Needle and Thread

Sabrina Sultana
Lecturer
Different types of sewing needle parts and their function:

Sewing machine is one of the most important equipment in readymade garments sector. To get fault free
garments from sewing department, so its importance in garments manufacturing industries to understand. Here
identify all the parts of sewing machine needle with their functions.

Tip

Fig: front view of needle

 A sewing machine needle contains the below parts:

1. Butt, 6.Short groove,

2. Shank, 7.Needle eye,
3. Shoulder, 8. Scarf,
4. Blade, 9. Point,
5. Long groove 10. Tip

All the above parts have explained in the following:

1. Butt:
The starting part of bottom edge of needle which can be made by predetermined
shape. Butt helps for easily attaching of needle with the needle bar or clamp of the
sewing machine.
2. Shank:
Shank is the bottom part of sewing needle which is tied in the needle bar. It may be flat
or cylindrical on one side. Shank is wider than the remaining parts of needle and works
as a support of needle.

3. Shoulder:
Shoulder is the part between shank and blade of sewing machine needle. When the
needle penetrates through the fabric to reach its lowest position then the shoulder also
penetrates through the fabric. As a result reduces the friction between fabric and needle
by producing a wider hole on fabric

4. Blade:
Blade is the part from needle eye to shoulder. It is the longest part of the needle and
maximum friction with fabric take place in this area. Blade is gradually tapered to tip.
5. Long groove:
Long groove is a long and thin groove in blade from shoulder to needle eye. Sewing
thread take place in this groove during up and down of sewing machine needle through
the fabric in sewing time, thus reduce the friction between needle, fabric and sewing
thread. There is lower possibility of damaging thread due to friction.

6. Short groove:
Short groove is placed in the side of needle where the hook or looper is placed. It is a
small groove between tip and needle eye. Short groove helps the sewing thread to create
loop.

7. Needle eye:
The hole which is situated in the front of the needle is called eye. It is a small slot
between long and short grove of needle. Needle eye holds the needle thread and helps to
create loop. The inside edge of needle eye is most important specially when needle
passes through the fabric. Because there is a possibility of damaging the thread.
8. Scarf:
Scarf is a curved slot at near above the eye. It helps to close setting between the looper
and needle.

9. Point:
Point is the part from the needle eye to the tip. It helps to penetrate the needle into
fabric without any damages. Also, the proper care should be taken to select the needle
point appropriately for the fabrics.

10. Tip:
The ending edge of needle is called tip. Tip helps to penetrate the needle into fabric
without any damages. It helps to create hole in the fabric during sewing the apparel.
Different types of needle , needle size , fabric type and thread
size
 The numbers typically look like this: 70/10 or 75/11 or 80/12 etc These numbers are
European and American labeling systems. European sizes range from 60 to 130, 60 being
a fine needle and 130 being a thick heavy needle. The American system uses 8 to 21, with
8 being the finest needle and 21 being a thick heavy needle. The order in which they
appear is not important, some might list the European system first, some the American
system.
Here’s the chart:
• 60/8
• 65/9
• 70/10
• 75/11
• 80/12
• 90/14
• 100/16
• 110/18
• 120/19
• 125/20
Universal needles
This type of needle has a slight ballpoint on the end which makes this sewing machine
needle the most versatile needle. It is great for sewing most woven fabric, knits and
synthetics.

Ballpoint needles
Ball point (also known as knit needle). This kind of needle is used for cotton knits,
interlock, rib knits, fleece, double knit, and most knit fabrics. The tip has the shape of a
ball point that doesn’t damage the fibers.
Jersey - this is used for jersey fabrics
Stretch – is used for highly elastic fabrics
Jeans needles
Jeans needles are for sewing denim, canvas, and other tightly woven fabrics. The point
is very sharp to penetrate dense fabrics. These are also great for top sitting on woven
fabrics.
Microtex needle
Microtex a very sharp needle, is used for lightweight or very thin fabrics, piercing them
with high precision.
Leather needles
This needle is great for real leather. Its chisel point penetrates the leather cleanly.
This needle is only for genuine leather, not for pleather, plastics, and pieces of vinyl.
Stretch needles
Great for knit fabrics. Especially for those fabrics that have two way stretch like swimming
wear, lingerie and for elastic. The design of the scarf on this needle is to help keep from
skipping stitches and puckering the fabric.
Quilting needles
This needle is great for sewing through multiple layers of cotton and batting. It has a
longer, sharper point to penetrate layers, prevent thread fraying and breaking as well as
maintaining straight stitches.
 What do the color code correspond to-

