I also had a question from KC Quilter about the thread I use. This is a little embarrassing to answer. Here’s a picture of some of my threads. I think you get the idea. I look in my box and see what color matches.
I like the big spools of cotton thread by Coats & Clark (big spool of white thread on the right in the pic). I ran into some snagging issues when machine quilting my last full size quilt so I’ve been using it in my bobbin but not as my top thread.
I like Mettler 100% polyester (great colors and smooth thread). I buy this at my local quilt shop. I’m not so thrilled with the cost.
I sometimes buy Gutermann at Joann’s. I seem to be noticing some quality differences among various spools though, not sure what’s going on there. Has anyone else noticed this?
I like the classic Coats & Clark 37% cotton/63% polyester thread. I just wish their colors were a bit more subtle.
Old thread. I bought some vintage buttons on ebay awhile back and the guy threw in about 15 spools of old Talon thread (20% cotton/80% polyester). I used that on the lavender border on the mini-quilt and loved the texture I got. So go figure. I know that thread breaks down over time but this stuff is really strong. I’m not sure how to tell if thread is still ‘good’. Any tips or thoughts on that?
I always create a testing quilt sandwich using the fabrics in my quilt to work out the design and the thread I’m going to use. I just try things out till it all looks good to me. I also work out my tension issues before starting on the real thing.
One thing I do know, these machine needles made especially for machine quilting make free motion work easier. They slide through the layers like butter which lets me focus on the design vs. fighting the movement of the sandwich around the needle.
Now for a funny story. Last month’s quilt guild meeting featured Judy Mathieson as the guest speaker. I was asked to help hold up her quilts during her presentation. As I was holding them up I could only see the backs. All I could think was, wow, here is this fabulous, award winning quilter and she has trouble with loose tension in her bobbin too. Later in the program someone asked her about her quilting. She said she did it all herself but it was her least favorite part of the process. I had some misdirected notion that my machine quilting stitches needed to look as good as a professional long arm quilter in order to be good. Seeing Judy’s quilts made me feel a little better about my work.
Update 7/19/06: I received an e-mail from Jan at Be*mused (wonderful person and a fun blog on my circuit) and I wanted to include this link she sent me about the damage polyester thread can wreak on a quilt. That’s good enough for me!
Update 7/25/06: I received an e-mail from Mama Lu and I’m adding in this link to a quilt restorer’s site where she shows damage from polyester batting. The post also discusses basting sprays and fusibles, all interesting food for thought.
all I could do was laugh at your statment re the tension of Judy Mathieson’s quiting stitches…. Its helpful to get a little perspective on our work huh??
if it’s an old thread, you can test it by pulling a length to see how much you can pull it before it snaps. i imagine that would be most obvious with cotton threads. perhaps the older thread still held up due to the polyester.
thanks!
regarding tension … yep. i’m sure we all have problems with the tension in the bobbin … i haven’t really looked at the back of my quilt to see how mine is. hmmm … but, of course, and even tension will make a stronger quilt. loose stitches can get snagged.
i also have never seen the quilting needles before, but it’s been a few years since i’ve tackled a quilt. i’ll have to remember this for the next one
whoops, can’t spell … must be the vino
I also use quilting needles for machine quilitng. I have been quite happy with the quality of bobbin tension with my Pfaff. The quality of keeping in the ditch while doing stitch in the ditch leaves much more to be desired. Can’t blame the sewing machine on that one. I do use a narrow hem foot and that helps a lot.
I had a bad experience with poly thread and wrote a post about it in December. You might want to read it.
http://bemused.typepad.com/bemused/2005/12/another_caution.html
I use Mettler cotton threads exclusively on all my quilts even those for charity because I think they are very well made and will last. I just suck up the high cost because I think all the materials for a quilt should be high quality.
I also wanted to say that I’ve been reading Collaborative Quilting by Gwen Marston and Freddy Moran and Freddy says that while she has made over 500 quilts she has not quilted a single one of them. She sends out the quilting because that’s not her favorite part. I have to say I’m starting to feel that way too. I like to hand quilt small projects but I get so sick of it on anything bigger than a wall hanging. I do occasionally machine quilt but my skills are not up to what I think they should be and I’m not interested in the amount of practice it would take to get there. So I think I’ll be sending out a lot of quilts now. I know there are many, many professional quilters who do that including another of my favorite quilt artists, Mary Lou Weidman.
By the way, I LOVE that self portrait quilt! I think your idea of doing them as commission is a great one.
This is so interesting. I am learning so much. Thank you. Clarice
I bought a book once by Valori Wells, Jeans Wells daughter, who makes really cool New York Beauty quilts and in the book it had close-ups of the quilting stitches and her stitches were uneven, a little sloppy, jerky and just like mine at that time! It made me feel great about mine! Hey if she has her own books and her stitches look like that, I’m not doing such a bad job!
