We do not sell any needles or thread, but in the interest of your achieving the best quality Embroidery, we offer the following information.
You must use the correct needle, in good condition and use a thread matched to the needle and fabric. They all work together. If one of these elements is not matched to the project, the results may be unsatisfactory, and frustrating.
A Sewing machine is only as good as its needle type and condition.
There are many important things to remember about needles:
There is no such thing as a “regular“, needle. Needles come in a variety of sizes, point styles, eye shapes, scarf length, special coatings, plating quality, etc.
A needle needn’t be broken in 2 pieces to be not useable… Barely visible scratches, burrs, bends, worn eyes and points can degrade the performance of the sewing.
If you are having trouble with the quality of embroidery, try a new needle.
We caution you when using the Titanium needles. Recently, while making an embroidery sample, we were using a titanium needle and it bent, penetrating the plastic bobbin case and seriously damaging it. Any other needle would have broken and would not have damaged the bobbin case. So we no longer use titanium needles in doing our embroidery.
Because the point of the needle controls the way it pierces the fabric, it is very important in the needle selection. A sharp point, for example, while perfectly suited to woven fabrics (cotton and wool), but it cuts through the fibers on knits and other man-made fabrics. An embroidery needle, light Ball Point or medium Ball Point needle is preferred for all knitted fabrics, polyester, microfibre and other man-made fabrics.
Embroidery Problems & Solutions
Problems: Poor stitch quality, thread shredding, breakage, skipping, inconsistent thread tension and fabric damage.
The higher the sewing speed, the greater the heat, that builds up on the needle. Materials with a low temperature melting point, “melt residues” stick to the needle. These residues stick to the Eye and the needle shaft, causing thread to drag, bind, shred and break. These “residues” come from binders in the thread and fabric, causing thread to drag, bind, shred and break. These “residues” are usually caused by needle heat build-up.
Solutions: Use special coated needles, larger needle eye, and smoother thread and/or thread lubricants.
Use the smallest size needle, consistent with the thread size, to reduce the size of the hole punched in the fabric, and provide easy passage of the embroidery thread (especially with thick embroidery threads and metallic threads). Select a smooth thread. Check it by passing it between your fingers. If it passes smoothly through your fingers, so it will pass through the guides, tension disks and needle eye, without heat build-up. A rough thread causes heat build-up in the needle.
If using a Teflon-coated or other “cool” needle. Break-in the needle for about 50 cm before finally using it on light-colored materials, so that the slight amount of Teflon abraded does not impair the quality of the end product.
Select a larger eye needle, without having to use a larger size needle. The large eye can accommodate a wider range of thread sizes without increasing the thickness of the needle. Extra-large, long eye needles make for easier threading.
To keep the needle cool and free of “Melt Residue” from the thread and /or fabric, we recommend the use of our unique “LUBE A THREAD”. It applies a very thin film of silicone coolant to the thread as it passes through the ½” applicator, before passing through the needle.
If all of the above suggestions fail, then slow the machine to a lower speed if possible. When embroidering on dense materials such as “ball caps”, 600 SPM is the maximum speed suggested.