What Are All Those Needles For?

I’ve had several visitors write me with this question. I found a partial answer inside my “Shakespeare” needle book. It says sharps have round eyes and are used for general domestic sewing. Darners are long needles with long eyes for mending with wool. Embroidery needles have special long eyes to hold embroidery thread. Quilting needles are short, strong needles with round eyes.

Many of the older needle books came with a variety of needles. For example the contents of my “Shrimptons” book include a pack of No. 8 sharps, plus:

• 1 long darner
• 1 yarn darner
• 1 wool darner
• 1 carpet needle
• 1 button needle
• 1 chenille or zephyr needle
• 1 tape needle or bodkin

That’s pretty self-explanatory after all! I have learned that sharps are numbered 1 - 12 and 16 - 18. The diameter and the eye size get smaller as the number gets bigger for numbers 1 - 12. The 16 - 18 group are fat large eyed needles. If you’re interested in more information or want to know what needle to use for what, I can recommend the following two websites.

• Schmetz Needles
• Colonial Needles

Personally, I always choose my needles by the size of the eye. As a child I was the official needle threader around my house. I thought it was a special privilege, but now I realize my talent was good eyesight. Now days I’m dependent upon those cheap little threaders and sometimes I still have trouble.

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