Match a needle to your thread, and fasten off a snap

Pick the needle to fit the job. Sharps are medium-length needles for plain hand sewing; betweens are shorter, for fine close work pushed with a thimble; milliners' or straw needles are long, for basting and gathering, where many stitches ride on the needle at once. For most mending, reach for a sharp.

Read the needle's number from its packet. The higher the number, the finer the needle: a No. 5 sharp is coarse, a No. 10 is fine. Keep an assortment of sharps from No. 5 to No. 10 so you can match the needle to the cloth.

Choose the thread by the cloth you are sewing. Use No. 24 to 40 cotton for heavy work, buttons, and coarse goods; No. 50 to 70 for ordinary sewing on muslin and calico; and No. 80 to 100 for fine muslins and cambrics.

On woolen goods, use silk or wool thread rather than cotton. It gives with the cloth as the wool moves, where hard cotton would cut it.

Pair the needle to the thread: pick one a little larger than the thread, so it opens the way and the thread follows through the cloth without chafing. A needle too fine frays the thread; one too coarse leaves holes in the cloth. With No. 60 or 70 cotton, a No. 8 or 9 needle serves.

Before you sew, draw the needle between your fingers and look at the point. A bent or blunted needle cuts the goods along the whole seam, so set it aside and take a straight, sharp one.

The end of the thread matters as much as the start. When you sew a snap to a placket, space the snaps 2.5 to 4 cm (1 to 1.5 in) apart along the opening, and fasten off each one with a few small stitches hidden beneath the snap, where they will not show.