FabShop Hopper Sharon sent us in this reminder about easy ways to thread needles. (I admit, I have never mastered the automatic needle threader myself!)

My tip has to do with needles. I have arthritis, severe dry eye syndrome (which makes for really, really bad blurred and double even triple vision–ever tried to thread one needle when there are three in front of your eyes?) and glaucoma, so threading needles is always a challenge. I hate having to keep up with my standing needle threader plus you have to get the eye of the needle positioned just right to get it to thread properly. And the needles where you just pull the thread down into a slot from the top are usually too large for the 11-12 stitches per inch I strive for in my hand quilting… I was very grateful when a fellow quilter shared her threading technique, which works with even small-eyed needles.

So, after the above rambling preamble, here it is:

Put the eye of the needle in your mouth and wet it with your tongue, pull it out and thread your needle just as you would normally. What’s the secret? The moisture left in the eye draws the thread to it where the fabric of the thread acts as a wick and helps to draw it through the eye. Ta Da! The thread can be either wet or dry; I like to wet mine in my mouth first and flatten the end with my teeth. A variation of this works for those of us who still have not caught up with automatic sewing machine needle threading: wet the tip of your finger and place it behind the eye of your machine needle, then thread as usual; the moisture on your finger is now the attraction for the fabric of your thread.

Hope my fellow Fab Shop Hoppers find this helpful!