As promised in the ‘New Year Plans’ post here one post each month is going to cover some sewing basics and today’s is about selecting a needle. choosing a thread and making a knot. If that’s not what you need, feel free to skip over it until next week’s blog post (about the year-long ‘Seaside Album’ quilt project which launches on 15th January 2024). This is for beginner stitchers, whether you want to mend your clothes (rather than throw them away). make clothes for yourself or someone else, do some embroidery or make a quilt. For all of these activities, you need to be able to thread a needle and put a knot in the end of the thread so that the thread stops in the fabric you are stitching. (Sometimes an alternative to a knot is best, but we’ll start with a knot.)
Choosing a Needle
To illustrate the choice of needle, I’m going to show you the inside of a red leather case of needles and scissors that I found a few years ago in a charity shop. What a find!
Here are needles of different lengths and with different eyes for different tasks: sharps are for everyday hand sewing. embroidery needles have a sharp point and a larger eye (to take embroidery floss – see below) and darners have a larger needle still and a blunter point for sewing or mending knitted items.
Also in my collection of needles are these quilting needles. These are for hand-quilting but I sometimes use one of these very small needles for hand-sewing the binding to the back of the quilt.
These needles are tiny, have a small eye and a sharp point.
How to Thread a Needle
There is a video for this! It’s on my YouTube channel here
Make sure you have a really sharp pair of scissors to trim your thread!
If you are dealing with a thick thread like a wool yarn, you need a different method. Fold the yarn over your needle with your dominant hand (holding the needle in your other hand).
Pull the folded yarn tight, then slip it off the needle.Finally push the flattened, tightly held fold through the needle.
Selecting your Thread
For everyday hand-sewing purposes, I recommend a cotton thread like this Gutermann 50 weight thread. I also use this thread on the sewing machine.
This is a synthetic thread (100% polyester) which is much finer and is intended for use on the machine. I wouldn’t recommend it for hand-sewing.
This is mixed-fibre thread: it has a polyester core with a cotton cover. This will work for hand-sewing and for the sewing machine.
How to put a Knot in your Thread
There is a video for this too. You can find it here
This is not the only way of putting a knot in your thread. In a later post I’ll show you how to make a knot in a double thread – very handy when you want to sew on a button!
Here is a great pattern for items you can sew to keep your sewing kit in order. Find it here
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Amanda Jane Textiles 