You may not know who Anne Weaver is, but all of us sewing bloggers certainly do. Anne is the editor of the sewing pages on Craft Gossip. Craft Gossip is a fantastic site that hunts down crafty goodness for their readers. Each day they post great tutorials and crafts they have found from searching the internet high and low. Without Anne’s work, some of you may never have found my blog. I know there are lots of blogs I have discovered from Craft Gossip. If you haven’t heard of the site before, then definitely check it out.
It’s very exciting when you get an email from Anne saying ‘I’ve featured your tutorial on Craft Gossip today’. It’s even more exciting when you get a heap of new readers thanks to her efforts. In honour of this amazing woman and all she does for us, I am posting a handy tip for you today. A heap of other great sewing bloggers are joining in the fun too. You can check out all their tutorials and tips here.
For ages I struggled to figure out which of my needles was new, which was used but not worn out and which was destined for the bin. This little tip makes life so much easier!! It makes it so easy to sort your used sewing machine needles. Sometimes I will use a needle for a little project. The needle is no longer new, but also not used enough to throw out. What to do?
Take a permanent marker and put a little cross on the flat side of the needle. That way you know it’s still good for another project. I put them straight back into the pack they came from and store them that way. My eye-sight isn’t that bad, but I struggle to read the sizing on the needles, so if I put them back in the right packet it’s something I don’t need to worry about.
As for the needle that’s currently in my machine, I put its packet in its own little spot in my drawer. That way I know where the needle in the machine has come from. I’ve also seen people stick the needle pack onto the side of their machine with tape.
When a needle is broken or no longer any good, I put it into an old spice jar. I don’t like throwing a needle straight into the bin, so I just collect them up in the spice jar and if it ever gets full enough I will throw the whole thing out one day.
Anne, thank you so much for all that you do! I hope you enjoy ‘Anne Weaver Day’ as much as we all appreciate you.
Jess Abbott says
This is SO SMART!!! I am sitting here going, why didn’t I think of that?!!! I LOVE IT!!!
abby says
hehe, thanks Jess!
Natalie from Sewoutnumbered says
Yep… genius!
Johanna says
GENIUS!!! I’m new to sewing and I was once told to just put them into your push pin tomato and write on it with a sharpie so you know what needle it is. Well that worked perfectly until my 4 yr old got a hold of my tomato and pushed all my needles in! I’m going to give this a try. Looks like it would works perfectly.
abby says
Why do kids do that?! My pins are always pushed all the way in too!
Anne says
You are one smart lady! And you’ve now erased any excuse I have for not changing out my needles to suit the fabric type. I’ve got a Craft Gossip post schedule for later today that links to your organization method: http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-easy-way-to-store-slightly-used-sewing-machine-needles/2015/02/26/
Thank you a million times over for the bloggers’ shout out. That was the best Monday morning surprise ever!
–Anne
abby says
thanks for stopping by Anne, and once again, thanks for all your hard work! xx
Angela says
The broken needles are good to use as “nails” to hold small things in the wall.
abby says
haha, that’s clever! I confess, I have pulled some dull ones out of the spice jar to use for stitching paper.
Aleeah Mc says
My husband doesn’t allow me to drop my discarded needles in the trash alone. And since I need him to continue to take out the trash, I try to comply. The spice bottle or an old needle package are great ideas for throwing the used needles out.
Sarah E. Ashlock says
Brilliant tip, Abby! Quick question to you and fellow followers: How do you know when to replace your needle (besides suddenly getting poor stitches)?
abby says
I think the rule of thumb is for every 8 hours of sewing. If I do a big project, such as a whole dress or a quilt, then I will start with a fresh needle and toss it out at the end, but otherwise I usually keep using them until I start getting issues. And my poor overlocker never gets its needles changed unless they break!
Becky PS says
ACK!!! So simple! I just wrote on Anne’s post about your post that I come up with “systems” and promptly forget them.
As is often the case, the best solution IS the simplest.
Thank you!