Embroidery Designs, software, machines

8:54 PM | Labels: Quilting

Art quilters have never had it so good with the variety of machine quilting thread that is available to them these days.

Basic Cotton

Cotton thread, originally the quilters' choice of thread, is now available in a wide variety of colors and weights, with Egyptian cotton particularly, making a huge statement.

And for machine quilters, whilst cotton thread is still a favorite, it now gets to compete alongside other beautiful and tantalizing quilting threads made of polyester, rayon and metallic.

Price and Quality

Machine quilting thread can be expensive, but cheaper threads will add little to the end result of your project, can sometimes contribute to poor sewing machine performance, and if your project is to be functional such as a lap or bed quilt, it will certainly shorten its lifespan.

Poor quality threads will also produce poor results:

• Short staple cotton threads tend to throw off a lot of lint which not only clogs your bobbin area, but can get caught up in the thread itself and result in "bumps" in the stitching line.
• Polyester, rayon and metallic threads can also suffer from poor quality and result in weak thread that breaks and shreds easily. Sometimes it is not the fault of your machine or needle, sometimes it is just simply "bad" thread.

Remember also, thread deteriorates over time and becomes brittle and loses strength. So your mother's collection of old thread, whilst maybe having some sentimental value, is not going to guarantee you a beautiful finish or trouble-free sewing.

Personality Clashes

Learning to work with your threads is important, and when you work with threads long enough particlarly when machine quilting, you begin to notice that each brand and type of thread has its own little personality.

Some threads like a vertical spool and some threads prefer a horizontal spool. Monofilament thread sometimes prefers rolling around in a cup and metallic thread can often act kinky and needs taming with a net.

Understanding that your sewing machine is often not to blame when thread issues occur will go a long way toward a better relationship between you and your machine, and taking time to do a stitch and tension test before you begin on your project will alleviate a lot of anxiety.

Don't throw it out

Old, finicky or poor quality thread can still be put to use, so never throw it out.

• It may be quite suitable for the back of a project
• Consider using it in your bobbin for bobbin work
• Snip it up, sandwich it between two layers of sheer fabric and use it to make "thread fabric"

Hand quilting thread - a word of warning

Some hand quilting threads have a wax coating which allows the hand quilter to easily work with the thread. These types of threads however, are not good for your sewing machine as it is possible for the wax coating to create slippage through the tension discs causing tension problems with your stitching. Normally the thread label will state if the thread is coated, so make sure you read the label if using hand quilting thread in your machine.