All,of my sewing - except for my Singer 306 - use the standard type of needles - I use Schmetz, Inspiration, Klasse' - and I use size 75/11 which can be tricky to find. And I will not use the universal needle - I use jeans 75/11 - they are nice and sharp, and I also use sharp 75/11. Universal doesn't give a nice stitech (learned several years ago about that). The 75/11 us not hard to thread with my usual size 50/2 thread - and I can actually thread the needle without using the machine's threaded - it's my challenge (well, one of them) in life. Getting my cataracts fixed really did help, too����. by the way, the 306 uses a needle that I can only find online - along with the weird-sized bobbins - but I love her anyway.
Sandy in Mooresville, NC