Logo of The Needle Lady, Pam Turner
My mission:   Change the world.

How can I really think a needle is going to do that?

My little needle is going to be of no interest to a large
majority of the world, but for those who need it, the
Spiral Eye Needle is going to matter. A lot.

Maybe it means a savings of a few seconds threading a
needle to some people, but to others it represents
independence because they will be able to mend their clothes without help.

It means the baby-boomer who can barely thread a needle herself won't
have to pre-thread needles for her mother when she visits.

It means the soldier that came back from Iraq with one less arm or only one
eye will be able to sew on his own button.

Even blind people sew, and this needle makes it easier for them.

It means the stroke victim can retain some dignity and a little more
independence.

For crafters, the Spiral eye needle means they can spend more time
enjoying the part of sewing they enjoy.

For anyone who has a snag in their shirt and can't get it back through the
material, the Spiral Eye Needle, allows them to catch the stray thread and
sew it back in effortlessly.

To those women in third world countries, without electricity or optical care
insurance,  whose hand needle work is under appreciated by the world, it
means their job will be just a little easier, just a little more efficient, and they
will be able to do it a little longer, bringing in more money for their families,
thus giving them a stronger sense of self-worth.

On a larger level, because I will only manufacture my product in the USA, it
will mean people here will have a job.

It means my customers will know the product they are buying isn't going to
show up on the news as being tainted with lead or mercury. And, hopefully it
will encourage other startups to stay in America for their manufacturing
needs.

If some child sees my needle and realizes simple little inventions are just
important as big complicated ones, and that there is nothing that can't be
done...I will have changed the future.

I'm an impatient person who got tired of the minor inconvenience of threading a
needle. Putting an opening on the side seemed so obvious to me.
Why hadn't it been done? My stubborn streak intensified each and every time I
was told it couldn't be done.

When I went to the hardware store and discovered innovative tools and screws,
I got just a little more angry, a little more determined.

I'm not a metallurgist or an engineer. It took me years of frustrated
conversations with tool and die makers, and others in the metal manufacturing
industry to learn the "why" it hadn't been done before.

Along the way, I learned some history too. Making sewing needles was an art
lost to Americans in the colonial days because the only person who
knew how to do it, refused to share his knowledge. Today, needle making is a
very protected process, done mostly in China and India, with some
needles made in England and Germany. I have yet to find a company in
America that actually manufactures hand sewing needles.

In June 2008, I exhibited at the Minnesota Inventor's Congress Invention and
Ideas Show in Redwood Falls, MN. I knew I had a great product, but
had struggled so hard to get them made that I often questioned my sanity. Why
did it seem so obvious to me, but not to others?

But at the show, I was among a room full of inventors. It was like I had spent my
whole life an ugly duckling and suddenly found my flock. That was
why I had never felt like I fit into the world. I am an inventor, I just didn't know it.
As seen on ABC NightLine
Spiral Eye needles were featured on August 8, 2008
segment called The Father of Invention
Pam Turner as seen on abc Nightline
Also featured in multiple
magazines, including the current
SQE Professionals magazine.
As seen on Discovery Channel
show, Pitchmen
Anthony Sullivan tested out my needle with
some clowns on the show, Pitchmen.
In 2010, Telebrands  licensed the rights to
make my needle design in China, under the
name
One Second Needle.

As seen on TV all around the world, the One
Second Needle is an affordable side threading
needle.
In 2013 I was one of the top
ten semifinalist in the MN Cup.
I remember laughing as my mom struggled to thread a needle. Glasses resting
on her nose, she trimmed the end of the thread, sucked on it, failed to get it
through the eye of the needle and re-trimmed it. Some times she would  curse,
"Why can't someone invent a better needle? We've been to the moon for
goodness sake."

Eventually she would break down and ask one of us kids to thread it for her.

Then, just a few years ago, I  realized it was me that couldn't get a limp piece of
thread through a hole I couldn't see. And it wasn't so funny. My mom died in
1976, but .I could hear her laughter as I struggled to get that needle threaded.

Surely someone had invented a better needle by now. So I went shopping for
one. I found an open eye needle called the calyx needle (it has an opening at
the top.) It was easy to thread, but the thread came out every time I used it. I
tossed the needle in the trash. Obviously no one was ever going to invent a
better needle.

Forty years is long enough to wait for someone else to do something. I decided
it was up to me. So I did it. I did it for Mom. I did it for all the moms.
Pam Turner invented the Spiral Eye needle in memory of her mother.
This is an email I received after Night Line featured my needles. It brought me to tears.

It's past midnight, I can't sleep, and I flipped on the TV and decided to watch Nightline.  So glad I
did!  I've been sewing since my early teen years, and have reached that age where threading a
needle, (heck even cutting an onion,) has become a nearly impossible task without glasses.  My
question for you: will there be a version of your needle produced for sewing machines?  I would be
ever so grateful if you said one is in the works!  

Geez -- where were you three years ago?  I had surgery and instead of sewing me up with an
amazing needle and fine silk thread, someone decided that stapling my belly was the way to fly.  
Maybe I should have offered to close myself up before they knocked me out, I'd have done a better
job, of that I am sure.  Live and learn.  I'm glad hospitals everywhere will now have the opportunity
to purchase your needles; and if there is a next time, I'll insist that my staple guy brings one into the
O R!  

Thanks for your dedication and persistence.  You go girl!  You really do.  I live in eastern
Massachusetts and will try to get out to the Big E in September, I'd love to meet you.  I wish my
grandmother was alive to come and meet you too.  She was simply amazing with a needle and
thread.

Sincerely,
Cheri Keches
Spiral Eye Needles
Never struggle to thread a needle again!


Patent # US 8,151,720 B2
Patent # Canada 2,755,302
Patent # Europe 2,406,419
Left:

I made thousands of points on needles using
this slow wet grinder I set up on my kitchen
table at first. Then I learned about "pointer's rot"
an disease found in the lungs of needle makers  
and I moved to my back yard in the warm
weather months.

I actually wore grooves into the grinding stone
from all the sharpening.
photo of grinder Pam used to make points on original side threading needles
The Spiral Eye Needle logo and name are registered to PST Innovations, LLC.
The SENCH Needle logo and name are owned by or registered to PST
Innovations, LLC

PST Innovations LLC
P.O. Box 490605 Blaine, MN 55449
TM