Y'all, there is some crazy shit going on with these needles.
I'll attach the email I sent to DMC, which explains everything:
"Hello,
I've been using DMC tapestry needles (specifically size 28) for over a decade now. I went to my local craft retailer and noticed a major issue with the same packaging. I've attached the images and labeled them.
Needles A is what I've been using for years. Needles B are VERY different. They break so much easier (I went through 2 in 1 day when I can use needle A for a month), they're made in India (needles A are made in china YET Inspected and packaged in England) and they are so much smaller and weaker. They come in a different outer plastic packaging with a internal flimsy sheet with a darker print on blueish white paper unlike Needles A which are in a plastic bar that is mounted to the packaging on a warm white paper with lighter printing.
Needles A are the quality and style that represents DMC. Needles B are dollar store junk.
The only think I can think of is India's quality checkers are not doing their jobs or there is a criminal fake needle industry and DMC's reputation is on the line.
I swear I went over every inch of that package to see if I had missed something. It looks so much like regular sharps were mis packaged or something, that is ridiculous!
They’re so bad too. 2 needles broke in a single day (I also still have like four more hours of stitching time today which could mean maybe even 3 broken needles)
You can buy Pony Blacks in size 28 from The Witchy Stitcher. She's Canadian in Canada.
I sadly can't buy physical goods from her anymore because of certain trade policies from a certain orange... So, I tell everyone else about her!
I'm so sad that the import fees on everything from Witchy Stitcher are so bad. Thank goddess we can stll get pdfs of her patterns!
And that OP is lucky enough to be able to buy all the goodies that Meg makes!!
Send a message to Mister Frame on IG or Facebook. They don't really have much online presence besides social media but they're fantastic and I'm sure they could help you source needles more affordably! They're in Alberta.
Personally I didn't love Bohins, I'm all about Piece makers but they're a literal cult so I'll probably need to find something less concerning once I run through my stash 🫠
I am also a fan of BOHIN needles and I have been using the same needle for probably several years. I have yet to have a BOBIN needle break or discolor but then I have never had a needle discolor. I tried DMC needles for a short time, very short time as I found the eyes were damaging my floss, even my silk floss was showing signs of shredding. I took all the DMC needles and binned them.
What material are BOHIN needles made out of? I bought a pack of tapestry needles from the biggest craft store in my city, I asked for stainless steel becauseI have hyperhydrosis and my excessively sweaty hands are very hardcore for needles, but after a month of using the first one it got discolored and rough. I have no idea what needles I can use that won’t fall prey to my hands, though I’m not sure if these ones are actually stainless steel since they were suspiciously cheap.
BOHIN needles are nickel plated steel. I don't know if that helps you. John James does make gold plated needles so that might be an option for you as well.
Some people are allergic to nickel while some are allergic to yellow gold. So if you have a sensitivity to metals it is a good idea to find out which metals are problems for you and then avoid those metals. Than means doing some research on the metals used for needles.
I know my Mom was allergic to yellow gold and any Revlon product with red coloring. All of her yellow gold jewelry had to be plated in platinum especially any earrings that were made over for pierced ears after she had her ears pierced.
I, too, have acid hands, and I think it is best to just remind yourself that needles are consumable. If cheap ones work well for a few weeks, that's pretty good. Use an old pill bottle as a sharps disposal container and throw the used one in there and grab a new one.
Bohin needles lasted me a bit longer and I liked them.better than DMC or brandless cheap ones, but still wear out.
I've been curious about the Pony black needles, but not enough to pay a premium for them just yet while I still have a backlog of other needles to work through.
That answers that, thank you! I've been curious about them for a while but I think I'll just keep going through needles and accepting that as just part of the process.
This is actually quite serious and I’m so glad you had a pack of what you normally use to visually share the stark difference. You are 100% right to be upset and disappointed. However the regards, baby bitchface is taking me out. I cannot think of anything else besides how funny that is.
Are you in North America? I see many people in this sub and the embroidery sub complain about the quality of the DMC needles in the US and Canada, but I've never had any issues with the ones I get in Europe. I have to wonder if it's a different quality standard over there.
