Originally Posted by
Knitette
Absolute tosh! I've lost count of the number of threads (no pun intended) I've seen where people comment that their machines don't 'like' a particular thread.
A machine does what you 'tell' it to - it is an inanimate object (much as we love them and give them names, lol). It may mean tinkering with the tension, bigger needle eye or changing needles - amazing what a sharp needle will achieve.
My Janome is the original Martini girl - any needle, any thread, any time (hope you all had that TV advert in the US.....). I even FMQ in metallic on it.
However my new Pfaff has been breaking it's bobbin thread despite all of the above, for both me and the shop owner so now back at Pfaff. When it comes back I expect it to do everything my Janome does or I'll be hounding them until it does.
I have 2 brothers and use what ever I have close at hand with the color I need. I slow the speed down with metallics but it is more for the needle grooving than thread. And I also FMQ with metallics on my brothers.
I will say though, my machines dont like pre-wound bobbins, they always mess up. Tried everything, finally just decided they dont like the pre-wound....so just wind my own.
Sometimes machines do "tell" you what works best. Many of my quilt projects "tell" me what they want as well. Of course I might just be crazy
I always based my needle on the fabric I am using, then select a thread for that needle/fabric, rather than selecting needle first. Jeans and upholstery materials require heavier duty needles than cotton, and thread also needs to be heavier. For standard cotton piecing, I use an 80/20 universal with 60wt thread. For embroidery I use 70/11 with 40wt thread.
just depends on the fabric and what I am doing,