Embroidery 101: Embroidery Needles

Hi everybody! I'm Natalie with Missouri Star Quilt Company and today on
Embroidery 101 we're going to talk a little bit about needles.

One of the most common questions that you may have is what type of needle do I need to use. The answer to that is there are specific needles made for embroidery. You'll often see them labeled as crewel which is an older name. It's been in the industry for a long time. It basically is the same thing. They're used for both types of projects. The ones that come in the beginner kit are your basic sizes: they're a three and a five.

Okay so the way this works is the the eye is large and the needle is sharp
and strong. It makes it easy for you to put Pearle cotton through it or all six strands of your DMC floss. What you'll want to think about as you're choosing your needle size, is are you doing larger stitches with lots more
floss or are you doing a finer, tinier or something that you want really little. Maybe you're only using one strand and you're doing something delicate. That is completely up to you.

What I recommend is buying something like one of these that has multiple sizes. These are sizes 5 through 10, or 3 through 9. That gives you several to choose from. They're taller depending on the size of the eye, so again the larger the eye, the smaller the number. And the larger eye needles tend to be a little bit longer because if you're doing something fine, if you're working on a thin fabric, maybe you're using something that's sheer or really lightweight, you'll want to use a tinier needle because it makes a smaller hole.

And it helps if you're doing shorter stitches to have a smaller needle - you can be more precise and more delicate. Larger needles are great. I typically just use something kind of in the middle for everything. So a three, a five, seven, eight - those are all great sizes. Nine is about as small as I would want to go for something delicate, but that's just personal preference. They come in a variety. There's this cute little holder that has all these different sizes. They're essentially these ones are 5-10 and so are these. So they're basically the same thing and I personally love John James. They tend to be really strong and a well-made needle. It's one of my favorite brands, but really any brand that's out there will work. You can use a wide variety of needles from all different places.

So the next thing that we can chat about real quick is a needle minder.
Let me just say: now that I know what a needle minder is and how it works, I don't want to stitch without them. They're great. It's basically just a little magnet. So you know, it comes with these two. You put it right onto your fabric of whatever it is that you're stitching on. You can stick it on your shirt. It's a magnet and so then when you're getting up to go get a drink and you want to put your needle down and you don't want to lose it in the couch, you stick it to your magnet. It won't get lost, it'll stay with your project or on the shoulder of your shirt and you won't have to worry that you're going to step on it or sit on it or try to find it in whatever blanket is over your lap while you're stitching. Cause believe me, I've been there, I know how that goes. So needle minders are great and we have a ton of these. They come in Block as a month - sometimes as a little surprise and delight. There is one included in your beginner's kit that is so cute. It's this little Missouri Star and I love it - it's just adorable! And you can see they are magnetic - they stick right to your needle. It's not going to fall off.

If you enjoyed this video, there's lots more where that came from. I have a whole channel called Embroidery 101 where I teach you what you need to know to get started and also give you tons of tips and ideas to refresh your memory and help you to advance in your embroidery journey. So click the link below and I hope you enjoy. Happy stitching!