I use milliners' straws sizes 8, 9, or 10 depending on what I'm sewing, and
haven't broken a needle since I first started using them. They are thin with
long eyes so they're easy to thread and they are bendable, just right when
you're working with buckram or something that won't move the way you want it
to. (Some needles I bend on purpose and some just bow slightly as I
use them.) They are longer than the shorter needles, but I'm sewing for
accuracy not speed and I don't care how long hand sewing takes me because
most of my sewing is by machine. I don't quilt and haven't gotten that
wonderful rocking running stitch I've seen others use. Maybe it's me, maybe
the needles, but for my sewing it doesn't much matter.
If you find you're breaking needles, try a couple milliners' needles and see
if they solve your problem. I swear by mine. John James makes a good
milliners' straw; you can pick them up at Lacis, Hedgehog, lots of places
on-line. I purchased several packages a few years ago from a needle museum
in England.
LynnD
On 11/30/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi,
I don't know what the usual expectation is -- not being snarky, I just
often am puzzled by how our ancestors managed when needles were scarce and
expensive, given that they *do* bend and break. My breakage problems tend to
have one of about three sources: 1) I am trying to use some coarse
authentic thread (hemp, linen, wool) pulled out of my weaving supplies
that is just a bit too big for the needle, so the doubled bit has trouble
following the needle through the fabric and eventually the strain pulls the
eye off; 2) I am using a fine needle on a fairly heavy fabric, and I get to
bending it when trying to make fine stitches; 3) I am using a fine needle on
many layers of fabric, which seems to aggravate both 1) and 2). So I am
always quite happy to blame myself for the breakage, rather than the
needles! But the nicer they are the more I burn through; sometimes I get out
my 70s-era giant steel needles, which none of my costumer friends find fit
for anything but basting, !
and do
some unacceptably coarse seams just to deal with the frustration. I
suppose I *could* resort to using modern threads -- so fine! so smooth! --
but that would be cheating! ;-)
Lauren
http://www.timetraveltextiles.com
-- Original message --
From: LLOYD MITCHELL [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On the subject of needles, my biggest problem is that I seem to have
them
break a lot.
snip snip
I have tried some of the name brands that have been mentioned in this
conversation and some of these also seem to break more often than usual
expectation. I
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