You will find variations of the same color in

different brands but ultimately, this is the chart:

• Universal – no color code

• Ball point – medium blue
• Jersey – orange or light brown
• Stretch – Yellow
• Jeans – dark blue
• Microtex – purple
• Leather – brown
• Universal twin – red shaft
• Stretch twin – blue shaft
Specialty type sewing machine needles

Twin needles
This needle is ideal for heirloom sewing, topstitching, and hemming. Sewing with double
needles can be time-consuming. You need to make sure and sew slowly.
The size on a double needle is 80/12 to 90/14 but the spacing between the two needles come
in lengths of 2.0mm, 2.5mm, 3.0mm, 4.0mm, and 6mm. It is usually available in universal,
ballpoint, stretch, jeans, embroidery and metalfill needle types.

Triple needles
Just like the twin needle, the three needles are held into place by a nylon piece.
Comes in size 3.0mm with the three needles being 80/12 sharps.

Wing needles
Another heirloom needle. It has two flanges on each side of the shaft to create larger holes in
the fabric.
Comes in only one size 100/16
Sewing Thread

According to the definition given by ASTM, sewing thread is a flexible, small diameter
yarn or strand usually treated with a surface coating, lubricant or both, intended to be
used to stitch one or more pieces of material or an object to a material.

It may be defined as smooth, evenly spun, hard-twisted ply yarn, treated by a special
finishing process to make it resistant to stresses in its passage through the eye of a needle
and through material involved in seaming and stitching operation

Uses of sewing thread

• Garments
• Upholstery
• Air-supported fabric structures
• Geotextiles
Factors for sewing thread classification

1 . Fiber type:
a ) Natural : Linen, Silk, Cotton.
b ) Synthetic : Polyester, Nylon, Aramid.
c ) Blended

2 . Construction of yarn:
a ) S-twisted
b ) Z-twisted

3 . Thread finishing:
a ) Texturized thread
b ) Core spun thread
Sewing threads packages

Spool: wood or plastic , double flanged, parallel wound.

Yarn Length: Spool thread package contains 100-500 meter thread.

End uses: Upholstery, Footwear, leather goods manufacturing and in hand

sewing operations.

Cop: Cops are small cylindrical flangeless spools, with precision cross wound.
Made of paper and plastic. They are two types, small cop (tube) and medium
cop(cop).

Yarn Length : 100-2000 m on small cop and 400-4000 m on cop

End uses: Kite flying, Upholstery, ready-made garment, tailoring, hosiery,

umbrella, and shoe stitching
Cone: This is self-supporting, cross wound conical package. It is easier
to withdraw yarn end from a cone than from a cheese and because of
this, cone is more widely used.

Yarn Length : 1000-25000 m

End Uses: Readymade garment, tailoring, hosiery, leather stitching,

Upholstery, shoe stitching, denim, embroidery, and kite flying.

V-cone or King pool: V-cones are parallel tubes or low angled cones
with an additional base in the form of a raised flange.

Yarn Length: 1000-5000 m with length of traverse 6.5-9 cm.

End uses: embroidery, core-spun, and filament threads.

Containers: Containers are intended to handle smooth and lively
monofilament sewing threads that are complicated to control with
the traditional thread packages

End uses: Embroidery

Cocoon: Cocoons are self-supporting i.e. center-less thread package

specially designed for the insertion in the shuttle of multi needle
quilting and some types of embroidery.

Prewound bobbin: Prewound bobbins are precision parallel wound

thread package designed to replace metal bobbins on a variety of
lock stitch machines.