like its name implies it has a
super micro sharp sharp point to it and for that reason it's really great for
lightweight fine fabrics so that you're not putting too large of a hole in your fabric.
So this fabric that we have here, this is a rayon of some sort. Super super lightweight.
If you're using a needle that's too large, it's really going to drag the fabric down into that
throat plate. It's super annoying so using a really sharp microtex needle is going to be kind of your
best friend for a fabric like this. So if you're sewing something with a really light fabric and
you find that the machine is eating it, it's really pulling it down into the throat plate you might
need to switch to a microtex you're saying? Yes definitely, either that or you have a dull needle
so that can happen with a little bit heavier weight fabrics sometimes if you're using a
lightweight fabric and you know that that's a fresh needle that's nice and sharp go ahead and
switch on over to a microtex. Right and then this one, this one seems a little bit more obvious it
says jeans on it. Jeans yes this is really great for as the name implies um denim yeah so you could
use it for that but you could also branch out from there you could use it for canvases for duck. It's
a nice sturdy needle and it's going to be able to cut through those really sturdy fabric so don't
feel like just married to denim with a jeans needle. If you're sewing anything that's pretty
heavy weight you might be able to get away with a jeans needle. Okay and then this last one we have
here it says leather. So that's also kind of says what it what it does. Yeah. Definitely. But again
you don't have to use this for just leather this type of needle um it has more of a I believe the
tip is a little bit more blade like, a little bit more tapered, it's going to do a really good job of
piercing through anything that's kind of a solid surface, so leather, vinyl um if you were sewing
um with anything like that like outdoor kind of vinyl stuff you would put on a picnic table
that this is the kind of needle that you're going to want to use and it's really going to be
tough and just pierce through this solid kind of surface a lot better. Okay even if I was sewing
with something like really non-traditional like plastic or something like that I would use a
leather needle. Okay great so that is a little bit about needle types let's talk about needle sizes.
So Sarai can you tell me a little bit about needle sizes and why is there two different numbers here.
All right so when you get a package of needles you'll see the two different numbers, usually
kind of towards the bottom and there'll probably be a slash between them so for example this one
says 80/12 on the bottom and the first number is the European size and the second number is
the imperial size. Okay that makes sense so how do you choose which size to use? So you want to match
your needle to your fabric. So when you're using a heavier fabric you want a bigger needle. Okay
and when you're using a lighter fabric you want a smaller needle and so that's kind of the the
baseline when we're looking at a medium fabric like this one here you want to go with a medium
sized needle so a medium size needle would be an 80/12 or something like a 90/14. So when you're
sewing with something like poplin or shirting or most linens which are kind of a medium weight, nice
and sturdy, but not too heavy you'd go with one of those needles so it's kind of like a medium needle
and then if you're sewing with something that's lightweight, so we talked about this rayon where
you might want to use a microtext before so if you're starting with something lightweight
like a chiffon or a georgette or a voile or like a really thin tissue knit really really thin one
then you want to use a lightweight needle and that would be anything from maybe a 60/8 to a 75/11
So in between that kind of 60 to 75 range would be a lightweight needle and then when
you're sewing with something heavy so for example a denim or maybe a coating or a corduroy something
like that something that's very heavy you need a bigger needle to get through that thicker heavier
fabric so for that you might use a 116 or a 110 18. And if you can't remember all these numbers
that's fine we actually have a downloadable needle chart we're going to link it below and that's
something that's really helpful to just hang up in your sewing room that you can just reference
whenever you need to decide on a needle for the particular fabric that you're sewing. I think that
it's always really helpful to think of it as 80 and 90 those are kinds of my middle ground and
then I can kind of move up from there or down from there as needed. Yeah that way you only have to
remember a couple sizes you don't have to remember the whole range you just remember kind of what's
the most common one that I use and then do I need something heavier do I need something lighter?
Yeah and at least the numbers are fairly intuitive and that the smaller numbers means lighter weight
and the bigger numbers means heavier weight and I think the other thing we should mention is we
talked about all these different types of needles and for some of them like if you're sewing with
denim so this is a jeans needle you're probably not going to be able to find a lightweight or a
small thin size needle in a jeans or denim type right because when you're sewing with jeans or
denim you need a heavier weight needle so there's a little bit of overlap there between the type of
needle and the size of needle but you still have a choice so you still can choose is this
a heavier denim do I need a really thick needle, it's on the upper end of that spectrum or if it's
a lighter denim maybe I need something that's on the lower end of that that denim spectrum.
Yes and some needles are going to come in a wider range of sizes like a universal needle would come
in a big variety of different sizes where like Sarai mentioned the denim needle will probably
just come in a handful because denim yeah they're all relatively heavy weight. Yeah. You can also
often find with the universal needles if you go to a sewing store or a craft store you can often
find a packet of universal needles that comes in a quite a range of sizes so this one is just
80-12 but sometimes you can find a bigger packet that has everything from maybe like a 65 all the
way up to 90 95, it depends on the packet of needles but that way you have a whole variety
of universal needles. So if you're just starting out that's a really good place to start. Definitely.
That's it for us today, if you enjoyed today's video be sure to let us know by hitting the like
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so you get all our weekly videos. We also have a free downloadable
guide that has a handy chart that will help you match the right needle to your fabric.
You can find it at the link in the description below we also have a brand new course available
at seamwork.com called Learn to Sew Clothing for Absolute Beginners. In this course, Haley and I
walk you through each of the component skills you need to make your own clothing from using
your machine, sewing seams of all kinds, to sleeves and facings. It's perfect for anyone who's brand
new to sewing or for anyone who's taken a break from sewing and needs a refresher. You can also
find it in the description below and if you like to read articles in addition to watching videos
head over to Seamwork.com where we post articles to go with our episodes every week.
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remember to have fun and be yourself because that's what sewing is all about.