Sears had their own brand of sewing machine needles, and eventually color coded their needles.
Brown size 9
Orange size 11
Red 14
Blue size 14 (ballpoint Q needles)
Purple size 16
Green size 18
I will also include here, other brands of needles which can be used in Kenmores taking standard home sewing machine needles, to help when Kenmore brand needles are not available.
I am including many system names for the same needle system, since needle system uses needle length and circumference measurements in both standard SAE and metric systems, so different brands of needles label them differently.
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| Kenmore Size 11 Needles are Orange (2 differe packages photographed from different times) |
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| Kenmore size 11 needles are Orange |
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| Size 14 sharp needles |
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| Size 16 Kenmore needles are Purple |
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| Kenmore size 18 needles are Green |
NEEDLE & FABRIC INFORMATION from back of needle packs
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| Old Kenmore twin needles with dark brown/black plastic say not to use on knits |
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| Kenmore Needles were color coded by size |
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Kenmore Q needles with blue Shanks
Notice these do not fit models 49, 71 & 76 |
The majority of Kenmore home sewing machine models (except models 49, 71, and 76) use standard home sewing machine needles system 15x1H (standard measurement system)
also known as
130/705H (Metric measurement system) also known as 130 SES or EL705, also known as
Singer system 2020 (sharp tips for wovens) & Singer 2045 (ballpoint tips for knits)
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| Kenmore Twin Needles came in 2 types |
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| Kenmore color coded needle sizes. |
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| More needles for knits that work on Kenmore standard home sewing machines |
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| Q needles for knits blue shank size 14 in the Q needle box |
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| Schmetz 130 SES size 10 needles worked very well on Spandex and ITY knits Kenmore 1803, with the feet shown |
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| Blue plastic twin needles are supposed to be okay for knits. |
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Organ & Schmetz Needles can be used in Kenmore seqing machines which call for standard home sewing machine needle system 15x1H , even though they use a different system name for them. These ELx705 (chainstitch coverstitch needles which have a second groove.
These have worked well for sewing fine knits fabrics on Kenmore models 1803 & 1914. If I have stretching, feeding problems on knits, or skipped stitches, I try lower presser foot pressure, Q foot, or clear satin stitch foot, or roller foot, or walking foot, or a different stretch needle size, or tip type (SES, SUS, SUK, H-S) depending on the fabric.
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