Why "Universal" Means "Equally Bad."

Why "Universal" means "Equally bad."

So you go to the store to buy needles for your sewing machine. You are going to find one of two things: a few "Universal" needles, or a large section with dozens of needle types.

"None of these say my machine brand on them," you think. "What do these numbers mean?"

I'm here to help you out!

It turns out that needles for sewing machines have amazing specialties to help make the work easier.

Ball point/Jersey: these needles have a rounded 'ball' point so that they don't accidentally cut the threads in a knit fabric. Ever cut a thread in a sweater? We don't want that to happen in a knit fabric either. Knits are used for t-shirts, Sweatshirts and the like.

Sharp/Microtex Sharp: My Beloved. If you sew on any woven fabric, and see "puckers" along your seam, you're not using a Sharp needle. Developed for micro-textiles, these are brilliant for printed quilting cotton, satin, woven silk, and the like.

Jeans/Denim: larger eye, bladed tip. The Sharp is a stiletto; a Denim needle is a sword. The bladed tip makes it easier for your machine to power through densely woven fabrics like canvas, upholstery fabrics, brocade, and old-fashioned denim.

Stretch: this needle is designed to sew on Elastic fabrics with minimal skipped stitches. Spandex and Lycra can stretch so well that they're carried by the needle into the bobbin area of the machine, preventing the stitch from completing. Stretch needles pass through the fabric easier without punching holes.

Quilting: Yep! There's a needle for this! Great for piecing, these really shine while sewing through the layers of fabric and batting. They make free lotion quilting a lot easier, and you won't have to fiddle with the tensions as much!

Leather: perfect for Vinyl, pleather 'vegan' leather, actual leather, and suede, this needle is like a Denim needle with a twist; a twisted blade, that is. It makes a perfectly round hole to prevent the dreaded "Tear along the dotted line" effect.

Metallic: yes, all needles are made of metal, but this type is gentle to metallic threads for decorative work.

Topstitch: this needle has an extra large eye and groove to accommodate heavier threads. Great for high-contrast visible topstitching with heavier threads.

There are others, but this is a good place to start. "Universal" needles don't have any of the specialized features listed above. They aren't sharp, aren't ball-pointed either. They have an average sized eye and groove.

They will sew. They will form a stitch, and they can be a lifesaver when you're not sure what kind of needle to use because you're sewing with more than one challenging fabric simultaneously. However, they aren't "good at" anything. They're kind of "equally bad" at everything.

Do yourself and your sewing machine a favor: Use the right needle for the right project.

One final pro tip: change your needle every 8 hours or so of actual sewing, or at the beginning of every major project.

More Posts from Buggybugblog and Others

2 months ago

Moon Mascot Needed!

Have you ever wanted to design something that could fly around the Moon? This is your opportunity. The Artemis II astronauts will use a zero gravity indicator during their mission to demonstrate when the Orion spacecraft has reached microgravity. This plushie needs to be soft, small, and importantly, remind us of home. The Moon Mascot contest challenges people of all ages from all over the world to submit a design to be made by NASA’s Thermal Blanket Lab and flown aboard Artemis II. To submit a design for the contest, visit: freelancer.com/moon-mascot

2 years ago

btw I've found these stretches from the WAK blog very helpful when knitting a lot:

Btw I've Found These Stretches From The WAK Blog Very Helpful When Knitting A Lot:

Plus make sure to take breaks regularly - and stop if anything starts to hurt!

especially with gift knitting I know it can be tempting to push through it for a deadline, but it's really not worth causing long term injury. (And anyone knit-worthy should be understanding of that, imho.) Stay well :)


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1 month ago

Hey i’m a fashion design student so i have tons and tons of pdfs and docs with basic sewing techniques, pattern how-tos, and resources for fabric and trims. I’ve compiled it all into a shareable folder for anyone who wants to look into sewing and making their own clothing. I’ll be adding to this folder whenever i come across new resources

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/16uhmMb8kE4P_vOSycr6XSa9zpmDijZSd?usp=sharing

