Welcome to 6th edition of Tips and Tutorials On The 22nd (#TTot22). TO catch up on prior links, please check either my TTot22 menu option or my Pinterest board (here). For those of you who forgot to check back, here is last month’s summary.
Quilting Tip Batch Piecing
Granny Square Quilted Pillow
Cut Up Kona Color Card Tutorial
FMQ Quilting A Hexagon Quilt
Tumbling Transparency Placemat
Tips for Assembling your Quilt
Thread Tips:
I thought for this month I would share some thread tips, which is how I started my hand piecing classes, but is important information for any sewist.
First, thread is either cross wound or stacked.
Aurifil 50 wt is cross wound. It will act fine on a horizontal spool.
Superior Monopoly is stacked. It will perform best when it is upright.
Second, your thread is your friend. In the case of threading a hand-sewing needle, remember to do your steps as follows:
1. Thread your needle.
2. Cut your thread.
3. Knot your thread.
This is because the winding of the thread and using it from the wrong end can cause your thread to twist upon itself.
Third, understand your numbers. A 50 wt. thread is thicker than a 100 wt. thread. The higher the number the thinner the thread. Embroidery floss is often 12 wt. This chart is from Superior threads, but it gives you some idea of the preferred threads for preferred tasks.
Fourth and final, use the thread that will work for you. When I first started quilting, cotton was the only thing to piece and quilt with. Use the thread that works well with your project and your machine. Some machines are fussy and don’t like a thread. Don’t use it. Do experiment and have fun. Thread is an essential tool and should work for you. The above chart is from Superior thread and can be a guideline.
The linky party below is for June and open until the end of the month. Join in the party and keep those tips and tutorials coming! If you see a tutorial that should be here, send them my way! It is fun to see all the great ideas that show up.
Stitching Sunshine is starting on Monday too! I’ll be participating at the end of the week, but here are Monday’s Bloggers:
Just Let Me Quilt VroomansQuilts
Quilt Schmilt QuiltFabrication
Life in the Scrapatch Karrin’s Crazy World
Just Because Quilts Quilting Gail
Coming Up on the Blog:
Stitching Sunshine Hop (6/25)
Monthly Color Block (7/1)
Partners in Design Announcement (7/7)
Pattern Release (TBD)
Linking Up:
What I Made Monday
Main Crush Monday
Great information on threads! Thank you!
Thank you – I am sure you knew most of it, but its always good to review.
I have an Aurifil card that indicates what machine needle to use with each weight of thread, which is very helpful. One of the reasons I use Aurifil is because my Janome only allows horizontal placement of the spool. You would think it would have a vertical spindle, but nope. This is helpful information, Kathleen.
How strange that you have no vertical spool! Does it behave with a stacked thread? Some machines will. There are a lot more hints, but so many of the rules I learned just don’t apply now. Having a thread stand is nice. I have an Aurifil white cone on my Bernina that I got when I first became an ambassador, there is still plenty on it.
The reason I use Aurifil is that I had a Bernina that was the most persnickety machine on the planet and Aurifil was the only thing it would stitch even somewhat consistently with. Your suggestion to try and experiment is a good one; even different weights are fun to try out!
I have heard about those persnickety machines; fortunately one has not crossed my path. I need
to replace at least one of my machines, and I kind of dread it. My Bernina is much less persnickety than my Janome. The Janome has has a bobbin case that likes to jump out of place, so I am not so experimental with threads on it right now. The whole situation needs to be rectified – repaired or replaced (but the later is hard in the COVID times)!
Hi Kathleen! Thank you for all the thread tips. I have an Elna – cousin of the Janome, I believe – and it didn’t come with a vertical thread stand either. I did add one, though. The Elna seems to like Aurifil and me, too. ~smile~ Roseanne
Again, how strange. Which one did you get? I had an Elna a long time ago – it didn’t like anything special after awhile and hated FMQ! I knew it was not long for the world once that started. I love Aurifil but I can’t find small spools in many stores, so I resort to my Metler for colors.
I’ve been a lover of Gütermann since FOREVER. Then of Sulky. Still am of both. Superior really impressed me after I got my longarm and I love their threads. Aurifil is very recent. It’s lovely thread too but quite a bit more expensive than the others. My 2003 Bernina only has both a horizontal and vertical spool but I broke the tab on the vertical one so I just use a free standing thread holder which I actually prefer because I can use it with my Featherweight too.
Annoyingly your comment was in the Spam folder!!! I used to use Mettler and always loved it. I still use it as the colors are easier to get for me than small spools of Aurifil. I, too find it a bit pricey. I love my spool holder, but its a bit unwieldily so I am always looking at newer ones. Superior has one I have my eye on! Oh, and check out Featherweight store for their goodies for the spool holder!
I LOVE the reference charts on Superior’s site — not only which thread is recommended for which tasks, but also what type and size needle with each thread, both longarm and domestic, and TOWA bobbin tension suggestions for each thread as well. I bought a couple big cones of Aurifil at AQS Quilt Week last Spring after Lisa Calle told us in class that it’s her favorite thread for long arm quilting, but so far I haven’t tried it out yet. It’s my favorite go-to piecing thread, so if I don’t like it on the longarm, I can put that giant cone on the thread stand for my Bernina and use it for piecing — should last until I die, especially consider how fast (not!) I accomplish things in my studio!
The reference charts are so helpful. I use the TOWA gauge and chart all the time. I have used the Aurifil a little on my Sweet Sixteen and it is fine. I had a friend say she got a lot of lint on a similar machine, so I watch that. I do piece with it all the time. I use more of the Omni and Bottom Line on the longarm. I love the King Tut variegated too, but am cautious with that as well. I have been using an Aurifil cone on my Bernina for well over 2 years (although the last 3 months I have not been with that machine). It will last you a long time.