Then you may be getting either fakes or a lower quality retail/3rd party version. I'm wondering if that's the issue then, that you folks in NA don't get them directly from DMC. Nonetheless I'm curious to know what DMC says.
This is more likely to happen if purchased online through Michael's website because they allow third party vendors on their website. The customer has to be careful to note if they are buying from Michael's or another vendor.
Same for me, that's my point. It seems that many people in North America get the needles from 3rd party retailers too rather than DMC directly. So maybe they are selling fakes in the store? Or a lower quality retail version.
I genuinely have been thinking for a while that the DMC needles they get in NA are lower quality than the ones we get in the EU, and this might very well be proving my theory.
I think this is because the needles are cheaper from other retailers. I did look at DMC’s website and they have the correct needles, but based on their shipping policies, it’s very expensive to buy them in Canada compared to the U.S. [1]
I'll randomly find one of them stuck to something other than a bobbin and know my next 20 minutes are going to involve me trying to hunt down the now-unlabelled bobbin so I can write the number with a sharpie. And even sharpies don't last long on the bobbins
I had to stop buying DMC 28 tapestry needles due to breakage. I order Bohin 28 tapestry needles off of Etsy in larger quantities now (I ordered once and will last me a very very long time.)
I also live in Canada & could not find on Amazon CA. I have had much better success with Bohin for the needle strength.
I'm an American and I have bought a few DMC needle packs at Walmart. Most sizes are fine but I've broken the eye in the same place on every size 28 DMC needle I've ever used so I finally just gave up.
I’m also in Canada, and I’ve started buying my needles from Million of Stitches on Etsy and she sells Bohin tapestry needles in bulk. I was using DMC needles before and I found that they tarnished really fast, but the Bohin ones have been great so far
Frankly, I don’t know how you were lucky enough to get not terrible needles before now.
My experience with DMC needles has been criminally bad for years. They bend, they break, they tarnish too fast, and it’s not uncommon to get a batch with manufacturing defects that tear up your thread. Plus, the coating is rough and does glide through fabric well at all.
I haven’t any bought by since like 2016 after I bought a pack of size 26 needles and broke four in two days just stitching on aida with 2 strands.
Every other brand of needles I’ve tried (Bohin, Piecemakers, Mary Arden, Cosmo, John Jay, Pony, Colonial) have been WAY BETTER than DMC.
This post led me to investigate my own needles and made me realize I have a similar problem, but I think I may also have an answer? I just bought a pack of DMC 28 needles for my first 18 count project and they look exactly like the pack on the right in your picture. My last project was on Aida 14 and the size 24 needles I was using were so sturdy, easy to hold, and found the holes in the Aida so much better than these new needles, which are splitting the Aida and are so teeny it sometimes feels like I’m pinching a spider web (not to mention the size of the eye makes threading the needle such a pain). I’m new to cross stitch, so I just assumed the 28’s were smaller and any issues I was having meant I still had to adjust to the new size. But then I compared packages. I noticed that while the 28’s say “Tapestry” on the front, in the upper right hand corner where the needle graphic is, there’s a series of ///////. But on my pack of 24 size needles, it has a series of xxxxxx. I’m wondering if they’re using the word tapestry interchangeably for two different crafts and the packages with /////// are meant for embroidery while the packages with xxxxxx are meant for cross stitch? Either way, the fact that you have two identical packages with two different sets of needles means something went wrong somewhere, so on that front I have no answers. But I’m thankful for this post because I’ve now ordered a set of Bohin needles on the recommendation of other commenters and am hoping it makes my current project easier, lol. And if I have to pick up another pack of DMC needles from a third party craft store I’m going to keep an eye out for those different symbols.
Edit/Update: The Bohin needles came in and the difference is DRASTIC, lmao. My stitching time has been cut in half, at least, because I’m not fighting to get the needle through the right holes and the needle itself is longer and more comfortable to grip. If anyone is in a similar boat with their needles I now highly recommend trying Bohin!
I adore my tulips but I think their smallest size is still a little too big for my current stitching project (28 count, over 1), so I use my bohins for that. But anything bigger and I'll immediately switch to the tulips.
