Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. bread.

1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1911		J.W. Horsley Memoirs of a ‘Sky Pilot’ 253: The children gave me such words as ‘needle and thread’ for bread, ‘you and me’ for tea, ‘Jim Skinner’ for dinner.
1969		S.T. Kendall Up the Frog.
1981		P. Wright Cockney Dialect and Sl. 103: needle an’ thread ‘bread’.
1999		R. Walton ‘Cockney Jack’ 🌐 On the Cain and Abel his struggle and strife had placed some bug and flea and some needle and thread for his breakfast.
2002		B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.

2. (Aus.) a bed.

1996

(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 233: ‘I’d ’ave you in the needle and thread in an ’eartbeat’.