Hand Embroidery Needles Guide

Among all the hand embroidery tools and supplies, one essential item stands out—the embroidery needle. With the wide range of sizes and types available, selecting the right one can be daunting. Today, I will go through each type of embroidery needle and talk a bit more on their key features and when to use them.

Let’s start and unravel the mystery of embroidery needles!

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Key Takeaways:

Embroidery needles come in various types, including sharp, ballpoint, embroidery, chenille, and tapestry needles.
When choosing the right needle size, consider the fabric type, thread type, stitch type, and design complexity for the best results.
For most hand embroidery needles the lower the number the needle is being used for heavier fabrics and threads, and higher numbers for finer fabrics and threads.

Types of Needles Used in Hand Embroidery

Embroidery needles come in various types, each designed to suit specific stitching needs. The main types include:

Sharp needles: known for their slender, pointed tips, are ideal for precision work on delicate fabrics like silk or satin.
Crewel needles: have a larger eye for accommodating thicker threads, are commonly used for all sorts of hand embroidery types on various materials.
Tapestry needles: featuring a blunt tip and a large eye, are suitable for cross-stitching, needlepoint, or working with heavier yarns, ensuring even fabric penetration without splitting threads.
Chenille needles: with a sharp point and large eye, work well with heavy yarn or multiple strands of embroidery thread, creating a textured look.
Milliners Needles: longer than the crewel needles, are best used for knotty stitches.
Specialty Needles: these are needles used for beading, quilting, curved needles used in hand embroidery.

1. Sharps Needles

Sharps needles or sewing needles, have a sharp tip and narrow eye, making them suitable for detailed embroidery work that requires accuracy and fine stitches.

These are the best needles for the needle painting technique. They are smaller than regular embroidery needles, have a short shaft, and a round eye, which makes them easier to control and create smaller stitches.

The sharp tip enable them to penetrate even the densest of fabrics with ease, ensuring clean and smooth stitches. Their narrow eyes allow for precise thread placement, vital for intricate designs and delicate fabrics where visibility is crucial.

When to Use:

Sizes typically range from 2 to 12, with lower numbers indicating larger needles.
Sharp needles are ideal for tightly woven fabrics, while blunt needles work well with loosely woven fabrics.
Sharp needles are recommended in the needle painting (silk shading) technique.
Sharps needles with larger eyes are easier to thread, making them suitable for beginners.

Buy: Sharps Embroidery Needles

2. Crewel Needles

Crewel needles, also known as embroidery needles, have a medium-long eye and a sharp tip. They are used in all sorts of embroidery styles, surface embroidery, crewel work, goldwork, whitework, and any technique needing a sharp needle.

Their sharp tip excels at piercing tightly woven fabrics, while the longer eye fits various embroidery thread weights.

When to use them:

Crewel needles are available in sizes 1-12, with size 1 being the largest and size 12 the finest.
Used in surface embroidery, crewel work, goldwork, whitework, and any time you need a sharp needle to pierce the fabric.

Buy: Crewel Embroidery Needles

3. Tapestry Needles

Tapestry needles or cross-stitch needles have a blunt point and large eye, making them ideal for working on fabrics with a looser weave or for techniques that involve multiple strands of thread.

The blunt points on tapestry needles prevent them from piercing or splitting fabric yarns, ensuring a smooth stitching process, especially suitable for delicate textiles. The large eyes of these needles accommodate thicker threads, embroidery floss, or multiple strands of yarn, allowing for intricate designs and patterns to be easily executed.

When to use them:

Tapestry needles come in sizes 13-28, the bigger the number, the finer the needle.
Used in counted thread work – cross stitch, needlepoint, and blackwork.

Buy: Tapestry Embroidery Needles

4. Chenille Needles

Chenille needles feature a large eye and a sharp point, making them suitable for working with fine threads and creating textured stitches in embroidery projects.

These needles are particularly good when working with various thread textures. Their sharp points effortlessly glide through tightly woven fabrics like silk or satin, ensuring precise stitching.

