Quilting fabric containing metallic thread.
I am quilting a project where some of the blocks have cotton fabric with metallic thread. I am using polyester 100 wt in the needle and cotton 50 wt in the bobbin. I have used this combination with success before on plain cotton. I reduced the top tension and used a topstitch needle, and had no problems whatsoever.
On the cotton/metallic fabric, the thread is fraying and breaking. Not all the time, but often enough to make it annoying. I changed my needle to a "metallic" one and this helped somewhat. These needles have a larger eye to prevent the fraying of more fragile metallic threads.
I can't help thinking that it is the metallic element in the fabric that is causing the problem. I don't think I will ever machine-quilt that type of fabric again. But in the meantime, I still have six 12-inch blocks to quilt!
I am using the polyester 100 wt thread in the needle because it sinks into the fabric, and I can use the same thread on all my blocks without changing colors.
I'd certainly like to hear from any of you who have used "metallic" fabrics. Did you encounter similar problems, and did you figure out any solutions?
Thanks in advance!