When we are asked to come up with the sewing needle sizes, that means it does not limit we are only going after the sewing machine but any of the needles to make the work done because the needles do not only come included with the sewing machines.
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Sewing Needle Sizes 2023
There are many of the aspects where the sewing needles are the primary player to conduct and sewn different clothes.
And not just a single type of the needle would work in any form of the clothes because they cannot withstand the pressure and would bent.
So and for knowing the sewing needle sizes, you must ensure and define your purpose of using the sewing needle.
For the fabrics from the line of softened cotton to the thick and hard denim, the right set of the needles sew through the material to attain the perfect stitch and reduce the chances of uncasing over the time.
To understand the right sewing needle sizes, let’s go with the sewing types, which we would use to get done the different tasks.
The components of completing the sewing needles
Not everything is completed without the core components that jot down the build of the product. And the same goes with the sewing needles that they come with the few and core components which are as follows;
- Needle Shank
- Shaft
- Eye
- Scarf
- Groove
- Point
A) Needle Shank
The thicket part of the needle, this shank area, is the one that inserts into the sewing machine through the mechanical latches that help to hold the needle in its right position.
But the proper guidance on how to load up the needle into the latch to keep it upright to make sure it does not bend or break down at the time of usage.
Every needle shank is different from each other; the needles from home to industrial usage come with a separate shank area for the right positioning.
B) Shaft
The needle shaft is the primary area that not just inserts into the machine as well as it takes on much of the pressure being delivered when the sewing machine starts to push inward the fabric and taking all the toll with the increased load.
C) Eye
The needle eye comes with the opening hole, which gets used to pass through the thread. Depending upon the needles types, the home-used needles have a relatively lower hole. Still, for the needles used for sewing the heavy materials, they have the more prominent and broader opening hole to let the nylon-based thick threads to pass through the hole easily.
By the time you use the needles with having to insert through the threads, you would get to manage playing with the threads by not hitting the walls around the hole, not letting them break or lose the tension.
D) Scarf
Just placed above the needle eye, this needle scarf is good to go and last for long as well as it takes the thread out and moves to stitch through the fabric persuasively.
Scarf is placed around the center of the needle and has to be strong enough to press down and go through the fabric to make the long-lasting stitches.
E) Groove
The thickened area of the needle running from the middle to up to the needle eye and then ends right before the tip of the needle is called the needle groove and if you would want to feel it, run down the fingertip from the middle to the tip area to experience the thickness of the groove.
The thicket and heavier threads come with the broader groove to make the impactful entry into the fabric, but the thin strands would need the extra-thin groove that is hard to notice with bare eyes and even with the fingers.
F) Point
The sharpened area and the bottom of the needle that first meets with the fabric and is responsible for piercing into the fabric.
The efficiency of the needle’s point is judged through how it would pierce through the fabric without unceasing the cloth. The soft and lightweight materials require the most delicate point to penetrate the material without leaving the mark while the thicker kind of fabrics like denim would need to have somewhat thickened needlepoint for the insertion and not cause any breakage.
Sewing Needle Sizes
Before knowing about the needles sizes, we had to get informed of what makes a needle. And that part is very well done already, isn’t it?
There we should open up the list of the different types of sewing needles, so take note of that to refine your usage because the perfect stitch is done with the ideal needle, and examining the needle size would let you master picking the right kind of needle for your very own task.
Let’s take a good lock over the list of the real best sewing needle sizes.
- Sewing machine needles
- Self-threading or handicap needles
- Twin or up to triple sewing needles
- Stretchy needles
- Wing needles
- Leather
- Jeans or Denim-ready needles
- Embroidery
- Upholstery
1) Sewing Machine Needles
The normal and the home-operated sewing machines are the ones that are often misunderstood with they cannot get used for multiple tasks for stitching through the lightweight fabric to up to heavy fabrics.
It is not that the mini sewing machine that cannot do the tasks, but you need the right kind of needle to run down all sorts of fabrics efficiently.
Sewing machine needles come with different sizes that are different by the locations as well…
In America, you would experience a different classification of needle size than Europe.
What are they? Let’s take a look at the table.
