I've never thought this much about needles...

The Great American Sewing Kit contains the only needle still currently manufactured in the US.  It's awesome, requires no needle threader and works for a lot of sewing purposes.  It's not perfect for everything though - and can sometimes get tangled when using it for projects like sewing buttons.  Due to the high wholesale cost of each needle, I only include one needle in each kit.  This is not an ideal situation, as I realized while mending a button, dropping the needle, losing the needle and then not able to finish the project!

I'm currently on the hunt for alternatives to include with future kits - I won't be able to use 100% Made in USA anymore, but this kit still contains more American-made products than any other on the marketplace today.  I ordered a variety of needles from John James (through a US distributor and straight from the company - the English package arrived already...) - sadly when they arrived they clearly state they are not made in England anymore (see below)... 

While I figure out what to do next and search for a new supplier of needles for the kit, all sewing kits ordered will contain the Made in the USA needle plus a few John James Needles tucked in with each order ("Packed and inspected in England using needles made in China to Entaco's quality and specification" - hey, at least there's some quality oversight). 

Know any good sewing needle manufacturers that you'd like to see included in the kit?  Get in touch - emily [at] whipstitch [dot] com.

Thanks for everyone in their support!