ManiacQuilter2

Lots of interesting opinions. I myself would NEVER use polyester thread. It will slowing rub against your cotton fabrics and the thread will weaken the fabric. I believe that the thread is also very linty which is hard on a sewing machine. I am from the old school of Harriet Hargrave. I use mostly Mettle Silk finished thread. I realize new threads have come out especially those for LAQ. I still quilt small items on my Bernina 1530 with Mettler.

Prism99

I used Mettler silk-finish cotton thread in my Bernina 1230 for years. Once I tried Aurifil 50wt 2-ply, I would never go back to Mettler. Aurifil is a much smoother thread that leaves much less lint.

Polyester thread is not at all linty compared to most cotton thread. Aurifil is the only cotton thread I have used that is similar to polyester in terms of not leaving lint in my machine.

It may have been true in the past that polyester was so strong it would break cotton threads, but that is no longer the case. Dr. Bob from Superior Threads demonstrates that in one of his educational videos. I think it's this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W5OxygKlUk

crcindy

Wow- thank you all for your input!! There is a wealth of experience out there, and I enjoyed reading all of your replies! I will look around on sites that were mentioned, and experiment. I can see that there is not one "right way", but many, and I just have to find what is right for my machine. Thanks again, and happy quilting!!

Sheilz

I read a previous thread on this subject with great interest after someone posted about frequent thread breakages when Fmq since I too had this problem whenever I tried increasing the speed of the machine away from its lowest setting. I invested quite a bit of money in purchasing superior threads which are quite lush as well as top stitch needles. The thread is really lovely however the minute I upped the speed same old issue with Fmq. I find this very frustrating because the bits of quilting in between breakages is so much nicer than when its slow because then it is difficult to get a nice flowing movement. I have a sapphire 870. What am I doing wrong?

cathyvv

I use Connecting Threads polyester thread when quilting. My machine is a HQ16 and the polyester thread works wonderfully in it.

It's generally not linty, although I did have one spool that was linty. That was an exception, but I'm sure any kind/brand of thread has an exception now and then. I've never had a problem with it breaking.

Density of batting makes a difference, but I think it's more of a tension/speed issue than a thread issue. I frequently use fleece for batting because it is light in weight, yet warm, and allows a quilt to drape better than any batting I've tried. The light weight is especially important to me when making a small childs' quilt. The lighter the quilt the more likely the child is to drag it around and love it to tatters!

Prism99

Have you tried setting tension as shown in Jamie Wallen's video? It seems to work well for domestic machines as well as longarms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1mRhcquZTM

Also, when you go fast with fmq, more stress is put on the thread. Try increasing the needle size beyond what is recommended for the thread. Glide thread from http://www.bobbincentral.com/ is a 40wt polyester thread that almost always works well. Contact the company to get a sample spool to try out in your machine (so you don't have to place the $35 minimum order).

MarleneC

I've had problems with the cotton Gutermann threads and have ended up using it in the bobbin on my Viking Ruby.

KyKaren1949

My favorite thread for piecing is Aurifil or Superior Masterpiece.

Sheilz

Thank you. I'm using a size 90 at the moment which is I think what's recommended but haven't meddled with the tension. The machine is meant to do that? Anyway I will watch the video. Hopefully it holds the solution to the problem!

Yarn or Fabric

I'm a Glide user. I love love love Glide. I got a trial spool of it through the company and loved it so much I passed it along to the other 4 big machine users in my small guild. ALL of us now use Glide. It is amazing. Every bobbin has perfect tension when it's wound. You can change colors and the tension will be the same. It is an amazing thread... and economical. Some local shops carry it. Mine does however they charge $3 more per spool so I order it online. If you have friends with big machines have them try it as well. You can go in on the order to hit the $75 for free shipping. That's what we do