You know you’ve been there: found a new project in a magazine, gotten all your beads and supplies ready, settled into your favorite chair, Netflix queued up, and you’ve got to thread your needle.
Twenty minutes later, you still need to thread your needle.
You yell. You curse. You threaten said needle. Threaten the sky, the dog, anybody in yelling distance.
C’mon. I know you’ve been there.
Well, have no fear! I am here to show you in a couple of easy steps how to successfully thread a needle without losing a grasp on your sanity.
First, start with waxing your thread using either artificial beeswax or the real thing. Beeswax will help keep all the fibers of the thread together and prevent that annoying “I got two little pieces of the thread through but not the rest of it!” thing.
Then, you are going to hold the thread between your thumb and forefinger. Hold it so that you can’t see the thread unless you spread your fingers apart a little. Like this:
(All photos are showing a tapestry needle and satin cord in place of a beading needle and thread so that you can clearly see the process here!)
Now bring the eye of the needle TO the thread, making sure that the eye is facing UP, like so:
Push the needle down to the thread while parting your fingers at the same time, allowing the thread and needle to near each other. Once they are close enough, allow the thread to push up into the eye of the needle.
Pull the thread through, and look what happened!
A successfully threaded needle! No tears, no threats of violence on inanimate objects! Now you can bead. 🙂
Note: Practice this a few times until you are comfortable with the process and are successful in threading the needle a few times. If the thread is fraying from previously unsuccessful attempts, make sure to trim it down to start out with a fresh, blunt end of thread.
Happy beading!
