Sewing needle
elongated, thin tool made of hard material used for sewing
A sewing needle, used for hand-sewing, is a long slender tool with a pointed tip at one end and a hole (or eye) to hold the sewing thread. The earliest needles were made of bone or wood; modern needles are manufactured from high carbon steel wire and are nickel- or 18K gold-plated for corrosion resistance. High-quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and one-third titanium alloy. Traditionally, needles have been kept in needle books or needlecases which have become objects of adornment. Sewing needles may also be kept in an étui, a small box that held needles and other items such as scissors, pencils and tweezers.
Types of hand sewing needles
Hand-sewing needles come in a variety of types/classes designed according to their intended use, with each type also varying in size.
Sharp needles: used for general hand sewing; built with a sharp point, a round eye, and are of medium length. Those with a double-eyes are able to carry two strands of thread while minimizing fabric friction.
Appliqué: These are considered another all-purpose needle for sewing, appliqué, and patchwork.
Embroidery: Also known as crewel needles; identical to sharps but have a longer eye to enable easier threading of multiple embroidery threads and thicker yarns.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sewing needle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.