Punch needle

Punch needle is a form of manual embroidery in which the crafter uses a needle to push a continuous strand of yarn into a foundation fabric.

by Arounna Khounnoraj

by Adeline Wang

by Juliette Michelet

Unique Double Aesthetic

When the needle pierces the fabric, it simultaneously creates a loop on the back side of the fabric and a flat stitch on the top.

The side with the flat stitches is more detailed and resembles traditional embroidery, while the side with the loop stitches is textured like a rug.

Needles

The needle used for this craft is also referred to as a punch needle.

Punch Needles come in different styles, materials, and sizes.

Some needles are adjustable (1 and 3), which means that the height of the metal needle can be varied to obtain different loop heights. The Oxford (3) needles are not adjustable yet they are easier to thread.

The size of the needle indicates the thickness of the yarn that it can support. The yarn needs to continuously slide through the needle’s channel as we are punching. If the yarn gets stuck on the needle we will not create even loops and will most likely unravel previous stitches while punching.

In general, all punch needles have a handle with a channel running through it and a metal needle with an eye on the top.

Our Needle

For this workshop, we will be using an adjustable needle with three interchangeable needle tips.

To change the needle tips and adjust the height we need to:

loosen the screw
place the desired needle tip at the desired heighttighteninto
thighten the screw to avoid the needle slipping in the needle channel.

5mm for bulky yarn

3.5mm for medium yarn

2.5mm for light yarn and embroidery floss

Holding the needle

Punch needles are grabbed in a similar to pencils. You should feel comfortable holding your needle.

Threading a punch needle

Punch needles are threaded using a thin long wire.

Insert the wire into the main channel of the needle.
Put the yarn on the wire at the end of the needle.
Pull the wire completely through.
pass the wire through the eye of the needle to grab the yarn.

Punching

Let's start punching:

Thread your needle.
Pierce the fabric until the metal needle completely passes through the fabric.
slowly pull the needle out of the fabric.
glide the needle to its next position and punch again.

Good practices

The eye of the needle indicates the back side while the small flat area indicates the front side.

The front side of the needle should always be looking at the position where you will place your next stitch.

The needle should be held on a 60 to 90-degree (with respect to the fabric) angle while piercing the fabric.

Incorrect angles can create uneven loops and unravel previous stitches.

After punching the fabric, the needle should glide over the fabric. When the needle is raised too much over the fabric, the flat stitches will be "wavy" instead of flat against the fabric.

Let's practice

Choose the fabric that is most appealing to you.
Get your needle and one yarn (there is no limit on the colors you can add to your piece).
thread your needle and start punching.

We will have approximately 40 minutes to practice.

Other punch needle stitches

By changing the length of the punch needle stitch we can achieve visually different stitches.

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