Needle Little More Information
Commercial sewing machine needles are difficult to buy. Needles have both a family (the general shape of the needle) and a size. Most needle families have multiple names for the same family.
Needle family names are alphabet soup: DBX1, 135×16, UY 154. All needles use the same size system, so “size 20” does not narrow down the selection at all. Some needles will use the same family for different point types (DBX1 ball point, DBX1 regular point), and some will use different families for different applications (135×16 is the same as 135×17, except that 16 is a leather point and 17 is a normal point).
Also, despite different needle shapes not being interchangeable in different machines, to the human eye, it’s pretty hard to tell what needle family a needle is just by looking at one. Due to this, most customers need assistance in finding their needle.
My store keeps the commercial needles in a small stock room that customers can’t access, to make sure they get help from an employee to get what they need. There are three rows of shelves stacked floor to ceiling with cardboard boxes full of needles. We can look up the needle family if we know the brand and model of the machine. Sometimes, however, this is difficult.
A customer asks me for Juki needles.
Juki is a brand; however, many customers use “Juki” to refer to all commercial sewing machines. Juki currently makes about twenty models of sewing machines, and they have made many more in the past. Since many commercial machines are kept in use for 30-50 years, “Juki needles” isn’t helpful information.
Me: “Okay, what family of needle is that?”
Customer: “Juki.”
Me: “Do you know the model of the machine?”
Customer: “It’s a Juki.”
Me: “Is it a domestic or a commercial machine?
Customer: “It’s a Juki!”
Me: “Does it sit on a tabletop, or is it built into a piece of furniture? Does it zigzag or only straight stitch? Do you know part of the model number? Does it have a static foot or a walking foot? Do you have a picture of the machine? They all use different needles.”
Customer: *Now chanting.* “Juki! Juki! Juki! Juki!”
Seeing that we are getting nowhere, I walk into the needle room and grab six boxes of needles, which is the most I can easily carry. I go back to the customer.
Me: “These are for Juki.”
I go back into the needle room and get six more boxes.
Me: “Juki.”
I get six more boxes.
Me: “Juki!”
Six more. I gesture at the pile of twenty-four boxes.
Me: “Juki! Juki! Juki! Juki! I can go get more. Tell me what Juki.”
The customer pulls out his phone and scrolls through it for about five seconds.
Customer: “It’s a DDL-8700.”
Me: “What size do you need?”
Customer: “Eighteen.”
Me: “How many? They come in packs of ten.”
Customer: “One pack.”
Me: “I’ll be right back.”
He left with his needles, and the eight minutes that it took to re-shelf twenty-five boxes of needles was worth it.
