We are both proud to be a part of a special group: the Valley Quail Chapter of the Embroiderer’s Guild of America. This chapter, based in California, just celebrated our 35th anniversary and is a group of dedicated and talented needleworkers that have fostered some amazing teachers as well as created a very innovative tool: the Needle Index.
Back in 1996, our then president and two members had a brainstorm to raise funds to support the chapter’s educational programs and they created the Needle Index. This little book has been in production ever since.
It is a page by page inventory of a variety of needles including Crewel, Embroidery, Beading, Darners, Quilting, and many others. Each page has a brief overview of what makes the particular needle useful, a description of the eye shape, shaft, and tip, as well as a size chart. In addition, for each needle there is an insert of scottish wool for storing the needle which retards possible rusting as well as a detailed chart which gives the user an idea of what size to use for what types of threads.
We both love our needle index books and use them all the time -- they are truly an invaluable resource!
Needles are so important to embroidery that our next blog post will be all about them.