All About Thread and Material Brands
 

Am a new quilter. Will you all tell me what are good and not so good fabrics and also what thread
you recommend for long arm quilting. Have a HQ Sweet 16. I like to buy jellyrolls and precuts on line.
At there any brands to steer clear of? I did buy some of the Craftsy material and thought it sewed up really nice. Also, can really old cones of thread go bad over time. Have some 20 year old serger cones I found. Thanks everyone!

Superior threads and so many fabrics. Go on the Hancock’s of Paducah site. They are all there.

I buy fabrics at walmart and hobby lobby. They have many good quality fabrics and not very expensive. I don't make heirloom quilts. I give away most quilts I make. Never sell them. I have coats and clark and connecting threads brands of thread, regular and quilting. They all work very well for me.

I don't know anything about longarms but others will be able to help you.
I am picky when buying fabric. I like name brands like Moda, Michael Miller, RJR, Kaufman, etc. They have never disappointed me. My favorite place (or one of them) is Missouri Star Quilt Company. They sell quality fabric and shipping is low. I also like Shabby Fabrics, and there are more but those 2 jump out first.

Welcome from western NY and happy quilting :)

I wouldn't use serger thread on my long arm.

Cari

I like getting thread at sewingmachinesplus.com They have great sales a few times a year

As far as fabric... look at Missouri Star Quilt Company. They have good brands - then you can shop around for those brands at other sites.

Once you have a brand and fabric collection you can shop around. Often Amazon has good deals and free shipping too!

I have found good brands at good prices on etsy.com too

don't use serger thread on long arms--serger thread is not as strong, it's made to be used with several threads to create the seam. Long arm thread is made to roll out 1200 stitches "lickity-split". I prefer all Superior threads and also Glide by Fil-Tec; but also YLI and Signal, Marathon, etc. Just make sure they are not their serger or embroidery machine threads.
If you are asking about the fabrics for backing (since you mentioned using pre-cuts), I like Moda's muslin which is very soft and not too sheer.

For longarming, my favorite thread is Bottom Line in both top and bobbin. It is a very fine thread and makes my free-motion quilting look better than it actually is! Before I discovered Bottom Line, I thought I would always use Glide. It is heavier than Bottom Line with a little shine to it, which gave my quilts some sparkle. It shows up more than Bottom Line, for sure. Both are polyester threads, which I far prefer over cotton threads in my machine (a Voyager 17).

I tried cotton thread in my first quilts, including King Tut. It was fine until I tried Glide. I much prefer polyester thread because it leaves much less lint in my machine, plus it is stronger and less likely to break. Also, I like to quilt closely. Close quilting with a heavy cotton thread such as King Tut adds some stiffness to the quilt. Similar quilting with a polyester thread adds no stiffness at all, so the quilt stays very soft.

Threads, as with everything else involved in quilting, is a personal choice. Some quilters here have mentioned using serger thread in their longarm and been perfectly satisfied with it. I would not use serger thread in my machine for a couple of reasons. One is that it is very linty. Another is that it is a relatively weak thread that would break in my machine (former owner told me she struggled for months because she had been told she could use any thread in it). For me, the lint and breakage are just not worth it.

the thread can go bad, test it by trying to break it, pull off about 36 inches and try again. If it still breaks it may not be good. But just keep trying, the first few layers may be bad but most of it will still be great/ Do NOT use serger thread for sewing, it is too light weight