Changing the needle on the Brother SE 400

Machine Embroidery Needles

These are again available in a variety of sizes and are generally used in the top end embroidery machines. These machines produce intricate designs at a significant speed. The needles enable the machine to sew dense designs without snagging at the fabric or breaking the needle. More recently Titanium needles have become available. The titanium needles are able to cope with the intense heat that is created by the rapid movement machine to create these designs and not break as an ‘ordinary’ needle would. Embroidery needles also have larger eye’s to accommodate the slightly thicker nature of embroidery thread

Sewing Needle Sizes and their uses.

Needles are sized in metric and imperial. The smaller the numbers the finer the needle. The size of a needle is calculated by its diameter, thus a 90 needle is 0.9mm in diameter.

Size 10 =	70
Size 11 =	75
Size 12 =	80
Size 14 =	90
Size 16 =	100
Size 18 =	110
Size 20 =	120
No 60 =	Silks, cotton lawn, organza and sheer fabrics
No 70 =	Cotton lawn, lining fabrics
No 80 =	Cotton shirting, quilting cotton,
No 90 =	Linen, linen union curtain fabrics, cushion fabrics, cotton sateen curtain linings,
No 100 =	Denim
No 110 =	Upholstery fabrics and canvas weight fabrics, leather, pvc and vinyls
No 120 =	Thick Denim and Heavy Canvas, thick leather

Within the different sewing needle sizes are different types of needles.

Leather Needles

Leather needles are spear shaped to help cut the leather as the stitch is being formed. If you try to sew leather and faux leather with for example an ordinary size 110 needle the machine will struggle. So by using a leather needle the machine will be able to sew more easily.