Don’t get me wrong, I love her work and I’ve used some of her quilting designs many times. Point is, that it all takes us a while to get better and we should never think our own work isn’t good enough.
Wow – interesting stuff about thread. I never knew it mattered, but I’m a new quilter, and I’m learning that almost every variable has a good and bad option. Whew! It’s a lot to think about. Do I throw out all my Dual Duty Plus thread? What are you going to do with yours?
Thanks for sharing that story. I always wonder how perfect the professional quilters are. It’s nice to know that they are human afterall – no matter how famous!
I had no idea they had different quilting needles. Maybe that is my problem? Hope? No, I have many, many problems. A “little problem with bobbin tension” doesn’t even begin to describe the horror that is the back of my free motion stuff. Which is why I stopped.
Note to self. Buy 100% cotton thread. Thanks for the post.
I am just catching up from many posts and oh, it’s good to see what you’re doing! Your blog is just stellar.
I, too, have heard the damage that polyester can do to a quilt over time. I have used Gutermann and have noticed it seems like a nicer quality. But not being thread savvy, I usually buy whichever brand has the color that matches best, maybe I should rethink that, huh?
I don’t think I’ve been to your blog before, it’s really lovely, glad to have found it. It sounds like we are neighbors!
thanks for sharing your thread tips…and story on Judy M =)
PS – Do you find the 90/14 needle too thick? I had run out of the smaller ones and tried it on the last one and had a few problems I thought might be related to it being bigger? Either that, or I just sewed lousy.
Thanks so much for the link about *that* thread! I am quite certain that is what I used to sew my son’s quilt…12 years later and very often he tells me “Mom, it’s an emergency-(he’s a little dramatic, that boy-o) my quilt has a hole in it. Can you fix it RIGHT NOW?”
I will absolutely be sure to use a fine quality thread for his next quilt…
Apparently, polyester batting will also abrade cotton over time–from the inside. Here’s a link to a quilt restorer’s blog that shows the damage on a 30-year-old quilt: http://forcemajeurefarm.blogspot.com/2006/07/polyester-batting-adhesives-and.html
Hi,
Good post. Using vintage thread in a quilt won’t necessarily get you arrested by the quilt police, but there are a few things to consider:
First is strength. To test that, cut a length and wrap the ends around each index finger and “pop” the thread. If the thread doesn’t separate and you can pull with enough force to indent the skin on your fingers, then it’s probably ok.
The other thing to consider is how long you want the quilt to last. 30 year old thread is 30 year old thread — it will not last as long as new thread. As the quilt ages, it will be the stitching that shows the first signs of wear.
Finally, a note about the cost of using more expensive threads…my husband always tells me that you get what you paid for. When I was first learning to sew, I tried to save money by buying bargain fabric — and then cussed and fussed my way through projects and wondered why the finished product looked terrible. Once I paid attention to my husband’s wisdom and started using better material, lo and behold, both the process and the end product were much more enjoyable. Cheap thread will snag, break, and snarl more easily than high quality brands.
Kim Nettles
Force Majeure Quilt Restoration
My understanding from my dear quilting friends is that you need to match your thread to your fabric: if you’re sewing with cottons, use cotton thread. Polyester has a higher breaking strength, which means it not only lasts a long time but will eventually “eat through” cotton (as mentioned in the links from earlier). Gutterman makes a good cotton thread that I’ve liked using, both in texture and finished look, though I only learned this “cotton with cotton” rule a few years ago, so I can’t show you an example.
When my husband I were dating, I made him a large quilt (6 years ago, now) that he has slept under every single night since. He brought it on our honeymoon, and on family trips to New York City and Colorado, and this winter when he and some friends went to Hollywood. It is in terrible shape, beyond repair, really, but he desperately wants me to fix it. The only thing I can do is patch over it (which is mostly fine, since it’s a scrap quilt in a log cabin steps pattern), and now that I read about polyester batting, which of course it has, I’m feeling rather hopeless. I think the only solution may be to make him another, all cotton, and retire this one, if he’ll let me.
Lovely discussion. Sorry to join it so late!
This comment is quite late as I noticed the original post was made back in July, so I don’t even know if you will see this.
I have some info regarding the “eylashes” that occur on the backsides of quilts. I am a quilter and a sewing machine technician that works on all makes and models. This “eyelash” effect happens with rotary hook and drop in bobbin machines.
From a technical stand point this is the reason why… As they create the stitch (the bobbin thread and the top thread coming together) there is some slack in the top thread. As you are free motion quilting and moving the fabric to create stippling effects.. ect.. this extra bit of top thread must go somewhere… The bottom tension stays the same so as you move the fabric the extra top thread is being pulled to the back by the bobbin thread… thus leaving the eyelashes around the corners of stippling ect.. A way to avoid this is by using a machine that has an oscillating hook sewing system… When a stitch is created on these machines, there is no slack in the top thread, therefore you will not see eyelashes in the back of the quilt. Hope that helps.
michelle