Dear Reader,

I would like to ask you a simple question. 

How would you?

How would you describe  a sewing needle to an alien.......

A needle is the most integral tool used in sewing.

It is a short, thin rod, once made of bone but now mostly made of steel, usually nickel or gold-plated to resist corrosion. One end has a slot shaped hole called an eye to hold thread, the other end is tapered to a sharp point to allow the needle to draw the thread through fabric in stitching. The sewing needle can be operated either by hand or by machine. If operated by machine, the eye is located in the sharper tapered end of the needle.

How did I do? Not bad for 30 seconds, no references!

I asked several fellow sewers this question with an interesting response. Even though we all sew, all of us largely use sewing machines. Some of us do enjoy working by hand as well as machining, but most of us exclusively use a machine with only a limited amount of handwork when strictly necessary! Maybe to stitch down quilt bindings or sew in ends, buttons in mending and little more! 

When you ask a child to draw a train, they will almost always, without fail, draw a steam train.

Similarly, when I asked people to describe a needle, without exception, everyone described a hand sewing needle first. 

There are many kinds of needles for different sewing tasks. Over human time, they have been made of many materials – animal bones, antlers, tusks, wood, etc. There have been books written on the making and history of sewing needles; I have to admit I find the background and development of our common sewing tools fascinating. Just think that the use of a needle of some kind made it possible for people to live in certain areas when they could sew some kind of fabric together to make warmer clothing.

The concept of a sewing needle raises so many more questions  -  just for starters, what is this thing called sewing, why would you sew, how do you use a sewing needle, what are sewing needles made from, what is thread, what are we sewing now?

I did ask my youngest daughter what she thought of when I said "sewing needle": "Ouch – stabby things!" Well she used a stronger word than 'things', but I digress!

So, this is the briefest of starters to touch on sewing needles today but ... we'll be back with more soon. As I said, I'm nerdy enough to love this kind of utility information.

In the meantime, what are you doing with your stabby things at the moment?

I'm playing with these pretty bits with mine. No idea what the result is going to be yet but the process is fun.

Wishing you a safe and happy Easter whether it's family, sewing of any kind or both or sommething completely different.

Take care and happy stabbing… I mean Stitching!

Meg