needle size for Portuguese Whitework

Firstly, I believe that the Sydney region bush fires have made news around the world. I live in Sydney, but I’d like to assure you that I am fine, and the closest fire is about 50km away from us. We have prepared our home for bush fire, though I still have a little more to do, but can’t do it until after our bins are emptied later in the week! The fires are alarmingly huge and dangerous, and many people have lost their homes. Incredibly, only one life has been lost, and we all hope that that is the way it stays. If you’re a praying person, please pray for significant rain, and for wisdom, safety and endurance for the fire fighters and all who are assisting them.

Now, on to needlework.

One of the things I often find when teaching Portuguese Whitework is that people do not like using a no 24 tapestry needle with 38 count linen, as it feels too big. Admittedly it does feel like a crow bar with such fine fabric. However, there is a really good reason for using a needle so large when stitching with the fabric.

The idea of a needle is to create a hole in the fabric large enough to comfortably take the thread through. It needs to be large enough to take the doubled thread through, as there are two threads emerging from the needle’s eye – one on each side.

As we’re working with pearl 8, when you double pearl 8 thread, you really need a tapestry 24 needle to make a large enough hole. A No 26 tapestry needle, while it feels like more of the correct size, doesn’t create a hole large enough.

If you don’t make a large enough hole in the fabric, you will get more wear and tear on the thread. It will go fluffy quicker, and therefore you will need to use shorter lengths to counteract it.

So while a No 24 tapestry needle seems way too large for Portuguese Whitework, that is the reason why we use them.