Sewing With A Twin Needle

Today I finally tried out my twin needle that I got last September...sad I know! I have NO idea why I waited this long because it is amazingly easy!! I always thought it would be fiddly or difficult but it isn't!!! It's crazy how fear stops you trying something and then once you try it, you wonder why you didn't try it sooner.

I needed to take up the hem of some track pants I bought for Max and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try out the needle. You can see the lovely row of neat, double stitching along the bottom. I would love to get a few twin needles in different widths as I would have used a wider needle if I had one but am still very happy with how these turned out.

I thought I would include a bit of a how-to on using twin needles and some info on stuff I figured out along the way. I spent a lot of time pinning and reading these tutorials and posts over the last few months to help me figure out what to do so I definitely want to give them credit! You will probably even find extra info and tips too! I'm sure I read more than these 3 but these are the only ones I can find right now.

Tutorial 1 at Make it and Love it

Tutorial 2 at Bolt Neighbourhood

Tutorial 3 at Made by Rae

Here's What I Did - How To Sew With A Twin Needle

In a nutshell...

• Buy a twin needle.
• Put it in your machine.
• Pop 2 spools of thread and your bobbin in.
• Thread the needle.
• Sew!

For those who need more details... :-)

1. Buy a twin needle from your local sewing shop. I bought a Klasse Twin Stretch needle, 4mm and size 75 from my local Spotlight store. These needles come in various widths ranging from 1.6mm to 6mm, various sizes, and for various fabrics or threads. You can view the range here. I am sure there are other brands out there but this will give you an idea of what types are available.

2. Put the needle into your machine. They can be used in pretty much any normal sewing machine and you put it in just like a regular, single needle.

3. Put a spool and bobbin or 2 spools of the same colour on the spool holders/pins on your machine. Some machines have 2 permanent spool pins, 1 permanent and one temporary, or only 1 standard spool pin. My machine has 1 permanent pin and 1 temporary pin as you can see below. If you have 2 permanent spool pins, then just pop 1 spool/bobbin onto each pin and if you only have 1 spool pin, go here to see how to put them both on the same pin.

4. Take both threads and thread your machine just as you normally would with 1 thread. It really is that simple with the threading. Don't stress about the threads getting twisted or tangled...it just works! When you get to the needle, separate the threads and thread one through each needle. 

5. Make sure you have a bobbin in the bobbin holder. It doesn't really matter what colour this thread is because it stays on the back side of the fabric quite easily due to the zigzag that it does along the back.

6. Sew!! It is worth doing a few practice runs to make sure the tension is right but once you get that, you just sew like normal! If the fabric seems to pull into a ridge between the 2 rows of stitches, loosening the top thread can help with this. Also ironing can help it to sit flatter. You can back stitch to secure starts and ends and just sew like normal! It really is that easy!! You just have to keep in mind that you can only ever sew with the right side of the fabric up because the underside doesn't look the same as the top.

So that's it! Using a double needle is super easy and can make a big difference when hemming knits or just to add more interest and detail to woven fabrics. I hope that you won't feel so scared to try this now!