Quilting Thread -
What You Don't Know
Could Destroy Your Quilt

How To Select The Best Thread
For Your Next Project

If you are a beginner quilter I am sure you have stood in front of your favorite quilt shop's quilting thread area not sure what you need. The amount of quilting threads available can boggle the mind and they all serve a different purpose, depending on the project you are working on.

Cotton - My favorite quilting thread is cotton. If I am quilting using cotton fabric, I want a cotton thread, for any pieced blocks, machine quilting or hand quilting or binding.

I have a great resource for 100% Egyptian cotton thread. You can find large spools (1,200 yards - yet yards not feet) for $1.99 and they even have great prices on their fabric Connecting Threads. the only downfall is at this time they don't carry variegated.

But not to fear, I have found variegated 100% Egyptian cotton at a slightly higher price ($3.69) and a little smaller spools, 500 yards. But when you want variegated, you gotta have it! Check out the variegated colors at All Threads. Prices are subject to change.

Cotton thread is available in numerous weights, colors and spool sizes. Remember when you are shopping for thread, the SMALLER the number, the THICKER the thread.

As an example 30 weight cotton thread will be thick, multi strand and also suitable for embroider. 60 weight thread is often used for the bobbin when machine quilting, since it looks almost invisible due to the light weight, but it is up to you, so test out your project and see which look you like.

If I am piecing a project, and it is light colored, I will use a cream or tan. If the colors are medium, I will use grey and of course, black I will use black. The reason for this is if you are pressing your seams open, you don’t want to see the piecing thread. Imagine piecing black fabric with white thread – it would be very visible.

If you are machine quilting your project you will need to think about the final quilting done on your project, do you want it visible or to blend in? If you are paying for long arm machine quilting, will you want to pick up a color in your quilt or have your quilting stand out, or just blend in so it isn’t visible? You will develop your preferences over time.

If you are having your quilt sandwich professionally quilted, they will often use a cotton poly blend. It is a polyester thread wrapped in cotton. It has a beautiful finish and you will not be able to tell if it is cotton or not. This is the only time I will use polyester threads, never on pieced sections. Usually they are using the Superior Threads brand.

Then of course, we cannot forget Superior Threads. They have been around forever and their quilting threads are well known. Their site has some great information. You can learn about thread, needles and sign up for the Thread of the Month and lots of other wonderful things. They even have a course called Threadology - if you take the course it is 3 days (who knew there was so much to learn about thread?)or you can take it on-line. You might want to check it out. You can find Superior Threads at your local quilt shops (if they don't have it - request it) or you can go on line or call them directly.

I love their Masterpiece Thread collection by Alex Anderson, this thread literately just melts into the fabric as I am piecing and I use it all the time in my hand applique - of course, I just discovered their new thread Silk Kimono which I think is my new favorite for hand applique, since it also just disappears into my fabric.

Unique Threads To Embellish
and Pop All Your Quilts

Rayon and Silk - are beautiful threads and have a gorgeous sheen. When you use this on your quilts your quilts will stand out. BUT this is a thread that you will not want to wash – it will be used for decorative stitching. Rayon tends to be weak and color may fade or leak if you wash it.

Metallic – Very reflective, shiny thread, but it isn’t very strong. If you are using this make sure to loosen your tension on your machine. Great for art quilts and other decorative items or blocks.

Invisible Thread – A polyester thread. You will use this when you don’t want to see the color of your thread. You will use this one for stitching in the ditch (quilting the seam lines). Don’t use this for baby quilts or for children’s quilts, they get to much abuse.

Neon Thread – Great for quilting Halloween projects. This thread will show up at night, has really bright colors and is polyester, so don’t piece your projects with it.

Perle Cotton Thread – A much thicker thread, great for appliqué, handwork and embroidery. It never hurts to have a spool of this laying around. Pick a color that will work with often.

We have just barely scratched the surface of quilting thread. If you are piecing your quilts only and not involved in the art quilts you will probably stick to cotton thread for your quilting supplies.

But, if you decide to go to the dark side and play with the art quilts and thread play or you just want to embellish your quilts you will have a tremendous amount of threads you work with. You can check out Superior Threads they have tons of wonderful colors and fun quilting threads and if you like beading, ribbon and threads you can check out YLI - expect to spend time here, it is a fun site guaranteed to make your drool.

So grab a few scraps from your quilting supplies, some batting and play with your new thread. How is the tension? What about your stitch length? After testing you can save your scrap with your notes about tension, etc. so that the next time, you will know how to adjust your machine for the new thread.

Remember if you decide to use different threads and we all do at some point, you will definitely want to check out the thread tension guide just click here to get this informative guide. It will help you select the proper needles for your specific projects, it will have you get over your fear of adjusting your tension dial and realize you can't really hurt your machine. You will learn about different threads. This guide is something you can't live without.

If you are going to try any other threads besides the traditional cotton, test it. Always test anything you are not familiar with.

Coats and Clark has a website but you will have to go to your retail store to buy anything. Their site is a bit hard to navigate since it has so much information. Coats and Clark.

If you like the Coats and Clark thread you must go to a different site to purchase your quilting threads. I have found Thread Art has Coats and Clark threads and their site is more organized and still offers the same product Thread Art.

As a beginner quilter you don't need to keep a ton of different quilting threads handy, just purchase what you need when you are working on a new project and get the thread to match your binding if you plan to add binding yourself.

Have fun playing with threads. You will be amazed at what they can do for your quilts.

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