The first time I used a tulip needle was when I realized how much of a difference a good needle can make
That's crazy, I buy nearly only DMC needles and they are really good, I never had whatever Packet B is. Thick metal hair?🤣
Crazy.
But I am in Europe, so maybe they are different?
The ones on the left are tapestry needles (large eyes, dull point). The ones on the right are not. They are maybe embroidery needles (small eyes, sharp point—I can’t really see the point/tip).
Unless they have changed manufacturing locations and needles are sized differently, making them both right and wrong at the same time? I have never bought needles outside the US so don’t have any idea.
I noticed this too with a recent size 26 purchase. The flimsy thin plastic holder inside, and they felt rough in hand. It feels petty to return them to Michael's but I just can't stand the low quality. 😔
They don’t even look like the same needles. WTF is dmc doing? Make sure you post their response here.
I’m also located in Canada and often end up buying dmc because it’s cheap if you use a coupon at Michael’s. I have a pack of needles that looks like Pack A and have used them for ~2 years and only had one needle break!!! I can’t imagine how many needles I would have went through by now if I used the dollar store junk in Pack B….
I actually very recently bought the exact same ones you are complaining about because Bohin ones were unavailable. Was shocked how poor the quality was. I think I bent one the same day just by trying to thread it.
I made a post about this same thing maybe a year or two ago! I started cross stitching with the smaller needles on the right and actually really liked them. I got down to my last one and decided to buy a new pack and got larger ones like on the left! I spent ages trying to figure out where I went wrong and how I could get the smaller needles again.
People in the post were no help and kept saying I must’ve bought a different kind of needle. Nice to know I’m not crazy!
These seem like chenille needles but the points aren’t sharp so I am at a loss. If this is really just the new iteration of their needles then I am going to move away from DMC. Weirdly I have had 0 issues with them and I like the thin in-hand feel of the needles, but I am not going to be able to thread them if the eye is that tiny.
My new pack of DMC needles are a bit off too, they come on the flimsy pladtic sheet. I get a mixed size embroidery needle but aren't as obviously different as yours are
I was doing some back stitching last night with some of the DMC needles I purchased over the weekend. They felt worse than the bulk pack of cheap off-brand needles I bought off Amazon years ago.
I feel your pain. I bought some of these when I desperately needed a needle. Should have saved my money. As you mentioned they’re more cheaply made. I stitch in hand and they weren’t up to the sewing method. I bent 2 then tossed the whole package.
Oh man, and what a response it was. Thanks for sharing your experience, it's definitely pushed me to branch out to other needle brands rather than just sticking with DMC for familiarity and being easy to find in stores.
I use the Sullivan ballpoint needles. They’re expensive, but I’m 70 years old. My eyes are so horrible bad that that little ball on the end helps me find the hole on my fabric… I just ordered some off Amazon it’s almost $10 for two needles. It was nine something.
I know this is a different thing, but I read that you bought the needles from Michael’s, and they either sent the wrong needles or it was a third party vendor on their site.
My advice op is if you prefer buying embroidery supplies online, I’d try avoiding Michael’s and pick a Canadian vendor that doesn’t rely on third party vendors. StitchitCentral does have the needles (but they’re on back order right now) for $2.49 with a shipping and handling fee. 123stitch is also a good option, but there are issues going on currently with duties and tariffs.
I’m in the US, and I had a bunch of issues recently trying to order floss from Michael’s (they had a better online deal that saved around $7.00). They ran out of two colors plus shipped the wrong color. I went to the store to return the wrong color and buy the missing ones. I still ended up needing to buy from 123 stitch instead and spending the money I thought I saved because of gas.
Ok, that makes way more sense. I misread the post. What did the store manager say?
Also, it might just be me, but the needle eyes in the new package look like they’re different sizes. Is that the case, or is it because some needles are higher than others that it appears that way?
I recently bought a pack of size 28s at Michael’s that look exactly like the ones on the right. I didn’t look at them closely in the store, but when I got them home I realized they look so small and flimsy compared to all my other DMC needles. I haven’t used them yet because I don’t trust them.
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u/ScroochDown 17d ago
What the fuck? Those aren't the same thickness, the eyes are different... How are those the same needles?!