How to Use a Needle Threader

One of the most overlooked aspects of quilting is our needle. It's small, it's insignificant; but it plays a major role in finishing our quilts when we do the bindings, in applying applique, hand stitched applique, and also for hand quilting. But while needles are a wonderful little tool, they are pesky when it comes to threading. And the older we get, the more our eyes don't want to cooperate, and the harder that needle becomes to thread. So, today I want to show you three different types of needle threaders that I find work very, very nicely and efficiently for me. The first one is this little desk model and it's very simple to operate. It has a place for your needle. It has a place for the thread. There's a little cutter, and then this is the threader. So, let me show you how this works. I'm gonna take our needle and we wanna make sure that the eye of the needle is facing to the ends of the needle threader. And then we're gonna take our thread and we lay it right in here in that little slot right ahead of the threader. And then we simply press down. And if you watch closely, you should be able see it picking up the thread and threading it. Oops. And then you pull it out. And as you can see, it's already through and that's all it takes to thread your needle. And that is very, very simple to do. So again, you put your needle in with the eye facing to the end, you lay the thread in, and you go ahead and press the threader. And you can even use this right there as the cutter to cut the end of your thread. Very slick. It's my favorite I must admit. The next one is the more traditional needle threader that you will find in little sewing kits and it's easy to hold onto. And it's a little hard to see but this is a little, thin wire here, kind of a diamond shape that your thread is going to go through. So, what we do is we place the threader through the eye of the needle and I should have my thread ready first. With the eye then I just, you wanna cut your thread. if you don't, it makes it a little more difficult to thread. Actually, the hardest part here is getting hold of your thread. So, now we're just gonna push that, put that through rather, your threader and you can see that it's in there and then you hold the needle and you pull the thread through. And once again you have a threaded needle. Very, very easy to do. Probably the most difficult part of this one is getting the little wire through your eye of your needle. So, now I want to show you something that most people wouldn't think of being a needle threader. This is called a floss threader, and it's used, you'll find it in the dental aisle at your local drug store. And it has a long end on it that's straight and then a loop. So, with this one it's very similar to the previous threader. I wanna take and put the straight end through my needle like that. I'm going to take my thread And put it through the needle threader. Oops, that big and I missed it. That's pretty bad. And then I simply hold onto my needle and pull the threader through and it brings your thread and your needle is threaded. Now the nice part, especially about the floss threaders, is if you like to do embellishments on your quilt. If you want to put some crewel embroidery on with a thicker yarn, let's say, or even ribbon work, this is very easy to thread through your needle. And I think you'll be very pleased so that you aren't fighting, trying to push that thread through. Also, for you long arm quilters out there, I like to use this to put my thread and to get through some of the little tiny tension loops that I have to go through on the machine. This makes it very, very easy. And I just put it up on top where one of my knobs is for the the laser light. And it's a good place to hold it there so you don't lose it. So three different methods for threading a needle. Of course, you still have the old-fashioned way of trying to get the thread through with your eye and it's a hand-eye coordination test. But I find that I'd rather be quilting than fighting with my needle. So again, I highly recommend any of these. First, the floss threader from the drug store, the traditional threader that you'll find in little sewing kits, and finally your desk threader. I'm all for making my life simple and I hope this will make yours easier too.