Quilt Question:
I have some invisible thread that is polyamide. What is this, and is it ok for a quilt?

Quilt Answer:
This is nylon. Polyamide is the technical name for nylon. Throw it away. Nylon thread will not take any kind of ironing, and it turns yellow and disintegrates after a few years. Throw it away.

Quilt Question:
How do I know what quality cotton thread I am buying?

Quilt Answer:
Cotton thread is like cotton fabric: the longer the fiber (staple), the better the quality. Most sewing thread is not labeled because it is made from shorter fibers.

Pull off a length of thread from your spool and hold it up to a light or window. If you see fuzz and lumpy slubs along the thread, it is a low quality and you should not use it. Good quality cotton thread should be smooth and even, with no slubs. Slubs will catch in your tension discs, and sometimes they can catch in the needle eye and break. Your seams will not be smooth and flat with a lumpy thread.

On the other end of the scale is glazed thread, or thread that has been treated in some way to be very slick. Glazed thread is fine for hand quilting, but don’t use it in your sewing machine. The waxes or glazing chemicals will rub off on the parts of your sewing machine where they can cause damage.

Buying a good quality cotton thread that will give you great sewing results is only a dollar or so more per spool  than cheap stuff that will gunk up your sewing machine and cause bad sewing experiences.

Quilt Question:
Are there different kinds of invisible thread? If so, can they be used for machine quilting?

Quilt Answer:
The newer invisible threads will “disappear” into whatever fabric your quilt is made with. These are single filament poly threads, and the fine weight ones are extremely light. For many years, I wouldn’t use invisible thread, because I tried the original stuff back in the 60s-70s that was like fishing line. It was awful. Plus it was nylon and it melted when you ironed it. (My mother gave me a sewing iron for Christmas one year after I ruined her good one.)

The new invisible threads suit certain purposes. You need to know what you want the thread to do, and then choose the right thread. I sometimes use invisible thread in the bobbin with metallic or other specialty top threads, and I prefer it for that. It works very nicely with the holographic threads and the glow-in-the-dark types, too. You need to experiment first, and be sure you know how the thread will work in your machine. You may need to adjust the tension or use a different needle. I find that a needle with a smaller eye works best for most of my invisible thread sewing.

I learned to wind the bobbin only half full with invisible thread. It tends to stretch from winding, and the more full you wind it, the more “spring” there is on the bobbin. That’s not a good thing when you want the bobbin tension to release the thread according to the machine stitch settings. Someone told me about this at a quilt show class I took many years ago, and I’ve had no major tension problems since I began doing it that way.

My Pfaff 7570 has the mock quilting stitch where you thread the bobbin with the quilting thread and then use the invisible thread on top; it makes a backstitch and pulls the bobbin thread up every other stitch so it gives the appearance of hand quilting with the space in between. That’s about all I use invisible thread for. Many quilters use it for machine appliqué. I’ve played around with that, but I’ve never had the inclination to appliqué a whole quilt with it . . . yet.

Now I’m eager for some bleak winter days so I can play around with some new projects.

Quilt Question:
Do you use the same thread in the top spool and in the bobbin when you are machine quilting?

Quilt Answer:
Usually I use the same thread top and bobbin, but not necessarily. If I’m using colored thread on top, and the quilt back is white, I might use white thread in the bobbin. I usually have colored or sometimes pieced quilt backs, so I like to use harmonizing threads top and bobbin. Even if they are not exactly the same thread (perhaps a bright color on top and a variegated in the bobbin to blend with a print) I use the same weight of thread both places for machine quilting. Usually it is the same brand and type of thread, just different colors.

Sometimes the contrasting thread colors are used to make the quilting stitches stand out rather than blend. Thread color is just a matter of personal preference where you fit the color to the design.

Then there is metallic thread . . . another story.

Quilt Question:
What color of thread do you recommend using for machine quilting?

Quilt Answer:
For machine or hand quilting, the color of the quilting thread you choose depends on how you want your finished project to look. If your quilt is bold and bright, and very contemporary, you might choose a bright coordinating or bright contrasting color of thread. You don’t have to use the same color throughout, but your color selections should be integrated with the design and theme overall. Don’t rule out black thread! It can be just the touch to really highlight the colors of your design. Black might be a good choice if you want your quilting stitches to be a prominent design element.

You can find a huge number of neutral colors on the market now. These are not just grays and tans. There are neutrals in blues and reds and other color groups that will blend well with multicolor prints without the stitch colors appearing prominent.

Variegated threads are fun to use. Some variegated threads are dyed with color in predictable patterns. There are also random color threads, where no regular repeats are noticeable. Usually the predictable pattern dyed threads have more abrupt color changes, and the random dyed threads will blend more smoothly from one color to the next, creating some very subtle mid-tone colors.