Only if your overlocker is designed for them, and you cannot tell by looking. Many domestic overlockers take ordinary 130/705 H needles. Others need ELx705, and some older or semi industrial machines take a round shank industrial needle.
Check the manual. This is one of the few questions where there is no general answer and guessing has consequences. A needle of the wrong length sits at the wrong height relative to the loopers, which gives skipped stitches at best and a struck looper at worst — and a damaged looper is an expensive repair.
What ELx705 adds. A second scarf, the shaped hollow above the eye, on the other side of the needle. Overlooper and lower looper approach from different directions, and the extra clearance improves loop pickup. On a machine specified for ELx705, an ordinary needle may work but skips more.
Sizes. 80/12 for general use, 90/14 for heavier fabric, 75/11 for fine. Ballpoint versions for knits, which is most overlocking.
Change them often. An overlocker runs fast and blunts needles quickly. A great many overlocker faults blamed on threading are simply a blunt needle.
Insert them correctly. Where there are two needles they often sit at slightly different heights, with the left one higher. Push each fully up into its own position.
And keep the small screwdriver supplied with the machine. The clamp screws are recessed and awkward with anything else.
Questions people actually ask
Can I fit two different needle types?
Physically yes, and it is a bad idea. Use a matched pair of the same type and size unless the manual says otherwise.
My overlocker skips on knits.
Fit fresh ballpoint needles of the correct system first. That fixes it far more often than rethreading does.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11