1 year ago
Knit An Army Of Caterpillars! Pattern By Miranda Harp: 👉 Https://buff.ly/3uZP4WE 🐛

Knit An Army of Caterpillars! Pattern by Miranda Harp: 👉 https://buff.ly/3uZP4WE 🐛

1 year ago
Canada Day Is Coming ... Knit Or Crochet A Mesmerizing Maple Leaf Shawl: 👉 Https://buff.ly/2Tq7fqv
Canada Day Is Coming ... Knit Or Crochet A Mesmerizing Maple Leaf Shawl: 👉 Https://buff.ly/2Tq7fqv
Canada Day Is Coming ... Knit Or Crochet A Mesmerizing Maple Leaf Shawl: 👉 Https://buff.ly/2Tq7fqv

Canada Day is Coming ... Knit or Crochet a Mesmerizing Maple Leaf Shawl: 👉 https://buff.ly/2Tq7fqv

1 year ago

if you want to see an amazing Star Trek "musical episode," it's The Abduction from the Seraglio staged by the Pacific Opera project. Complete with redshirt orchestra, horny Spock, a Gorn battle, and Klingons doing bat'leth dance choreography.

The plot and score is the same, just rewritten into English and Trek-ified. (Spock's got a whole aria about his human vs. Vulcan struggle. “Yes, my blood is really green. But how much does that mean? Still, I cannot deny my fears. Am I human with weird ears? I’m a Vulcan. I'm a Vulcan!”"

If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged
If You Want To See An Amazing Star Trek "musical Episode," It's The Abduction From The Seraglio Staged

and if you don't have the patience for a 2-hour opera, someone put together a 30 minute highlight reel of a different performance (by the same company, just a different year. there's some casting changes too):


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2 years ago

when i say my gender changes to the tune of the bit i mean a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do and if he can’t then god forbid women do anything

1 month ago

i dont consider myself a 'fashion guru' by any means but one thing i will say is guys you dont need to know the specific brand an item you like is - you need to know what the item is called. very rarely does a brand matter, but knowing that pair of pants is called 'cargo' vs 'boot cut' or the names of dress styles is going to help you find clothes you like WAAAYYYY faster than brand shopping

3 years ago
For All My Bug Lovers Out There 🐛❤️

For all my bug lovers out there 🐛❤️

10 months ago

I’ve teased it. You’ve waited. I’ve procrastinated. You’ve probably forgotten all about it.

But now, finally, I’m here with my solarpunk resources masterpost!

YouTube Channels:

Andrewism

The Solarpunk Scene

Solarpunk Life

Solarpunk Station

Our Changing Climate

Podcasts:

The Joy Report

How To Save A Planet

Demand Utopia

Solarpunk Presents

Outrage and Optimisim

From What If To What Next

Solarpunk Now

Idealistically

The Extinction Rebellion Podcast

The Landworkers' Radio

Wilder

What Could Possibly Go Right?

Frontiers of Commoning

The War on Cars

The Rewild Podcast

Solacene

Imagining Tomorrow

Books (Fiction):

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness The Dispossessed The Word for World is Forest

Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild-Built A Prayer for the Crown-Shy

Phoebe Wagner: When We Hold Each Other Up

Phoebe Wagner, Bronte Christopher Wieland: Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation

Brenda J. Pierson: Wings of Renewal: A Solarpunk Dragon Anthology

Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro: Solarpunk: Ecological and Fantastical Stories in a Sustainable World

Justine Norton-Kertson: Bioluminescent: A Lunarpunk Anthology

Sim Kern: The Free People’s Village

Ruthanna Emrys: A Half-Built Garden

Sarina Ulibarri: Glass & Gardens

Books (Non-fiction):

Murray Bookchin: The Ecology of Freedom

George Monbiot: Feral

Miles Olson: Unlearn, Rewild

Mark Shepard: Restoration Agriculture

Kristin Ohlson: The Soil Will Save Us

Rowan Hooper: How To Spend A Trillion Dollars

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing: The Mushroom At The End of The World

