As God is My Witness, I Will Never Use Monofilament Thread Again--Oh My Lanta!!
 

I did a quilt class at my LQS and made a "Quilt As You Go" Quilt. It turned out pretty darn good (well, I am almost finished, just need to do the borders). But, it was such a pain in the keester!!

It consists of 10 inch blocks each joined by sashing and the top front side edge of the sashing is sewn down using monofilament thread in a small zig zag stitch. It involved a lot of switching back and forth between regular thread and the monofilament thread (as you do things in a certain sequence) so a lot of threading the machine. At first it was just hard to work with thread you can't SEE but mid way through I had a lot of tension problems where the bobbin thread broke (both top side and bobbin are monofilament) but towards the last row I did, the top thread kept breaking as the thread would unspool from the spool then wrap around the thread "peg" and then tighten and snap. The top thread broke 5 times sewing my last set of rows together.

I still have to join the borders to the quilt and will definately be using my decorative thread that I used for the quilting instead of the monofilament to sew down the sashing. The instructor mentioned this as an option in the class and 9 out of 11 people chose to use their regular/decorative thread instead of the monofilament. I felt that if I didn't try it, I wouldn't know if I could do it or not. Now that I have done it, I'm not sure it SHOULD be done. Such a pain!!!

Anyway, I don't see myself working with monofilament thread and completely tip my hat to anyone that is able to. The instructor of our class acted like it was no big deal--she had over 15 gorgeous quilts at the class that she has made and they all used monofilament thread.

I am not a fan of the mono filament thread either.

It's okay for small pieces.

The way the monofilament is wound, it needs to stand upright. Either put it on a stand or - depending on what type of spool you have, put it in a jar behind the machine and run the thread over the uptake lever. That should take the wrapping problem away.

Martina, thank you for the tips. The first time I used the thread I had it on my slanted spool holder and it unwound all over the place so the instructor showed me what that little "peg" accessory was for and I have used it since then on the upright peg. It was only today that it started having trouble with the upright peg as well. So you say I should try putting it in a small jar behind the machine--interesting.

I'm right there with you. I don't like it and neither does my machine. The other issue is how do you get rid of or secure the ends? In regular thread I knot and bury the ends in the sandwich. When I tried that with the mono I had a hard time getting the knot to stay tied and it didn't want to stay buried. The newer brands are supposed to be better but I'm not ready to fight with it again. There are too many wonderful threads out there without struggling with monofilament.

That Settles it! I Have some here at the house to try, but after reading all the excerpts from everyone I think it would be
better to stay with my colorful threads like I had planned in the first place.

I love MonoPoly invisible thread by Superior. I use it a lot! I lower the tension, use a 90 topstitch needle, skip the last thread guide before the needle and slow down. Important to use poly on a spool and not nylon and don't have thread on a skinny spool. I also use a net cover on the thread. It certainly is different thread but very do-able.

Nylon monofilament is no fun. I FMQed a small quilt with it, it makes for a "pokey" quilt. Maybe the Monopoly is better?

I am with you 100 percent, I don't like it either, it won't stay put on the spool.