Find out my personal favourites when it comes to beading with the best needles.
When I first started beading, I was clueless about needles. I assumed the average needle would be sufficient, until I encountered the seed bead – the tiniest bead which can be as small as 1.8mm in width – no wonder I couldn’t get my normal sewing needle through!
As an embellisher, a thin needle is a must. Beads come in various sizes and shapes and you want to make sure your needle glides through these beads without damaging them (I have cracked and split many beads in my early years!). Beading needles have small eyes so that the beads can go through them with ease and this is why it's imperative that a beading needle must be used when sewing beads such as tiny seed beads.
Beading Needle Sizes
Thankfully, needles come in various sizes. Specifically, beading needles comes in more sizes than one would think. You would have thought one thin size would do the trick? No, certainly not in their case. I’ll be showing you a variety of sizes to suit each type of seed bead.
Size 10 - 12
Size 10 - 12 beading needles are suitable for size 11/0 (average size), 8/0 (large) & 6/0 (really large) size seed beads. 11/0 is the average size seed bead and the size 10 beading needle should work well with this size (and most of your beads).
Size 13 - 15
Size 13 - 15 beading needles are suitable for smaller beads such as size 15/0 (super small) and vintage seed beads which are even smaller in size. Depending on the seed bead make, you can also use size 12 beading needles for size 15/0 seed beads too.
Top 3 Brands of Beading Needles
I have tried a few beading needle brands and these 3 are my favourites. Some of these are specifically based in England, such as John James, but personally, I haven’t felt that this made a difference in the performance of these needles.
It’s important to note that beading needles have a tendency to bend. Please don’t panic. My students have also been disappointed when their needles have bent during multiple uses of their beading needles. It’s natural for this to happen because of the delicate nature of these thin beading needles. A bent needle does not necessarily mean that the needle will break or that the performance is compromised. I personally find it very useful when they bend as the bent-shape is easier to manoeuvre.
Your needle is likely to snap if you force things into it or when you force it out of something. The little eyes on the beading needles are most prone to break when doing this, not so much the long needle itself. So be careful when pulling your needle out or pushing it into beads or fabrics.
Tip: I have also found using beading needles worked great with thick fabrics when hand sewing and amending compared to using normal needles. The thin nature of the beading needles made it easy to insert into these thick fabrics, however, I did break a few needles whilst doing this. Normal needles were incredibly hard to push into leather or thick denim/cotton and although it wouldn’t break, it was stressful to sew.
To protect your beading needles when sewing thick fabric, I suggest working slowly and pushing the needle from the front of your needle (the sharp part of the needle), as opposed to pushing from the top part (where the eye of the needle is) – you’ll have more grip and control and less pressure would be put on the needle itself.
I have tried and tested the following beading needles and have given it my thumbs-up. I will list my favourite brands in number order.
I have used the Hemline brand for years and years. This was one of my first brands that I began using and I haven’t stopped using it ever since my encounter with it. My university lecture used this brand and I am delighted with it.
The great thing about their packs is that they come in 3 sizes from 10, 13 & 15 and has 6 needles (2 in each size) in each pack.
The negatives would be that these needles do bend a lot, but like I said previously, this was a positive for me personally as it helped me manoeuvre around my work. Some students may also only prefer to use the size 10 needles because is easier to thread into its eye and works with most beads that we use, so it may be frustrating to have 4 needles you can’t really use (as size 13 & 15 beading needles are very difficult to thread into their tiny eyes if you’re a beginner).
The prices are cheaper compared to some of the other brands below, and you could get it for even cheaper at Hobby Craft.
I discovered this brand later on along with PONY when I was looking for 1 size beading needles. I only needed a size 10 as my students found this easiest to thread and it was less likely to bend compared to the smaller sizes 13-15.
JOHN JAMES also comes in packs of 4 in size 10, which was great as I exclusively had the size I wanted in 4 pieces, but was more costly compared to HEMLINE.
PONY is a little more expensive out of the brands above and have options of 3 sizes (10-15) in 1 pack (just like HEMLINE), or you can buy 1 specific size (like a size 10 which is great for most bead sizes) in a pack of 6.
I have also used these with my students and haven’t found a difference in quality and would also recommend this brand. You want to make sure you purchase longer beading needles rather than the short or “sharp” options (which refers to the short length of the bead) as when beading, you’ll be stringing a few beads at a time depending on the embellishment technique you are following.
Tips For Beginners
When starting out with hand embellishment (or beaded embroidery), you want to start off with the largest size available, which is a 10. I would recommend buying a pack that has one size only as you won’t be needing the thinner sizes until you’re confident in hand embellishing.
The brand I would recommend is JOHN JAMES due to its popularity with the world of beaders and because you can purchase one size of needles for a more affordable price compared to PONY.
When threading your beading needles, make sure to snip the tip of your thread diagonally so that you have a fine, pointed thread that will insert much easier into your beading needle’s eye.
I have only ever been exposed to Nymo thread since the start of my embellishment education back in 2010 and I haven’t looked back since. I have read about nylon and other types of threads but I haven’t personally used it and cannot personally recommend it. Nymo thread is fantastic as its very strong and lightly waxed to make the thread glide into your needle much easier.
I had been taught an alternative method if Nymo thread isn’t available. You can use a normal thread but use a wax bar to wax the top section when threading it through your needle. When I worked with factories in India, I found they also used normal thread too, but doubled it up rather than using a single string to make it stronger so that it was less likely to snap with use.
When using Nymo thread, a single string is sufficient due to it durable and strong nature.
Nymo thread comes in various sizes too. Size “OO” is the thinnest, whereas size “F” is the thickest. Size D is the most commonly used size along with B and should work well with a size 10 beading needle for beginners.
Summary
What beginners need:
Beading Needle Size = 10
Seed Bead Size = 11/0 - 6/0
Nymo Thread Size = “D” or “B”
How To Thread Your Beading Needle
Most people have their favourite way of threading their beading needles, and I also have my own favourite method that I teach my students.
I tend to snip my thread diagonally, pinch the tip of the thread between my thumb and index finger, face the eye of the needle on top of the tip of the thread, and “dab” it onto the thread and release my thumb and index finger so the thread pushes into the eye of the needle.
If you’d like a video demo, you can find a detailed explanation on our online course, which comes with 12 lessons of hand embellishment tutorials taking a complete beginner and transforming them into an intermediate level. This course is perfectly designed for children.
Hand embellishment is a fantastic craft for children to master for their overall physical and mental well-being. Finding out about the best needles will help them in their journey of mastering this unique craft.
You can enrol your children onto our online course and find out more about the best equipment and techniques for their craft.
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