More Needle Types

Embroidery. Use this needle for machine embroidery with rayon, acrylic, and metallic decorative threads. This needle features a larger eye and specially designed scarf that protects the thread and prevents it from shredding or breaking. It’s available in sizes 75/11 and 90/14.

Metallic. Also known by the brand names Metafil and Metallica, this needle is designed for sewing with metallic or monofilament threads on natural or polyester fabrics. It features a larger eye than the embroidery needle, a fine shaft and sharp point to prevent thread breakage, and a special scarf and groove designed to protect the thread, reduce friction,  and prevent skipped stitches. It’s available in sizes 70/10 through 90/14.

Wing. Use this needle for heirloom stitches, hemstitching, openwork, and other decorative stitching on finely woven batiste or linen fabrics. This needle features wings on the sides that create a decorative hole in the fabric’s tight weave. It’s available in sizes 100/16 and 120/19.

Twin. As the name implies, you want to use this needle for stitching two parallel rows at once, such as for pin tucks, topstitching, embellishment, and professional-looking hems on knits with different or two of the same thread colors. These needles, consisting of two shafts on a crossbar attached to a single shank, are threaded from separate thread spools and use the same bobbin thread. Twin needles are available in two each of universal, stretch, denim, and metallic types and as a hemstitch needle with one wing and one universal needle.

In addition to being labeled by the European size, twin needles are also labeled by the spacing between the needles. Use closely spaced needles (1.6mm) for fine fabrics and needles spaced farther apart (from 2mm to 6mm) for heavier fabrics. A sewing machine with zigzag and front-threading capabilities is required.