Tapestry needle
The blunt rounded end of a tapestry needle slips easily through the holes of canvas or into the weave of fabric without snagging or piercing. The long oval eye carries more than the usual number of strands of thread. The size number of the tapestry needle corresponds to the size of the eye and the thickness of the needle. The higher the number, the smaller the eye and thinner the needle. You will use tapestry needles in needlepoint, bargello and cross stitch projects. The smaller tapestry needle size work well with hardanger and evenweave fabrics as they slip easily between the weave, helping to count the threads. We also recommend our dmc tapestry needle size 13 as our yarn needle to use when sewing your knitted and crochet pieces together. The blunt tip is perfect for joining the yarns together.
Embroidery needle
Also known as sharps, these needles have sharp tips that pierce the fabric as you stitch, and larger eyes for accommodating floss and embroidery thread. Embroidery needles have two great advantages - a long eye for easy threading with multiple strands and a very sharp point which will pierce close-woven fabrics. You will find these needles rivaled only by tapestry needles for their variety of uses. Embroidery needles can be used for surface embroidery, smocking, cutwork and crazy quilt embroidery.
Chenille needle
Chenille needles are sharp-pointed and long-eyed like embroidery needles but run only in the upper size range like tapestry needles. They are slightly shorter than embroidery needles and the longer these needles are similar to an embroidery needle, but are available in the higher size ranges. The needles are also slightly shorter in length with wider, longer eyes. A chenille needled is ideal for working with wool threads, such as for crewel embroidery, or for projects using chunkier threads.
Darners
These needles are longer and more slender than all other types of needles and have a small eye. Running and darning stitch projects commonly use this type of needle, as the longer needle length is helpful for this type of embroidery. This is especially true with swedish weaving or decorative darning, when you may have several running stitches on the needles at any given time. Darners are ideally suited to running stitch and darning darning stitch embroideries. You can use yarn darners for heavy finishing jobs such as sewing buttons through cushions.
