Thursday Tip // How to Change Your Needle

Hopefully you know that you SHOULD change your needle, and that it should match the type and weight of your fabric, but in case this is your first time, here's HOW to change your needle.

1. Identify the screw that is holding the needle in place.

2. Unscrew ONLY one or two turns of the screwdriver. You don't even want to know how many times people have lost their screws or completely unscrewed their whole mechanism. Pull the needle out.

3. Identify the rounded and flat side of your new needle. If it's Schmetz, then colours are on the rounded (front) side.

4. Insert your new needle into the hole with the rounded side facing front (facing you), flat side to the back. (MAKE SURE to check your manual if you have a side facing bobbin, that changes things!)

5. Finger tighten the screw, then give it a bit of a twist with your screwdriver.

If you have a little allen key for your serger or coverstitch make sure you keep it in a safe place, and always be sure to only LOOSEN the screw, not take it right out. Those little screws are hell to find if you drop it by accident, and then your whole machine is out of order until you get a new one.

[ID: 1. Text in top right corner reads: Thursday Tip, Change Your Needle. The first slide is a close up of a coverstitch machine with three needles. A screwdriver is pointing to the left hand needle screw.

The video first shows unscrewing the the needle on a domestic sewing machine, opening a package of needles and then replacing the needle. Then a close up of showing different needle screws on a serger/coverstitch, then how to change the righthand needle. End.]