A sewing needle, used for hand-sewing, is a long slender tool with a pointed tip at one end and a hole (or eye) at the other. The earliest needles were made of bone or wood; modern needles are manufactured from high carbon steel wire and are nickel- or 18K gold-plated for corrosion resistance. High quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and one-third titanium alloy. Traditionally, needles have been kept in needle books or needlecases which have become objects of adornment. Sewing needles may also be kept in an 'étui', a small box that held needles and other items such as scissors, pencils and tweezers.

The first form of sewing was probably tying together animal skins using thorns and sharpened rocks as needles, with animal sinew or plant material as thread. A point that might be from a bone needle dates to 61,000 years ago and was discovered in Sibudu Cave, South Africa. Iron sewing needles were found at the Oppidum of Manching (Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching, near Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, Germany), dating to the third century BC.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org