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Hi everyone, I have a large stock of cross stitch needles. There are in a bit of a mix up. Any new project I buy new needles. Needing to do a clear out and a bit of organisation

1. How does everyone store the needles in individual sizes.

2. With loose needles how can you determine the size.

Many thanks

Doreen

DMC makes a fan shaped, purple needle case with 5 or 6 compartments in it. I wrote a needle size on a slip of paper and taped it inside the compartment slot so I could easily see the size I needed. To determine the needle size, I downloaded a sizing chart from the internet (do a search, I can't remember where from) that has needle lengths and lay down my needles next to the lengths to see what size they are. Be sure your printer is accurate, break out a ruler with 32th/inch and mm markings and measure the needle lengths on the chart to make sure they are what they are supposed to be. For instance, a 22 needle is supposed to be 8mm, so when you print the chart, measure that line and make sure it is 8mm. If you're really OCD, you could keep a couple of the DMC cases and have one for each brand of needle and then sub-sort them by size.

I haven't gotten around to finding a replacement for photo bucket. If you want pictures, PM me and I can send them to you from my phone.

I like needle boxeslike these:

I buy bulk packs of Bohin 28s. I park keeping the needles threaded so I'll have 25 needles or more going at once. I have some 26s in a box somewhere; and I have a box of bigger sizes, but since I rarely use them, I throw everything bigger than 26s in one box and pick by sight which one looks like it might be big enough for that task.

I can't improve on DisneyStitcher's suggestion for printing a full scale needle chart to compare loose needles or just use the chart as a reference and measure the needles. If you've bought petites, though, you might have to compare them to known needle widths unless you find a needle chart that gives petite sizes, too.

I get the DMC needles in a pack of 5 but there's plenty of space for a lot more so that's where I keep mine. I have about 20 in the one pack after getting them in cross stitch kits xxx