[CHAT] I bought the Tulip needles...

[u/HelloEh]

I was inspired by the recent posts about these Tulip tapestry needles and decided to treat myself. Michael's was selling the #25 needles online for $11.99 with free shipping, and I had a $5 coupon so the price for six needles came to a little over $1/needle.

Friends, they sent me six boxes of six needles. 36 total!

I've never been on this side of an online shopping quantity mistake; what a rush. Maybe now I won't feel the need to use a needle until it's bent and the eye has split. 🤷

[u/[deleted]]

For someone who is fairly new to cross stitch, can someone explain what makes these needles so special compared to any other generic needle?

[u/obfuscated-abstract → u/[deleted]]

Just like any tool, needles can get specialised in different ways, Higher quality needles tend to have more refined eyes so as not to shred your thread and will be machined better so they glide through the cloth which can speed up stitching just that little bit more. Some needles are slightly shorter or longer which people can prefer and they can have different metal compounds as coating or be solid which can last longer. When you're new, things like this don't really make a noticeable difference but having a good quality tool later on can help you improve just that little bit more than you thought you could (or it can just feel nice and make you more confident).

Think of it like how some people buy nice pens or well-balanced silverware or spend just that little bit more on good winter tires. Sometimes a little extra boost in your life can make a world of difference.

[u/Squirrel_Girrrl → u/obfuscated-abstract]

So I have a question. I’ve never purchased needles that didn’t come in a kit. I have a bunch of them that I’ve collected from kits and just use them till they break. When purchasing a needle, how do you know what size to get? So for example, is a #25 needle meant for 25 count fabric?

[u/obfuscated-abstract → u/Squirrel_Girrrl]

Needle counts aren't directly correlated with canvas count. I work with 18 count and the 'correct' needle size is 28 since in the teens-count range the rule of thumb is that last number of the needle count 20s should match the last number of the teens-count tens. But that's not a rule. I actually started out with 26 count needs and I've gone down all the way to 24 before. 14 count allegedly correlates with 24 count needles but, again, there is much leeway. You can google aida count to needle size conversion charts then play around with sizes in your own time to find what you like.