Sewing Science - Up Close with Sewing Needles
This past weekend I was changing out my sewing needles and it made me wonder just what happens to a sewing needle with use. I almost always change my needle with every project, unless it's just been gently used for hemming or something similar. And we're of course told to change needles often for better sewing. So during my lunch break I put some new and used needles into the SEM (scanning electron microscope) to see what they looked like under high magnification. First, the 90/14 ballpoints. I had a new and some used. (These are Organ Needles, FYI). New needle, Magnification 2670x Used needle, Magnification 2970x Used needle, Magnification 2510x. This one is my favorite. I like the dent in the top of it. The damage on the ballpoints isn't extreme. I'm not sure which, but one of the used ones I only used in finishing up some projects that were primarily done on the serger, so just necklines and hems, pretty light use over several projects on on...