America | Europe |
8 *lightest* | 60 *lightest* |
9 | 65 |
10 | 70 |
11 | 75 |
12 | 80 |
14 | 90 |
16 | 100 |
18 | 110 |
19 *heaviest* | 120 *heaviest* |
Do not blame your sewing machine but learn the art of picking the right needle size to sew through different kinds of fabrics.
2) Self-Threading or Handicap Needles
The easy-to-thread by just sliding it and see it inserted through the slit area, this self-threading or the handicap needles are designed for the people who have eyesight problems.
These kinds of needle sizes are only available in two different sizes of 80/12 and 90/14, so do not expect the multiple availability depending on the scales.
Read : Best Sewing Boxes
3) Twin or up to Triple Sewing Machine Needles
The new kind of sewing is the decorative stitching that is possible through the sewing machines but with a limitation.
And that limitation is your sewing machine should at least have the zigzag capability and a throat plate comes with a broader hole to hold the needle of such types.
These twins or the triple needles are placed through a single piece of the shank and information of a crossbar for the evenly-spaced sewing for the durable stitching that is required by the decorative pieces like couches.
Whether you pick the double or triple needles, only the one piece of thread would be threaded along all of the needles for the perfect and seamless stitching.
The decorative pieces are not tightly sewn, but done with the double and triple threads can never let slip out the stuff.
Sizes of Twin and Triple Needles
- Universal twin needle = 2.5/80
- Universal twin needle with extra-wide = 6.0/100
- Stretch twin needle = 4.0/75
- Twin needle for jeans = 4.0/100
- Twin needle for embroidery = 3.0/75
- Metallic = 2.5/80
- Double hemstitch = 2.5/100
- Universal triple = 2.5/80 and 3.0/80
4) Stretchy Needles
Knitting the swimwear is made possible with the stretch needles because that is your last resort to stitch the stretching stuff.
And, these stretchy needles are available only in two sizes; 90/14 and 11/75.
5) Wing Sewing Machine Needles
For the perfect heirloom sewing, you cannot overlook these wind needles that perfectly pierces through the woven fabrics without deforming its surface to complete the openwork stitching to add the attractive designs into the clothes.
So, do it efficiently with having the two different sizes of wing needles from 16/100 and 19/120.
6) Leather
Take a challenge to stitch through the leather, but first, make sure you got the perfect combination of sewing machine and the needle that can sew through this hard-formed leather and alike materials.
These leather-ready needles come in two sizes of 14/90 and 11/75 to get you the durable stitches!
7) Jeans or denim-ready needles
This denim-ready needle comes with the extra sharpened point and the stiffer shank that makes it for efficiently mending through the most robust fabrics and can even pierce through the multiple layers of the fabric.
Try nothing other than these denim needles, or they would get bent or break from the middle. When picking for the denim sewing needles, these needles are available in two sizes; from 18/110 and 10/70.
8) Embroidery
The needles type of sewing through the hard-formed embroideries with enough density to achieve the perfect and reliable stitching, they are efficiently done using the needles designed exclusively for embroidery purposes.
Available in two specific designs from 11/75 and 14/90, get your best embroidery work done with this swift and sharpened needles!
9) Upholstery
For sewing, the heavy fabrics like upholstery, the specific needles sizes that you require are 110/18 and 120/19 to sew through the hard materials without a single second of delay.
Other substantial needle sizes that you should be well aware of…
Overlock = BLX1: 2-11 with 2-14 AND DCX1: 2-11 to 3-14
Quilting = 75/11 and 90/14
Spring = 70/10, 90/14, and 75/11
Ball-point = 70/10 to 100/16
Conclusion of Sewing Needle Sizes
And here, we complete our exclusive guide that brings the sewing needle sizes up on the table.
Not any single needle can do the stitching to get the perfect sew. Try out the wrong needle on the fabric, and you would either have the needle break or bent, but that would not do the job.
As it comes to the equal responsibility to have the right kind of sewing machine, you have to invest in owning the right needle as well for the perfect stitching.
Luckily, you got all of the sewing needle sizes covered through this extensive and exclusive guide that you can always reference before hunting for owning the right needle.
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