Impressions - April 2024 - 47

that require added needle strength.
Changing Your Needles
How often should you change your needles? Obviously you're
going to change them out when you need to switch from ballpoint
to sharp and back again. But how long can you expect to use your
current batch of needles? That depends on a number of factors.
However, we strongly suggest the following guidelines.
Life Span: Generally speaking, the average lifespan of a needle
is about eight hours of continual running. Beyond this, the quality
of your embroidery will begin to degrade
noticeably over time. A good rule of thumb
is to change out your needles as soon as
the look of your stitching begins to suffer.
Needles are not a high-cost item, and they
can greatly affect the appearance of your
finished work. You don't want to run them
so long they begin to bend and break due to
overuse. The least expensive way to improve
the quality of your embroidery is to simply
change your needles regularly.
After Stitching the Tough Stuff: Tough,
abrasive textiles will wear your needles faster.
Once you complete a job stitching through
things like canvas bags, baseball caps or nylon,
make it routine to change your needles.
Those sharp points have been working hard
for you, and rough or thick materials will
have dulled those points. Continuing to
stitch with them won't give you the sharp,
clean look a fresh needle will. Pop in a set
of fresh needles.
When You Just Aren't Sure: Been away
from your machine for a while and can't
remember what you stitched or the needles
you used on your last project? Don't risk
it. Change your needles. A helpful tool to
keep track of your needles is the Needle
Tracker, a reusable, repositionable cling
with spaces for keeping tabs on up to 16
needles. You can use this handy tool to
keep a running record of every needle in
each position, the size, the point type and
the last time you changed it. Use a separate
tracker for every head.
When it comes time to change out a
needle, or needles, having the right tools
for the job can be a huge help. The classic
hemostat-originally a surgical tool-features
finger holes like a pair of scissors and
a set of tight clamping jaws for gripping
and manipulating your needles in and out
of the needle bar area of your machine.
When using a hemostat, be sure and pay
attention to the position of the needle when
inserting it. Specifically, the needle groove
needs to be carefully placed so that the
groove faces the front.
Another great tool is the Needle Ease, a
relatively new piece of equipment to the
embroidery world that takes the guesswork
out of needle insertion and placement. The
key to the Needle Ease is a locking tip that
Swapping out your needles in a timely
fashion will mean less work in the long run.
Photo by anatoliy_gleb - stock.adobe.com
April 2024
P.47
holds the needle firmly as you place the needle into the machine.
When the needle is correctly seated, you will hear a clicking
sound, your signal that the needle is in its proper position. Using
the Needle Ease makes much quicker work of needle changes. 
Shawne Randlett is currently the marketing content specialist for Madeira USA
(madeirausa.com), after having previously worked for more than a decade as
the product trainer for Madeira's customer sales and service department. In
addition to cutting-edge threads, backing, needles and bobbins, Madeira is a
source for a wide range of accessories, including everything from shears and
tension gauges to color cards and product displays.
A closeup view of a set of 65/9 " Large Eye "
(DBxK5) needles. Madeira needles come
in trays of 10 or full boxes of 100. Photo
courtesy of Madeira USA
http://www.madeirausa.com http://stock.adobe.com
Impressions - April 2024

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