for use in the manufacture of nonwoven fabric can be employed as shown in fig6 the needle 1 includes a tip 11 a head 12 a small diameter portion 13 a middle diameter portion 14 and a large diameter portion 15 the tip 11 has a sharp point so that the needle 1 can stick through a piece of felt in making e g an appliqu u00e9 the head 12 is provided at an end opposite from the tip 11 in this embodiment the head 12 is made by bending a portion of the needle 1 the small diameter portion 13 the middle diameter portion 14 and the large diameter portion 15 are arranged in the mentioned order from the tip 11 side toward the head 12 side the small diameter portion 13 is directly connected to the tip 11 for instance the small diameter portion 13 has a plurality of small projections for catching fibers of felt the middle diameter portion 14 is directly connected to the small diameter portion 13 and has a diameter slightly larger than that of the small diameter portion 13 the large diameter portion 15 is positioned on the head 12 side of the middle diameter portion 14 and has a diameter larger than those of the small diameter portion 13 and middle diameter portion 14 the needle 1 is held by the grip member 2 the grip member 2 is a.