needlewoman vs adult female

needlewoman and adult female both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
needlewoman	Yes	No	No	No
adult female	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, adult female is a hypernym of needlewoman; that is, adult female is a word with a broader meaning than needlewoman:

Other hypernyms of needlewoman include dressmaker, garment-worker, garment worker, garmentmaker, woman.

needlewoman (noun)	adult female (noun)
a woman who makes or mends dresses	an adult female person (as opposed to a man)