Passing a Camel Through the Eye of a Needle

The characteristics of a needle, and those of the thread must be taken into consideration when trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.  There are several methods of threading a needle.  But first you have to deal with the camel.

1.       You have to catch a camel.  AND give him a good brush up.

2.       You must clean, card, and spin the camel’s combed hair.

3.       The spun camel hair thread will pass through the eye of a needle. 

A CAMEL HAS PASSED THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE.

Getting the camel hair thread through the eye of a needle can be tricky.  It may help to know, generally speaking, how a needle is made.

Steel is squeezed through consecutively smaller holes until it reaches the desired dimensions of the needle.  A hole is punched through one end and a point is made at the other end.

In olden times needles were hard to come by and one needle was carefully housed in some pretty ingenious needle cases.  A favourite gift for a sailor’s lady was a whalebone needle case carved with care during long trips at sea.  Often the sailor decorated the exterior with etching on its outer surface:  scrimshaw.  Sometimes these needle cases held tools for tatting and netting and sewing.  

Nowadays, there are needles for just about every use.  Small, sharp needles are used in quilting, while small blunt needles are used in petitpoint needlework.

Needles come with big eyes and little ones, with round eyes and oval ones.  And some have square eyes.  Some needles are really 2 pieces of steel joined at each end:  twist them and an elongated ‘eye’ opens. 

Some needles are long and strong to be used in making soft animals and dolls.  They have very large eyes.  And some needles are curved:  they are used in upholstery making and saddles and shoes.  And sometimes fine ones are used in beading.  The long fine beading needles are also called ‘straw’ needles for their similarity to a length of straw.

Thin, flexible strands of steel twisted together have nice round holes which collapses as it goes through beads.  The eye of these needles will remain collapsed the more often they are used. These and the long lean beading needles found in packages of different needles are flimsy and give way under the weight of beads. Both sharp needles and blunt ones can be used in beading,  my present day passion. 

Needles are assigned a standard number depending on its use and its size.  The higher the number, the smaller the needle.  Course needles with great big eyes are used in canvas needlepoint while a 26 or a 28 needle is used in petitpoint on silk gauze.

No matter what needle is selected, the eye must be large enough to fit the thread.  And it must make a hole big enough to pass through the fabric or bead that the camel hair thread passes through easily.  If you find yourself tugging at the needle, try a needle with a larger eye.

What do you do when your local needlework store is closed and you need a blunt needle but you have nothing but sharp needles?  Keep a dulling tool in your workroom.  My dulling tools are big stones, rounded and smoothed by the Pacific Ocean.  I found them when walking on the beach at Qualicum Beach, Vancouver Island. Rubbing the point of the sharp needle on a rock will make it a blunt needle in no time.  Pay attention, though, that you don’t have any rough spots as you grind down the point:  you don’t want to add snags to your beautiful embroidery.

4.       You can cut the camel hair thread on the bias to help it through the eye.

5.       A disgusting habit, but one even I have practised, is to lick the end of the thread and push it through.  It helps if you also stick the eye of the needle in your mouth:  that little extra saliva helps draw the thread through.  Cut the sopping mess of the thread end off before you begin stitching.

6.       Dip the thread end into some white glue and set it aside to dry.  Once dry it will be stiff and strong.  It now replaces the need for a needle.  Remember to cut off the glued end when your thread is finished.  This, obviously, is used in canvas work.

6.       If you wish, you can fold the camel thread over the end of the needle and, held securely between thumb and forefinger, have the eye of the needle edged over the folded thread.  This works particularly well when you are doing needlepoint or crewel work with wools:  they tend to be fuzzy and must be trained to go through the eye.

         Handmade Japanese needles are wonderful to work with:  they are fine and small.  And they have a square eye.  The foldover method works particularly well with the flat silk threads used in the Japanese silk embroideries. 

7.       Another method of getting the camel through the eye of the needle is to place the end in a small piece of paper folded over which is then passed through the needle’s eye.  I personally have never used this method because it seems to me to be adding bulk where you don’t want it.

8.       Remember my telling you that the eye is a hole punched into the steel?  Well, that plays an important role when trying to thread your camel hair thread through that needle’s eye.  On one side it is smooth an curves inward but on the other side there is a bit of a lip at the edge of the eye. 

         If the camel just flatly refuses to go through the eye, turn the needle around and try threading from the other side.

8.       When all else fails, get somebody else to get your camel hair thread through the eye of your needle.

From grooming your camel to making needles and threading them:  you are now ready for the next steps - - designing and stitching a beautiful piece of art.  Congratulations!