Did your first experience of shopping for sewing needles,
go something like this,
stepped into the store,
looking around,
found the needles,
then saw how many different types there were.
Then you started to realize that they all have different numbers
on them too.
Starting to panic,
not even knowing anything about this,
starting to think to yourself.
I know nothing about sewing.
What business do I have in here?
Panic sets in at all the confusion.
And you probably walked away without getting any needles,
right? Yeah.
It's really confusing.
I know,
but no longer in this video,
I'm going to explain to you the different types of needles,
the different sizes of needles.
So you will know what sewing needles to get for your
job that you're going to be sewing.
Welcome back.
My lovely ladies and gents.
It is lovely to see you again.
Now, if we haven't met yet,
my name is Evelyn Wood and I'm a dressmaker.
And here we talk about everything about sewing vintage in fashion.
So it sounds like something you're interested in,
why not hit that subscribe button,
because in today's video,
I need to talk to you about needles.
So in a recent video,
I talked about when,
how to know when it's time to change your needle,
like when it's getting blunt and it was highly,
I'll link that video actually up here or down below too.
Cause you should definitely watch that one,
but it was highly,
highly requested that I make this video about what type of
needles do you there are and how do you know what
type of needle to use or what type of fabric you're
sewing. Now,
I want to keep this really simple.
So let's break this down.
So you will be able to understand the types of needles,
the sizes of needles,
and you'll be able to know what type of needle you
will need for your projects that you're working on.
First of all,
you should know that needles are standardized.
So the sizes and everything do not refer to anything to
do with what machine that they go into.
They are the same.
They will fit in all brands.
So brother,
do you know me?
You know,
banana, they're all going to fit the same straight.
So our machine brands.
So you don't have to worry about that.
First of all,
you have the type of needle and then you have needle
sizes. Let's start with the types of needles to begin with
because the type of needle that you choose will be based
upon the type of fabric that you're sewing with.
To start with,
say, for example,
either a knit or a woven,
there are four main types of needles that I think most
of you will fall into in your sewing that you'll need.
And I'll break those down and list them.
But there are many,
many more,
as well as specialty specialty types of needles as well.
There are,
there are a lot,
but here are the top four that I think you should
surround yourself with.
First one is a universal needle and the name is quite
that it is universal.
This is what you'll use for all.
Most of your woven fabrics,
they can be natural fibers.
Synthetic doesn't really matter,
but this is your probably most common needle type is a
universal. Then you have a ballpoint or there's sometimes called a
Jersey needle.
So these ones as again,
the name suggests a slightly rounded.
They have a ball point and they used for knit fabrics.
So these work by,
instead of,
as the needle goes down and piercing the knitted fibers and
they kind of break the fibers as they go,
because they're too sharp,
it's rounded.
So it kind of pushes the fibers to each side.
And so it can actually get through those knitted,
knitted fibers,
much more easily.
So you'll use a ballpoint or Jersey needle for most of
your knit fabrics.
Then you'll have a stretch needle.
And this is one further.
So this will you use for your super stretchy fabrics.
I think Lycra,
two way stretches,
power mesh.
Those really super-duper stretchy fabrics.
They're designed to really help with the skipped stitches that you
can get a lot with those super stretchy fabrics.
So you wanna use a stretch needle for those super super
stretchy fabrics and you'll get a lot less skipped stitches.
And the fourth needle type is a sharps needle.
Sounds a bit silly.
I know,
but yes,
these are sort of super sharp needles and you'll use these
for densely woven fabrics,
like a super fine silk microfiber or for sewing multiple layers
of fabrics together.
These are quite popular for quilting,
for example,
because there's often many,
many layers.
So you use an extra sharp needle when you really need
something extra sharp for those super-fine silks,
anything tightly woven that you really need to be able to
Pierce it through really nice.
Now they are the main four,
but there are plenty of other specialty needles,
like a jeans needle.
You can get leather top stitching,
Twin needles,
winged needles.
There's a lot.
So you get the idea,
but those four are the main ones.
And especially if you're a beginner,
that's where you're going to fall into.
You'll only need to really worry about those,
but know that there are other needles for other jobs that
you might need down the track in yourself.
Then within the types of needles,
it's then broken down into needle sizes and the size refers
to the thickness of the needle.
That actually goes through the fabric.
That part of it you'll likely see numbers from eight to
18, and that is the American numerals numbers used or something
like a 60 to 110.
And those are the European measurement standards that they use on
the needles that I use.
Mostly they're both of these sizes are always written on there
and the smaller,
the size,
the smaller the needle is so pretty easy to remember.
Let's break this down to the most sort of common needle
sizes and what fabrics you might use them for.
Let's start on the lower scale.
So a needle size of an eight or 10 or a
60 or 70,
these are used for your super fine fabrics.
