I was teaching a workshop on hand-stitching over the weekend and had to provide all the materials, so I went to the store to pick up a new supply of embroidery needles. When I think that centuries ago, a woman might own only two needles in her lifetime, I feel a great culture shock. I go through needles by the dozens; not that I lose them, but they mysteriously distribute themselves among my various sewing kits, pincushions, pin dishes, embroidery bags and so forth, and occasionally go to live with my friends and family.
I picked up a couple of packs of needles in the sewing department, along with some fabric, and then went toward the yarn/embroidery section to get a new bag of floss. And to my surprise, found the same embroidery needles in a different color package, with a different logo -- and a considerably lower price.
That's right, in the sewing department, 12 needles for $2.49; in the embroidery department, 16 needles for $1.79!
In the immortal words of Smokey Robinson, you better shop around.
I never realized that. I watch their ad in the Sunday paper and try to buy when they are on sale. From now on I'm going to watch the embroidery section. I don't shop in their embroidery section much anymore since they no longer carry DMC at my local store.
ReplyDeletexx, Carol
It's always something, isn't it. I am left wondering at the ID profiling they are using.
ReplyDeleteI am an embroider and use many different types of needles. Years ago I took a class that required 10 different types and sizes of needles. I found a needle keeper made by EGA to organize them and use it to this day to keep track of different needle types. I prefer John James needles for the quality. Have tried other cheaper needles and they don’t stand up.
ReplyDeleteShirlee -- I have a bunch of John James needles too and they are very nice but I can't say that I have noticed much difference from the cheaper needles. Occasionally you might find one with a burr on the tip but that's rare. When a needle gets bent or scratchy I just pitch it and take a new one.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm missing something -- then again, I don't use fancy silk or silk-ish threads, nor do I stitch into anything precious and fine.