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Choosing the Right Sewing Machine Needles
National Sewing Circle EditorsDescription
Having the right needle to suite your sewing needs can have a big impact on how your project turns out. While there are many projects that can be stitched using a universal needle, Jill Case shares with you that it’s good to know what other needle options are out there and what projects and fabrics they are best used with. Many sewing machine needles are very straight forward in their description. For example, jean needles are best for jean and denim fabrics, leather needles are for use with leather, and stretch needles are for sewing with stretchy fabrics. However, there are a few others, like ballpoint or microtex, that are a bit trickier. Jill takes you through each needle, their uses, and even some great ideas on how to store them.
One of the more important parts of the needle that people consider when sewing is the point of the needle, as that is what goes through the fabric first. However, there are other important parts as well. The scarf of the needle, as mentioned in the video, is located just above the needle eye. The scarf is what allows the bobbin hook to intersect with the upper thread and actually form a proper stitch. Stretch needles have a special scarf designed for stretchy fabrics and elastic that helps maintain good stitch quality. Ballpoint needles do not always have this same special scarf, which could mean that you would be better off selecting one over the other depending on your project. If you are having skipped stitches or other stitch problem when sewing stretchy fabric with a ballpoint needle, try changing to a stretch needle and see if it fixes your problem.
For such a small item, the needle consists of many important little parts – so get to know your sewing machine needles!
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4 Responses to “Choosing the Right Sewing Machine Needles”
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Sewing circle needs to redo this video.
This is good information, particularly the difference between a jersey needle and a stretch needle - but it was oh so difficult to listen to - far too many word whiskers. If the presenter had been more adept at delivery the video would have been half as long.
Lots of "um, ah,uh" makes it look like she was totally unprepared for the lecture. If this is typical of "premium" videos, I wouldn't want to spend the extra money.
Don't like the frozen video.