So think cotton,
foil, think anything Shia Georgette's chiffon,
all those sheer delicate light fabrics,
even light linings.
This is the sort of needle sizes that you'll be using
for these ones.
And depending obviously how delicate it is,
how small the number,
Then you have the most common common needle,
The size 12 or the size 80 in a,
you know,
a universal in a 12 or an 80 is the sort
of baseline standard.
You'll find that in most sewing machines that you get like
off the shelf,
they're going to have this sort of needle size in it.
This is good for all your basic cottons or your shirting
material, light walls,
quilting, cartons,
rayons all of those kinds of,
mid-weight just nice and easy,
not too thick,
not too thin.
So you want to use that 80 or that size 12
from most of your sewing and all that sort of standard
weight fabrics moving on to a size 14 or a 90.
This is kind of fairly standard as well.
And you'll use for mostly slightly heavier continents like a drill
or most linens,
usually like a size 14 light denims also work really well
on this needle size to moving up to the 16 or
the a hundred that's when you get into your real like
heavier denims canvas,
all these types of heavier fabrics,
upholstery, that sort of thing.
And there's even one higher,
again, you move up to like leather and you really,
really, really heavy duty.
So you get the idea of where we're going on the
scale of these numbers,
right? So for example,
let's break it down.
So you have a plain cotton fabric,
so you have a plane fabric,
not stretch.
We've got a nice woven.
It's a nice medium weight.
It's not too light.
It's not sheer,
but it's not really thick and heavy,
nice medium weight for this.
I would use a universal needle time with a size 12
needle. Yeah,
let's say you have this lovely kind of Georgette fabric here.
It is.
Sorry, this one's probably a crape,
not a Georgette it's scraps.
Let's say we're sewing this one.
So this is somewhat shear.
So I can,
you probably can't but I can see through this slightly,
it's kind of loose that it's really quite light.
So something like this fabric,
I would use a universal needle type with maybe more like
a size 10,
that needle size might be a bit better on this particular
fabric, but you might find it's sows well with a size
12 as well.
It's all about testing your fabric before you go ahead.
And so your comment with it then say,
for example,
I have like,
I don't know I'm doing some quilting or making wadding and
I'm using like lots of layers and padding and doing something
really thick like this,
this thing I might use a,
again, a universal type or perhaps a sharp needle would be
what I would use to this to get through all of
these layers.
And then I would look at the fabric weight.
Now this is pretty kind of heavy fabric that I'm using
here, all this warring and padding.
So then I might actually use a needle size of maybe
14 or 16,
depending on how heavy the actual fabric is that you're using.
And then say,
for example,
you have a,
a knitted sort of poly cotton fabric,
which I don't have to show you right now,
but you know what I mean,
being a knitted fabric,
a straightaway would want to use a ballpoint needle.
And if it looked at then the weight of the fabric,
it's probably about a medium sort of white.
So you'll choose a,
probably a size 12 ballpoint needle for something like that would
be ideal.
Now, as you can see,
every fabric does require a different needle to get the correct,
to get the correct sewing.
Really. So it's about experimenting.
I always like to sort of start at about a standard
size 12,
and then I don't throw a lot of knitwear.
So I'm not concerned with ballpoints too often.
So I'm talking just on a universal side of things.
Usually start with a size 12 and then have a look
at your fabric,
weight and go from there.
Is it super fine?
Do you need a smaller needle size or are you going
really heavy?
And you need that heavier,
that larger needle size to,
to suit that fabric.
And particularly if you're sewing satins and Georgette's those finer fabrics
can be the most troublesome sometimes and often that you definitely
need that sort of sharp needle or the smaller needle size
to get a nice,
fine finish.
If you find it's all sort of bunching up and causing
all sorts of things,
you probably need to adjust the needle size or put a
new one in maybe both to get that really nice finish.
Now, if you sew a lot of fabrics that are all
the same,
you won't have to change your needle a lot.
For instance,
most of my sewing,
I use about a size 12 meter or for most of
my projects,
unless I go do something super fine,
that requires a finer needle,
or I do something out of the ordinary,
but most of my sewing does sort of fall into the
size 12 category.
Now we all learn from each other and I love that
you guys all have your input and your experiences as well.
I'd love.
If you can put in your comments below what you find
your needle sizes,
you use the most right at 10 below,
what, any tips that you have for someone and make sure
you read all those comments so that you can know which
needles you might want to invest in first off.
So please like this video,
if you liked it,
leave your comment below.
Thank you so very much for watching and for giving me
the request to make this video.
I look forward to seeing you all again in the next
run and until then,
bye. And the smaller,
the number,
the thinner the needle is.
So, and the smaller the needle,
the smaller,
the sup.