Kimberly Nicholas: Under The Sky We Make

Robin Wall Kimmerer: Braiding Sweetgrass

David Miller: Solved

Ayana Johnson, Katharine Wilkinson: All We Can Save

Jonathan Safran Foer: We Are The Weather

Colin Tudge: Six Steps Back To The Land

Edward Wilson: Half-Earth

Natalie Fee: How To Save The World For Free

Kaden Hogan: Humans of Climate Change

Rebecca Huntley: How To Talk About Climate Change In A Way That Makes A Difference

Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac: The Future We Choose

Jonathon Porritt: Hope In Hell

Paul Hawken: Regeneration

Mark Maslin: How To Save Our Planet

Katherine Hayhoe: Saving Us

Jimmy Dunson: Building Power While The Lights Are Out

Paul Raekstad, Sofa Saio Gradin: Prefigurative Politics

Andreas Malm: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Phoebe Wagner, Bronte Christopher Wieland: Almanac For The Anthropocene

Chris Turner: How To Be A Climate Optimist

William MacAskill: What We Owe To The Future

Mikaela Loach: It's Not That Radical

Miles Richardson: Reconnection

David Harvey: Spaces of Hope Rebel Cities

Eric Holthaus: The Future Earth

Zahra Biabani: Climate Optimism

David Ehrenfeld: Becoming Good Ancestors

Stephen Gliessman: Agroecology

Chris Carlsson: Nowtopia

Jon Alexander: Citizens

Leah Thomas: The Intersectional Environmentalist

Greta Thunberg: The Climate Book

Jen Bendell, Rupert Read: Deep Adaptation

Seth Godin: The Carbon Almanac

Jane Goodall: The Book of Hope

Vandana Shiva: Agroecology and Regenerative Agriculture

Amitav Ghosh: The Great Derangement

Minouche Shafik: What We Owe To Each Other

Dieter Helm: Net Zero

Chris Goodall: What We Need To Do Now

Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac

Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Stephanie Foote: The Cambridge Companion To The Environmental Humanities

Bella Lack: The Children of The Anthropocene

Hannah Ritchie: Not The End of The World

Chris Turner: How To Be A Climate Optimist

Kim Stanley Robinson: Ministry For The Future

Fiona Mathews, Tim Kendall: Black Ops & Beaver Bombing

Jeff Goodell: The Water Will Come

Lynne Jones: Sorry For The Inconvenience But This Is An Emergency

Helen Crist: Abundant Earth

Sam Bentley: Good News, Planet Earth!

Timothy Beal: When Time Is Short

Andrew Boyd: I Want A Better Catastrophe

Kristen R. Ghodsee: Everyday Utopia

Elizabeth Cripps: What Climate Justice Means & Why We Should Care

Kylie Flanagan: Climate Resilience

Chris Johnstone, Joanna Macy: Active Hope

Mark Engler: This is an Uprising

Anne Therese Gennari: The Climate Optimist Handbook

Magazines:

Solarpunk Magazine

Positive News

Resurgence & Ecologist

Ethical Consumer

Films (Fiction):

How To Blow Up A Pipeline

The End We Start From

Woman At War

Black Panther

Star Trek

Tomorrowland

Films (Documentary):

2040: How We Can Save The Planet

The People vs Big Oil

Wild Isles

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind

Generation Green New Deal

Planet Earth III

Video Games:

Terra Nil

Animal Crossing

Gilded Shadows

Anno 2070

Stardew Valley

RPGs:

Solarpunk Futures

Perfect Storm

Advocacy Groups:

A22 Network

Extinction Rebellion

Greenpeace

Friends of The Earth

Green New Deal Rising

Apps:

Ethy

Sojo

BackMarket

Depop

Vinted

Olio

Buy Nothing

Too Good To Go

Websites:

European Co-housing

UK Co-housing

US Co-housing

Brought By Bike (connects you with zero-carbon delivery goods)

ClimateBase (find a sustainable career)

Environmentjob (ditto)

Businesses (🤢):

Ethical Superstore

Hodmedods

Fairtransport/Sail Cargo Alliance

Let me know if you think there’s anything I’ve missed!


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buggybugblog - Salutations!
Salutations!

My name is Newt. 24.

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