Sew What’s Up Presents
The Sew What’s New Archive
This archived content is from Mary Wilkins’ sewing and
quilting message board “Sew What’s New,” which was
retired in August 2007. It is being provided by
“Sew What’s Up,”
which serves as the new home for many members of “Sew What’s New.”
From: pennypins
Date: 05-11-2004, 05:16 AM (1 of 4)
|
I'm overwhelmed at how many different types of needles that I'm using in my sewing/quilting/embroidery. There are Organ brand sharps for embroidery, then Schmetz needles - for quilting, universal, stretch/ballpoint, jeans, topstitching, metafil...and of course most types of needles I have in two or three sizes. It got to the point where I just couldn't easily find the right type needle for the job and had no idea when I was needing to buy more. Add to that, I use a serger, an embroidery/sewing machine, and a mechnical machine. I've tried numerous ways to sort those little needle cases/envelopes and had no success, but I think I've hit upon something good. One thing that has worked well for me for a couple of years is a little quilted "book" that I sewed up and marked it out into squares labeled the different type of needle and their sizes. When a needle is in a particular machine, I have a coloured pin that represents that machine and stick it into the marked square for that type of needle. I thought of using the other types of markers that stick on your machine, but then you have to stick them on to each machine, and how do you know which needle you've used once you've put it back in the case? And then the problem of "just how many 80/12 U do I have left?" So I took a small photo book (the kind that just holds one photo per page) and put a stickie note on each page representing each needle type and size, then loaded it up with the needle cases. I can quickly find each type of needle and know when I'm running low. I also collect older machines, and I know they frequently used just one or two sizes of needles - all sharps! When I first started sewing, I don't think I changed my needle near as often as I should or thought much about what the type of needle was doing to the stitch or the fabric. I'm glad that in the past few years, as I've re-introduced myself to sewing/qulting, that there are all these options (even though I sometimes think there are too many!) - when I use the right needle for the job the machine sounds better, the stitch forms better, and the fabric behaves. Penny http://community.webshots.com/user/pennypins
was "plcp" at SWN since Jan/01 |
User: pennypins
Member since: 02-25-2003 Total posts: 39 |
From: Saydee
Date: 05-11-2004, 05:49 AM (2 of 4)
| Thanks for sharing your idea with us pennypins. I will try that myself, sounds great. |
User: Saydee
Member since: 05-07-2004 Total posts: 68 
|
From: MaryW
Date: 05-11-2004, 07:05 AM (3 of 4)
Saydee, hello and welcome to Sew Whats New. 
MaryW
owner/editor of Sew Whats New |
User: MaryW
Member since: 06-23-2005 Total posts: 2542 
|
From: Saydee
Date: 05-11-2004, 07:31 PM (4 of 4)
|
Originally posted by MaryW Saydee, hello and welcome to Sew Whats New. Thankyou MaryW. You have a lovely site here with plenty of interesting topics. |
User: Saydee
Member since: 05-07-2004 Total posts: 68
|
Visit Sew What’s Up for the latest sewing and quilting tips and discussions.
This page was originally located on Sew What’s New (www.sew-whats-new.com) at http://www.sew-whats-new.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-12817.html
Sew What’s Up is hosted by ZenSoft