TIPS FOR BETTER SEWING

Needles

However fantastic your sewing machine, it can only stitch as well as its needle will allow. The needle is the part of the machine that interacts with the fabric. Schmetz are wonderful sewing machine needles and come in all shapes and sizes.

Change needles regularly – don’t just change a machine needle if it breaks after 5 years! Under normal sewing conditions a needle should be changed after 8 hours of sewing and I put a new needle in for each new garment or project.

Use the correct type of needle for your fabric and the result will be worthwhile.

• A very fine (70) needle may break if it is used on thick solid cloth, just as a thick (100) needles will leave holes all over a fine cotton lawn.

It is not just the size of the needle to look out for!

Needles may all look the same but they have different types of points and eyes.

• A ballpoint has a roaunded tip and divides the threads of a jersey rather than splitting them.
• A polyester microfibre ‘silk look’ can be the equivalent of sewing through concrete. A beautiful fluid cloth but it needs a Microtex needle to produce good stitching. The Microtex needle has an extra sharp point to easily penetrate the fabric.

• Metallic thread can cause problems by shredding and snapping. If you use a Metallica needle its large eye helps to reduce shredding and a drop of Sewers Aid to the thread helps to give easy and smooth sewing. Always sew smoothly and slowly for best results. Metallic threads look spectular but the natural spring in them means they need careful handling.