First needles were made of bone or wood

A sewing needle is a long slender tool with a pointed tip. The first needles were made of bone or wood; modern ones are manufactured from high carbon steel wire, nickel- or 18K gold plated for corrosion resistance. The highest quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and one-thirds titanium alloy. Traditionally, needles have been kept in needle books or needle cases which have become an object of adornment. Sewing needles can also be kept in an etui, a small box that held needles and other items such as scissors, pencils and tweezers.
A needle for hand sewing has a hole, called the eye at the blunt end to carry thread or cord through the fabric after the pointed end pierces it.
A variety of archaeological finds illustrate sewing has been present for thousands of years. The earliest bone needle dates to 61,000 BC and was discovered in Sibudu Cave, South Africa. The Romans left elaborate traces of their sewing technology, especially thimbles and needles. Even earlier Stone Age finds, such as the excavations on the island of Öland at Alby, Sweden, reveal objects such as bone needle cases dating to 6000 BC. Ivory needles were also found dated to 30,000 years ago at the Kostenki site in Russia. A bone needle, dated to Aurignacian, was discovered in Potok Cave (Slovene: Potočka zijalka) in the Eastern Karavanke, Slovenia.Native Americans were known to use sewing needles from natural sources. One such source, the agave plant, provided both the needle and the "thread." The agave leaf would be soaked for an extended period of time, leaving a pulp, long, stringy fibers and a sharp tip connecting the ends of the fibers. The "needle" is essentially what was the tip end of the leaf. Once the fibers dried, the fibers and "needle" could then be used to sew together skins and other items used in a cloth-like manner.