Paper piecing - What's your favorite thread to use?
#1
Paper piecing - What's your favorite thread to use?
I've decided to start a grandmother's flower garden quilt. I'm so excited to get started on it, just waiting anxiously on new fabric! I do a lot of hand appliqué but this will be my first hand pieced project. What kind of thread do you love for hand piecing? I machine piece with Aurifil and I guess I figured I'd use that. Thanks!
#2
I just went to a class at Quilt Market, and the instructor said to use polyester. She said that cotton thread will tear the fabric when the blocks are stitched together. I always use polyester - Isacord and Superior are my favorites.
#5
Power Poster
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Western Wisconsin
Posts: 12,930
Experiment a little with paper piecing to make sure you like it. I tried it and found I dislike both the method and the look of my whip stitching. I ended up piecing my GFG with a running stitch, the way Jinny Beyer does it. No papers and no whip stitch to deal with. Paper piecing is not the only way to make a GFG!
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Chula Vista CA
Posts: 7,342
My first GFG I did not paper piece, and hand sewed the entire thing drawing the 1/4 inch on the hexi as I went. It went rather quick. I bought one of those 6 inch long and 1/4 inch wide rules and drew the line as I sewed. If I was going to be out of the house, I would draw the line on the ones I was taking. (Once though I accidentally used a blue pen that disappeared after 15 minutes. Not sure how many I did before I realized what I was doing.)
#7
I use silk thread - either kimono brand from Superior threads or YLI silk thread. The Grandmother's Flower Garden I am working on now I am using The Bottom Line polyester thread and it is almost as thin as the silk thread so makes the stitches practically invisible. It is also very nice to work with.
#8
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
I do lots of English Paper Piecing- love the technique and always have a 'hand project' going. I most often use silk thread when I don't have the silk thread I want I use aurifil- both are nice & smooth for hand work and fine thread that disappears nicely.
#9
I buy the superior bottom line prewound bobbins to carry in my hexie kit. Lots of colors if I need them and it is so thin it disappears in the seam. That said I do not use it for the initial basting, for that I'm using up all my older threads. I also use a small, thinner needle. Right now I am using a milliners 10 or 11.
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