Change of needle
 

How often do you all change a sewing machine needle? Some say 4 hours of sewing, some say 10 and more. What do you do?

Unless I break one (sigh, happens), when I finish a quilt, I clean the sewing machine, oil/lube, and put in a new needle. I have mostly antique Singer sewing machines. However, I do have the Singer Anniversary, a Singer Curvy and an Elna and these 3 are newer (last 5 years old) and they don't need that kind of attention so I always put in a new needle and clean the bobbin area at the completion of a quilt on them.

I switched to titanium needles from Superior (I suppose there are other brands, also). I never have problems with dull needles or burrs. So, I change them when they break-usually because I hit a pin dead on or hit the throat plate because I have not been careful as I set up different feet for different stitch patterns. I have a large selection of needle types and sizes and use the appropriate one for the project I am working on. I store needles I am using in a red tomato pin cushion that I have written needle information in the various sections. I use a flower pin in the section from which I took the needle in the machine-that way I know what is there. I have been amazed at how long needles last. I see no need to throw away a needle that is causing no difficulty because I have used it for a pre-determined time.

If I do a lot of applique, I change it out more often than when just piecing.

I change it when the needle becomes dull.

I change it after piecing a large quilt. If I'm doing smaller items, I loose track. I also change it when I break it or if I hear a popping sound as the needle pierces the fabric. It's probably longer than 10 hours.

The length of time is variable .... just as the type of sewing we all do is variable.
Types of fabrics, FMQing (seldom? often? type?), batting, hitting a pin, paper piecing, breakage, dull .....

Get to know your machine and the difference in how it stitches and sounds before and after a needle change. If you do, you will soon know that it's time to change the needle!

I change my needle whenever it breaks or when I need a different size, then I'll put that needle back in, when I'm done or if the needle starts making a "different" sound.

I use different needles based on the project I'm doing, techniques I'm using, fabric/thread requirements. Because of the nature of my projects, I often use a different needle for different parts of a project--I might use one needle for piecing a top, another kind of needle for doing any decorative embellishment if the thread calls for it and yet another kind of needle for FMQ and binding. So it really doesn't make sense to me to start with a new needle for each new project. When I switch one needle out I put it back in the needle case it came from for re-use later so it's kind of hard to figure out how many hours I've been sewing with a particular needle. I usually do a small test piece before starting to sew, so have an idea from that if the needle is still in good shape.

Otherwise, I listen to the sound the needle makes as it pierces the fabric. That's usually a pretty good indicator if it's time to change the needle out--the sound changes.

If your needle starts pulling up on the fabric with a popping sound, or you start getting thread fraying, or your stitch quality deteriorates-- those can be signs the needle has gotten a bur on it or is dull--or it might have to do with lint in your bobbin case, wrong upper threading, etc. LOL.

Rob