The large eyes of chenille needles alleviate the struggle of threading, especially when working with delicate needle sizes. This makes them a go-to choice for intricate embroidery designs that require intricate detailing and depth.

When to use them:

Chenille needles come in sizes 13 – 28, with size 13 being the largest and size 28 the finest.
Chenille needles are ideal for surface embroidery, crewel embroidery, chenille embroidery, or any project requiring a large needle eye to accommodate thicker threads.
The long eye of the chenille needle makes it perfect for stitching with specialty threads such as metallics, chenille thread, and other fibers.

Buy: Chenille Needles

5. Milliners Needles

Milliner needles, also known as straw needles, are ideal for knotty stitches like French knots, bullion knots, and cast-on stitches. Their eye is the same size as the shaft, making them perfect for wrapping the thread and allowing the whole needle to pass smoothly through the wraps.

Milliner needles are longer than other hand embroidery needles, making them perfect for stitching long bullion knots.

When to use them:

Milliners come in sizes 1-10, and 15-18.
Milliner needles are used for knotty stitches, where the thread is wrapped around the needle several times, allowing the entire needle to pass through the wraps smoothly.

Buy: Milliners Needles

6. Other Special Needles

In addition to the hand embroidery needles mentioned, there are many other specialized needles for various techniques, such as curved needle, curved quilting needles, beading needles bead embroidery.

Curved needles are excellent for techniques where a straight needle can’t pass through or for securing threads on the back of very taut fabric.

Beading needles are great for pick up a lot of beads on the needle, because they are fine and have a long narrow eye.

When to use them:

Curved needles are perfect for techniques where a regular embroidery needle can’t pass through, such as finishing touches or anchoring threads on the back of the embroidery.
Beading needles are ideal for projects that involve using many tiny beads.

Buy: Curved Embroidery Needles

How To Choose The Right Size Of Hand Embroidery Needle?

When selecting the right size for your embroidery needles, consider the following:

Fabric weave: For tightly woven fabrics like cotton or canvas, a larger needle size may be required to penetrate the fibers without causing damage. Conversely, delicate fabrics such as silk or organza demand smaller needle sizes to prevent snagging or puckering.
Thread weight: Thicker threads often necessitate larger needles to accommodate their bulk, while finer threads pair better with smaller needle sizes for precise stitching.
No resistance: There should be no significant resistance when pulling the needle’s eye through the fabric. If you experience resistance, then you need a larger needle.
No gaps: The needle should not leave a visible gap around the thread when piercing the fabric.
Design intricacy: Intricate designs may benefit from a finer needle to navigate detailed motifs smoothly, while larger needles suit broader, simpler designs for bold stitching.
Stitch type: Certain embroidery stitches require specific needle sizes to execute them effectively, so considering the intended stitch type is essential when choosing the right embroidery needle.

Conclusion

That’s all for today! Remember, these are just basic guidelines, and sometimes it’s okay to break the rules. Choosing hand embroidery needles is ultimately a personal preference. I often find myself using a Milliner needle for entire pieces because I love them, especially since most of my current patterns involve many knotty stitches.

My best advice is to buy needle packs with assorted sizes. Over time, you’ll learn which sizes work best for your projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the different types of embroidery needles?

The most common types of hand embroidery needles are crewel, tapestry, milliners and chenille needles. Crewel needles have a longer eye and are used for fine embroidery. Tapestry needles have a large eye and blunt tip, making them suitable for counted embroidery. Milliners are used for knotty stitches. Chenille needles are used in surface embroidery, crewel embroidery, and chenille embroidery.

How are embroidery needles sized?

Hand embroidery needles are numbered by size, with higher numbers indicating finer needles for most hand embroidery types.

Can I use the same needle for all types of embroidery?

No, it is important to use the right needle for each type of embroidery. Different needles are designed for different stitches and fabrics. Using the wrong needle can lead to damaged fabric, frayed thread, or uneven stitches.

How often should I change needles while working on a project?

The general recommendation is to change needles every 4-6 hours of stitching to maintain the quality of your work. This is because dull or bent needles can cause skipped stitches or damage your fabric.

Hand Embroidery Needles Guide

Key Takeaways: