Machines get bought once. Needles, thread, hooks and bobbin cases get consumed every shift, and running out of the right one at 10am stops a line that costs you far more than the part.
This is not a list of notions. Al Borj does not sell seam rippers and cutting mats. This is what a working sewing room actually gets through, and what your storeman should hold before the reorder point.
One rule underpins all of it: the needle system is set by the machine, not by preference and not by price. Every machine we sell publishes it on the specification table. Order against that.
1. Lockstitch needles — Organ DBx1
The highest-turnover item in most factories, because lockstitch is most of your floor. Organ DBx1 also appears in catalogues as 16x231, 16x257, 1738 and DBx257, and runs from Nm 55 to Nm 140 (Singer 7 to 22) in regular point and in ball point for knits. The Juki DDL-8700 specifies DB x 1 (#14) in sizes #9 to #18; the DDL-9000B splits it three ways, #9 to #18 on medium, #8 to #11 on light and #20 to #23 on heavy heads. Hold two sizes either side of your standard, because your fabric mix will change before your machine does.
2. Overlock and coverstitch needles — DCx27 and UYx128
Different machine, different needle, and no substitution. Organ DCx27 (also B27, 1886, 88X1) is the standard overlock needle, in sizes 60/8 to 110/18, in sharp point and in SUK medium ball point — and the Juki MO-6814S specifies exactly this system. DCx1 (81x1) covers the same family on older heads. For coverstitch and flatlock, Organ UYx128 (MY1040, 149x3) runs Nm 65 to 110 with heavier variants to Nm 135, in ball point; the Juki MF-7523 calls for UY128GAS in #9S to #12S. Interlock and flatlock heads may instead take DVx43 or DVx63. Check the plate before you order a carton.
3. Chainstitch and feed-off-the-arm needles — TVx7, TVx5, TVx64
Run trousers, jeans or workwear and you have chainstitch and feed-off-the-arm machines. They are the ones people forget to stock for. Organ TVx7 (149x7, 149x25) covers single and double-needle chainstitch in Nm 90/14 and 100/16 — the Jack JK-8558G specifies TV x 7 size 14. TVx5 (62x45, 149x5) covers double chainstitch including feed-off-the-arm, Nm 75/11 to 120/19. TVx64 (B64) is the dedicated feed-off-the-arm system, Nm 65 to 140.
4. Heavy-duty needles for walking-foot machines — DPx17
Leather, canvas, upholstery and technical textile work all live on Organ DPx17 (135x17, 2167, SY3355), Nm 90 to 160, Singer 14 to 23, with leather point variants and PD titanium coating available. The Juki DU-1181N specifies DPx17 in #14 to #23; so does the Jack H2-A in 20 to 23#. Leather points cut rather than pierce, and the wrong point geometry on coated leather shows up as a visible tear line on a finished car seat, not as a broken needle.
5. Bartack, buttonhole and button-sewing needles — DPx5, TQx1, TQx7
Your finishing machines each take their own system, and one missing box stops the whole finishing bench. Organ DPx5 (135x5, 134R, 1955), Nm 65 to 140, covers bartack, buttonhole and button work — the Juki LK-1900BN bartacker specifies DP x 5 (#14), the Juki LBH-1790AN buttonholer DP x 5 (#11J). Button-sewing machines take TQx1 (175x1) in 80/12 to 110/18, or heavier TQx7 (175x7) in Nm 70 to 130; the Juki MB-1370 specifies TQ x 1 (#16).
6. Embroidery needles — DBxK5
An embroidery head is not a lockstitch head with a hoop on it. Organ DBxK5 is built on the DBx1 shape with a larger eye so embroidery thread passes without abrading, in sizes 60/8 to 110/18, sharp point and SES ball point. That larger eye is what stops the thread breaks that idle a twelve-head machine while an operator rethreads. Barudan itself specifies DBxK5 KK Nm75/11 as the standard sequin needle on the BELS-Y9 with YN sequin device. On a multi-head floor, hold this by the thousand, not by the box.
7. Specialist needles you will need exactly once, urgently
Blindstitch hemming machines take Organ LWx6T, a curved ball-point needle in sizes 2 to 5. Cornely-type chainstitch embroidery machines take Organ PHx1, which has a barbed hook tip instead of a point. Neither is interchangeable with anything. Keep a small quantity of each machine-specific system on the shelf; the box costs less than one idle afternoon. See the full Organ needle range.
8. Garment sewing thread — Amann Saba
Amann Saba is a core-spun polyester: a filament core inside a spun cover, so it sews with filament strength and spun handle. Amann publishes ticket numbers 8 to 180 (tex 400 down to tex 18), between 30 and 535 colours depending on ticket, and a minimum needle size for every ticket, from Nm 200 down to Nm 50. That last figure is the one to write on your order: thread ticket and needle size are one decision, not two. Saba is certified to OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 product class I and Pro-Care certified for industrial laundry to DIN EN ISO 15797 — the certificates a uniform or hospitality buyer will ask you for. Saba Recycled covers tickets 30 to 180 and is available GRS certified.
9. Technical, leather and outdoor thread
Garment thread will not hold a shade sail together through a Gulf summer. Match the thread to the exposure:
- Serafil, continuous filament polyester, ticket 7 to 80 (tex 450 to 30), up to 240 colours, make-ups 300 m to 10,000 m — shoes, bags, belts and small leather goods.
- Strongbond, bonded polyamide 6.6, ticket 8 to 80 (tex 400 to 35) — where the seam must stretch slightly and take repeated load. Bonding stops the thread untwisting under a heavy needle.
- Serabond, bonded polyester, ticket 6 (tex 500) to 60 (tex 45), 34 colours. Amann states it passes weathering testing to ISO 4892-1 and ISO 4892-2 — awnings, marine covers, outdoor furniture.
- GORE TENARA, ePTFE tape in HTR (tex 270), TR and KTR (tex 150) and LTR (tex 110). Amann states a 15-year warranty and resistance to UV, salt water, mould and industrial pollutants. On a tensile structure the fabric usually outlives an ordinary polyester seam; this thread does not.
Ask us for the manufacturer's certification documents in writing. A specification file for a government or hospitality tender usually needs them attached.
10. Embroidery thread — Amann Isacord
Amann Isacord is the machine embroidery thread built for multi-head speed. Amann states Isacord Recycled is 100% recycled polyester, continuous filament, trilobal, ticket 40, tex 27, in 390 colours, with a minimum needle size of Nm 65 (No 9); Isacord Recycled UV carries a UV absorber in the dyestuff, ticket 27, tex 40, in 20 colours. Both are OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 product class I and Pro-Care certified to DIN EN ISO 15797, and available GRS certified. Browse our sewing and embroidery threads.
11. Rotary hooks, shuttle hooks and bobbin cases
The item nobody counts until stitch quality drops. The hook forms the stitch and the bobbin case sets lower thread tension. A worn hook shows up first as thread breaks and uneven tension between heads; a bent bobbin case shows up as loose loops underneath the fabric and tension that will not hold its setting. Cheap parts, slow diagnoses — which is exactly why they belong on the shelf.
We supply Koban, made in Japan by Sabun Industrial Co. of Niigata, which states it has produced bobbin cases since 1945 and rotary hooks since 1963, machined to a precision of 1/1,000 mm. Parts are matched by machine, not by brand:
- KHS12-SJ2 — listed against the Juki DDL family (Juki part B18301270A0), paired with the SC31 bobbin case.
- KHS12-SPOED2 — for lockstitch machines with an automatic thread trimmer: Juki DDL-8700-7, DDL-8500-7, DDL-9000B and DDL-9000SS, with the SC31-NS case.
- KHS12-S — a three-screw hook with the longest machine list in the Koban catalogue, covering Jack JK8500, Zoje, Siruba, Highlead and Typical. If your floor runs mixed brands on plain lockstitch, this one hook covers most of it.
- KHS12-RYP — for embroidery machines with a thread trimmer: Tajima, Barudan, Toyota, Melco and Richpeace heads.
- KHS20-HPEW — the large-type Wonder Hook, for the Juki DNU-241H, DNU-261H and DSC-246 walking-foot machines.
- SH205 — a shuttle hook, not a rotary hook, for the Juki AMS pattern-sewing range.
These fitment lists are Koban's own, and the suffix on your machine decides the part. Send us your exact model code and we will match it before you order.
Presser feet and folders are not shelf stock
A folder for a 25 mm binding on a cylinder-bed machine is not the same part as a folder for the same binding on a flatbed, and a presser foot is specific to the head, the gauge and the operation. There is no useful generic to hold. Send us the machine model, the operation and the finished dimension, and we will quote the correct attachment rather than something close to it.
Send us your machine list
Most sewing rooms discover their consumables list one shortage at a time. The faster route is to send us what is on your floor — makes, models and how many of each — and let us build the needle systems, thread tickets, hooks and bobbin cases that match it, with reorder quantities that suit your run rate.
Message us on WhatsApp with your machine list, or contact our Sharjah team. Browse sewing machine needles and threads to see what we hold.
