What are needleminders and why should I have one (or more!)?
If you follow along on any of my social media accounts (especially my Instagram) you may have noticed my WIPs often have cute, silly or pretty little pins on them. What are those, anyway?, I hear you asking.
They're called "needleminders" and basically they're an adorable little magnet. A lot of them are made from things such as enamel pins (without the pin part), polymer clay or regular 'ol buttons!
They're a way for an embroiderer to keep track of their needle without piercing the fabric in an "ugly" way (which can leave the fabric disfigured and even sometimes rust it if left too long!). You can just simply drop your needle -regardless of if it has thread attached still or not- on to and know that it isn't going to get lost. And stab you unsuspectingly.
There are two other useful things you can do with needleminders that might not be so obvious:
- Keeping track of your spare floss strands if you are stitching using the "parking" method. I haven't talked about the parking method of cross-stitching (it's usually done in large, full-coverage pieces) so read about it here!
- Holding something close to your work in place, such as your printed pattern! You've only got two hands, after all!
Some little examples in-the-wild of needleminders I own!
I've been super keen on needleminders for the longest time but it was only until very recently that I realised I could make them myself - whaaaat!
Yes, just buy some super, super-glue (like E6000), neodymium magnets (they need to be super-strong, which is why I recommend these) and the thing you want to be your needleminder and voila!
So I've been indulging on my hidden love of enamel pins as of late and doing things such as backing Kickstarters I like or finding ones on Etsy, snipping the pin on the back and turning them into adorable minders for my needles. Who've thought, huh? (except all the people who've come before me already thinking this, of course - haha!)
Would a post on how I make enamel pins into needleminders be something you'd like to see as a blog post in the future? Let me know in the comments below!
