The eye is the needle’s eye, the tail is the thread, the gap is the seam, and every stitch leaves a bit of thread behind.
Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye, and a long tail which she let fly. And every time she went over a gap, she left a bit of her tail in a trap. What was she?
Give me a hintThe hint
Her tail goes through her eye.
Reveal the answerHide the answer
A needle and thread
Source: English nursery riddle, recorded in Ireland in the Schools’ Collection, 1930s