by Denise Gartner
When you choose a needle for embroidery it should be the smallest
size that will accommodate the weight of your thread and the material
you are stitching on.
The reason we choose the smallest sized needle is so that it will
form the best stitches when embroidering. Embroidery stitches are
very small, very close together and most designs are comprised of
many stitches.
As your needle punches the material and stabilizer to form the first
stitch, it then rises back up, then back down again to form the next
stitch. There is a small amount of space or material and stabilizer
left in between the first stitch and the next stitch and subsequently
in between all the stitches.
If you use a larger needle than is necessary, not only is the hole
the needle makes larger than necessary, but the amount of material
and stabilizer between stitches is lessened, meaning there is also less
for the stitches to hold onto. This can cause finished design problems,
weakening the material and stabilizer that you are stitching on. It can
also cause thread problems while stitching.
Organ Needles for Home Machines offers sharp points and ball points.
Both of these needle types come in regular chrome and also titanium
coated chrome (Perfect Durability). Titanium or Perfect Durability
needles are made to last longer before the points wear down.
Remember to use sharps for woven fabrics and ball points for knit fabrics.
For 40 weight embroidery thread use any of the following chrome needles:
Organ Regular Point (Sharp) Needles 15×1, HAx1, 705. Organ Ball Point
Needles 15×1, HAx1 BP.
For 40 weight embroidery thread use the following Titanium (Perfect
Durability) Needles: Organ Regular Point (Sharp) Titanium Needles 15×1,
HAx1 PD. Organ Ball Point, Titanium Needles 15×1, HAx1 BP PD.
For metallic or decorative threads use the following Chrome Needles:
Organ Regular Point (Sharp) Large Eye Needle 15×1 ST, 705H-E. Organ
Ball Point Large Eye Needle 15×1 ST BP.
For metallic or decorative Threads use the following Titanium (Perfect
Durability) Needles: Organ Regular Point (Sharp) Large Eye Titanium
Needles 15x1ST PD. Organ Ball Point, Large Eye, Titanium Needles 15x1ST
BP PD.
Schmetz Needles:
*I know that Schmetz used to color code their needles by type, but I’m
not sure they do ‘now’, so you may want to check.
For 40 weight embroidery thread use the following Chrome Needles:
Schmetz Embroidery Needle Packs are marked as – Embroidery Needle
130/705 H-E. A Red Colored Horizontal Band located just below the
bottom of the shank of the needle indicates that it is an embroidery
needle.
For metallic or decorative threads use the following Chrome Needles:
Metallica Needle – marked as – Metallica 130 MET. *The packages of
Metallica Needles that I have here are not color coded.
For embroidery on knit fabrics with Schmetz Needles I would recommend
trying the following needles:
Universal Needle 130/705H-15×1 size 12/80. The Universal Needle has a
slightly rounder point that is intended for use with both woven
and knit fabrics. I have used this type of needle for both knits and
free standing lace (FSL).
Needle Sizes:
For most fabric weights a size 75/11 or an 80/12 embroidery needle
should work just fine. If you’re embroidering on very fine material
such as silk, you may want to use a smaller needle, perhaps a size 70/10.
If you are embroidering free standing lace, try using a 75/11 or an 80/12
sharp point needle (but not any larger) since free standing lace is made
up of many layered stitches, thus using the smallest needle possible is
the best choice so your designs stitch properly.
Ball Point Needles:
The reason we use ball points for knit type fabrics is because it is
necessary for the more rounded needle point to push the fibers of the
knit fabric ‘apart’ when it goes through the material to form a stitch.
If we incorrectly selected a sharp, we would actually be ‘cutting’ the
fibers when our needle passed through the fabric, which is of course
undesirable because it would cause holes and/or runs in knit fabrics.
I have heard from a couple of professional embroiderers that they use
ball point needles in their commercial machines for all fabrics with the
exception of leather and other specialty fabrics (here again researching
first is probably best to insure you are actually selecting the correct
needle for your needs).
Ultimately, the decision is yours, so consider testing some of these needle
theories to see what works best for you and your designs!
Hope this helps answer some of the needle questions that fellow members have.
There are so many eedles on the market it is hard to know what to use on what thype of fabric. Your explaination is great and i am going to print it out so i can refer to it when ever I embroider.
Marjorie In NM
THANK YOU, this is very good information
Excellent article with lots of information packed into a few paragraphs! This is helpful for those of us who feel somewhat overwhelmed by the array of needles available to us now (I grew up using generally size 11 — maybe a 14 to be daring, and when ball point needles were introduced I felt like I was on the “cutting edge,” to abuse a perfectly good phrase). Sometimes when a design doesn’t stitch out well the culprit could be the needle. Thanks for your research and concise explanation!
Very interesting. Could this be put in a chart format for quich reference?
Terrific information. I have copied the whole thing and put it into my binder. I am new to embroidering so any info. is good for me. Thank you for all the details. I am learning that NEEDLES are just so important. Also still learning about stabilizers.
Thanks for the note on ballpoint usage – probably explains the holes in some of my knit shirts!! Thanks much
Thanks for an excellent article on needle selection. I’m one newbie that appreciates it! I also find myself searching for other ‘how to’ articles and I print for my ‘how to’ file.
Only one more reason to extend my membership with Designs By Sick!!
Thanks very much for this info around the needles.
This info will helps me a lot with my emtbroidery work.
Thanks for this so detailed explanation. I was always wondering because so many classes of needles, but I could not use them like according to the class of threads and the different classes of cloths
This “Tip” on proper needle size is one that many will appreciate, and save, for future reference.Many thanks.
Margie
What great needle information. Thank you so much!!
This is the best article that I have ever read about needles. I really appreciate your knowledge and will keep this article for future reference. Thank you so much.
I am so impressed with your knowledge about needles. I work in a fabric store that sells the Schmetz needles and was never informed in such great detail about all the different specs for all types. Your knowledge is a God-send. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Very impressive article…so informative in all aspects…I am sure it will help all those that are in 2 minds on what needle to use for different fabrics….thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this information, a copy of which is going into my easy reference stash. I can relate to some of the pit-falls you have described and am very pleased to have them solved. Many thanks!
Hi Denise
I really enjoyed your article about the importance of selecting the correct needle for embroidering on different fabrics. Good job.
Tx
cheers
This is so informative. I just bought an embroidery machine. I’m trying to gather as much info as possible. Again I thank you.
I’m fairly new to machine embroidery but my projects have been quite successful. I had begun a project, stopped for awhile then began again. I couldn’t remember which needle I had used. I took my project to my machine embroidery store and the girl recommended a regular embroidery (red-banded) needle of the proper size. I had never used an embroidery needle per se and never ran in to problems. They were more expensive than what I had been using. I it really necessary to use embroidery needles?
Yes, it is the intelligible answer
What neele do I use to embroider on leather?
I was embroidery on imitation suede with a flannel backing. I was making a card table top for my kitchen table. I used an top stitch needle and it work beautiful. Also I used the slowest speed. If your working on fabric that just doesn’t want to embroidery well this works well. Doris