Sewing Insider Tips

Choosing a Sewing Machine Needle

By Beverly Chapman

Having the right sewing machine needle for the job is like having the right chocolate at the right time. Smooth and relaxing.

You should take a moment before starting to sew to choose the needle that’s appropriate for the job or fabric at hand. Ask yourself these questions:

is the fabric light, medium or heavy-weight?
am I sewing on a knit, woven or specialty fabric?
do I want to use a specialty thread?

The weight of the fabric will generally dictate the size of the needle. Needle sizes are labeled in either the American (which range from 7 – 18) or European system (which range from 55 – 110) and usually both. With both systems, the smaller the number, the finer the needle. So, the lighter the weight of the fabric, the finer the needle should be. For example, a regular weight denim would use no less than a size 16 (90) needle.

Whether your fabric is a knit or a woven will dictate the type of point on the needle. Most woven fabrics can be sewn with a sharp point needle or its more common name, a universal point. Knits should be sewn with a ball point needle. Your fabric choice whether it’s a woven or stable knit, will dictate the type and size of needle to use. In this case, remember how important fabric fitting is, because a knit fabric and a woven fabric will have totally different amounts of ease and will hug your curves differently. To read up on fabric fitting, check the “Education” section.

Bathing suit fabric, stretch velvets and velour might prefer a stretch needle. Check the label for the Lycra® (or spandex) content. A knit with more than 5% Lycra® should be sewn with a stretch needle.

If you are sewing with denim, you should use a denim needle. It has a specially shaped point to punch through many layers of that sturdy fabric and can also handle a thicker jeans-type thread.

Also worth a try when sewing with leather, is the leather needle. This needle has a wedge-shaped tip to cut through the leather for a flatter stitch. You can use those needles for suedes and vinyls too.

There’s a quilting needle specially designed to make your quilting of many layers go more smoothly. There’s also a microtex or microfibre needle, just right for those microfibre fabrics, which are so hard on regular universal point needles.

If you will be using a specialty thread in your machine, then you should pair it up with a special needle. There are embroidery needles that reduce the friction on that expensive rayon embroidery thread. Reduced friction means reduced thread breakage meaning reduced frustration. Metafil (or metallica) needles are specially designed for metallic threads. There are also topstitching needles for thicker threads.

I haven’t covered all the needles available for sewing (another topic for another day), but these are most of the needles you could encounter in regular sewing.

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