double needle

Elizabeth Hall scrawled in bright red lipstick:

No, it's two needles parallel to each other, set into a single stem for insertion. You can use it for topstitching. They come in widths from 2 mm to 6 mm.

No Liz, that's something different. As others have explained, a double needle is two needles on one shaft, which fits into the machine like a single needle would.

What you're thinking of is a double eye needle. Clotilde sells them through their catalog or website.

No - the eyes are side by side, one on each needle.

:) Trish

Well I have never seen those before. Could I do multi-colour embroidery do you think with these? Liz

I'd never seen these double-eye needles before - on the website it looks as if multi-colour embroidery works well with them. I am very tempted to buy some and have a play. Anyone here used them?

:) Trish

I have some, left over from my stint as a sewing editor for a craft website. They're tricky to use; you need to watch carefully so the thread doesn't get tangled, especially if you're using metallic thread. But they do work well, for embroidery with two colors, for instance.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

I will give this a try, then. I'm up for any new machine embroidery technique - I do quite a bit of twin-needle stuff on my Elna because it came with a twin needle and a section in the workbook on how to use it.

:) Trish