My first rodeo... hey ya
 

Out the gate...

I am an absolute first timer here. This is my very first time in a forum, following my inheritance of my very first sewing machine. I'm riding a 401A Singer Ladies and Gents, and I'm excited to join the club. . I have lots of questions and I'm already thankful for this resource!

I scrolled by the machine embroidery section and I think I'll start there! What kind of thread should I use? Im jumping in. Thanks again... and to you !

Signing out from OR,
Best!

Welcome to the rodeo! I have learned so much following people and asking questions.
I do both quilting and machine embroidery. My favorite is polyester - but also use rayon. It depends what color works best for my project. Because I like to have a large variety of colors I buy primarily from Threadart.com. They have a lot of sales and shipping is low. But I like Sulky and various others. For me it really depends on the project and the color I need. When I started I went to the Sewing Machines Plus store in San Marcos CA - they had a couple of thread bundles on sale that were fabulous so they were my starter kits.
Again, welcome and enjoy the site.

Welcome from South Louisiana! My first embroidery was a set of about 80 spools of polyester from Ebay. Paid somewhere about $80 for them. That gives you multiple colors to choose from. I always buy the 1000 or 5000 yd spools of thread. Less than that you may run out of the thread when doing an elaborate pattern. And, you can always use it for top stitching on a quilt or for piecing. Luckily, my first set was from Thread Art and has continued to be my goto store for thread. They have good prices on sets and you can buy the same colors by the spool. https://www.threadart.com/collection...ry-thread-sets

For years it was said that rayon was the better thread for color, but could fade if machine washed. I'm not sure if the fading still applies but I do know that Polyester doesn't have that problem. You can't iron rayon or polyester thread on the hottest setting on your iron. You have to use one less than Cotton. Linen is typically the hottest.

Welcome aboard from a safe distance close to Seattle, WA.

I can't help much with machine embroidery but glad to have you here -- we have some excellent talent on the board and some of us who are just doing our best!

Welcome to the QB and happy quilting

a warm welcome from Ky. soon to be Ga,grew up in La Mesa

free hand sewing embroidery thread
 

I dont really know what Im asking :) I wanted to try using the sewing machine to free hand embroider, I saw a couple videos online. I have no idea what kind of threads are ok for that?

Thanks for all of your help already! And I hope I replied to this thread correctly.

Hey Rodeo, we have a lot of very similar terms and often are talking about some very different things. I'm thinking the 401 is a pretty basic machine, so without fancy stitches or embroidery units and I think you might looking for what I would call thread painting? There are so many techniques and fun things to do to fabric.

Check out this link and see if that is what you had in mind
https://www.quiltingdaily.com/free-t...uilting-daily/

Waving hello from Maryland! I also support ThreadArt for embroidery/thread painting. Whatever you do, have fun with it and welcome to the QB. Lots of helpful people here.

Welcome from Michigan!:)

Welcome from Southern Indiana! ....and does a Singer 401A do embroidery????? I would imagine it would be easier to start with a few simple quilt blocks....in my humble opinion....

Well welcome aboard...from las vegas nv.

Well welcome to the QB from SE Michigan. I am so glad you are jumping right into the fray of things. There are a whole lot of folks here that can help each other along the way as you will experience. As far a the weight of threads that are best used for machine embroidery I use Robinson-Anton 40wt threads or Sulky 40 wt thread on my embroidery machine.

Welcome from North Carolina. I think you will really enjoy this Board. Lots of information shared here.

Welcome from FL!

I use polyester embroidery thread for machine embroidery and general sewing too. It looks nice using a decorative stitch on quilt bindings.

Welcome from south Texas. I have learned so much from this site!

Howdy from Texas! I think you will love this board & will find it full of helpful quilters and sewers.