Best place(s) to purchase good quality cotton quilting thread?
 

I am very interested in the answers to this question.

i have never ordered thread from Connecting Threads (fabric and kits are terrific) and was wondering if their essence/essentials cotton thread was good. I purchase Arial (sp) from my LQS and like it; however, always looking for good and less expensive. Any thoughts or suggestions? All will be appreciated.

Aurifil? I will only purchase Aurifil 50wt 2-ply now for piecing (although Prescencia 60wt 3-ply sounds good also). Aurifil is a much smoother, finer thread than the cotton thread from Connecting Threads. The CT thread is linty in comparison to Aurifil.

Fabric.com can be a good place online to purchase Aurifil when they have the colors you want on sale. They offer free shipping on orders of $35 or more.

Thank you Prism99 for the hyper fast response, correcting my spelling, the thread you use, and info regarding CT's thread. I appreciate all of it. Happy quilting to you.

...and it doesn't take long to spend $35. lol

I buy the Gutermann 100% cotton 5,000+yard spools from Overstock.com for about $14 per spool. I think you can find it a little cheaper other places on sale, but if Overstock has your colors, it is a decent price and quick to ship.

I use CT thread all the time. I like the price. It does make lint, but then what doesn't.

The only thing that bugs me about buying Aurifil on Fabric.com is that they don't list the numeric code for the thread and some of the colors are really similar. It's impossible for me to tell EXACTLY which shade of turquoise I'm buying, for example. Fine most of the time but sometimes you really need the EXACT same color.

I was wondering if any online shop has a card sample of the Aurofil the sell online which shows you all the colors, so I could color match at home. No one in my area sells Aurofil.

Thanks for the thread. I also am interested in the answers. BrendaK

I use Connecting Threads Pro thread for piecing, bobbins, and machine quilting. It's 70wt poly and is strong enough for fast stitching. I like Glide thread and Glide Delight bobbins for most of my machine quilting. I have all brands of thread. I won two big Aurifil thread collections last year on blog giveaways. The colors are so pretty. It's very good thread.

I use arufil for piecing and I buy it from red rock thread. I use connecting threads for machine quilting, yes it does make lint but I just clean at every bobbin change.

I've bought Aurifil at this site also: http://www.sewezdesigns.com/Aurifil1.html .

There are quite a few places online that sell the Aurifil color chart (made with threads). I have one, but can't remember which one I ordered from. If you Google "Aurifil thread chart" you should be able to find some places that have it in stock.

Www.discountembroidery.com sells Aurifil and other cotton thread with free shipping and for a price you can get a color card

I have used connecting threads for piecing, for me it is no more linty than any other cotton thread as all make lint as far as I am concerned including aurifil which i purchased recently and didn't care for, gutterman is still my favorite piecing thread at this point. For piecing CT is not bad, haven't tried FMQ with it yet. If I do I will update my thread review. I do like king tut by superior for FMQ as it is the one out of most major brands that doesn't break and produces the least lint out of everything I have tried which is many top brands which leads me to believe that I would enjoy piecing with master piece or bottomline by superior if ever I purchase some, will probably like it more than gutterman. I highly recommend the superior line as they are indeed superior. The way I learned is by buying quite a few cotton threads to practice FMQ with and to me king tut and gutterman stood out the best with king tut being in the lead by far. I do still want to try floriani and mettler for FMQ as those are the ones I haven't tried. But I encourage you to do your own tests because I have learned in the past 10 years If I always did what most recommended it wouldn't have been for me.

I love, love, love Aurifil. It's thin but strong, so I get get more on a bobbin and need to change it less often. It also isn't linty.

I use Aurifil, buy it at Fabric. com. and get free shipping.

I pretty much use only Connecting Threads threads, for everything, unless they don't have the colour I want. As I clean the bobbin area almost every bobbin change, it doesn't matter that it's a little linty.

Heartbeatquilting.com sells 3000 yd spools of Signature 100% cotton quilting thread for $7.25. Their shipping costs are inaccurate so call them for shipping prices if you order. Signature Thread is really nice, even works great on high speed machines.

Glide thread is absolutely awesome for quilting. It is polyester, but it's no stronger than cotton quilting thread. Some of the colors like Cleopatra look like gold metallic, but they are much easier to quilt with. The 1000 yard spools run around $2.30, but you have to meet a $35 minimum, $75? for free shipping.

Connecting Threads sometimes has deals on things like shipping in some of the magazines. Look for those in their ads. I haven't tried their thread, but will soon.

Thank you all for sharing your experience with me and others who read or shall read this post. I have used Gutterman and Aurifil threads and have liked them both. The Aurifil can be purchased at my LQS and I think I got the Gutterman at Joann's on sale (of course lol). The Aurifil thread color chart is a great idea. Congratulations Onebyone for those great wins. Again, a big THANK YOU to all of you. Have fun quilting.

I've been using threads from Connecting Threads for years & been happy- I also purchase threads from Superior Threads and my Aurifil from Fabric.com *they seem to have the best price I've found for Aurifil and with free shipping at $35 I can always reach that point. :)

Connecting threads cotton thread works, but it is too thick for me. I use Aurifil or made in the USA Cairo Cotton from the same folks who make the Glide thread, fil-tec. You can color cards real cheap from them. Highly recommend.

I find Connecting Threads to be very linty and breaks in my machine. I like any thread that has a cotton polyester blend.

I only use threads from Superior Threads. Their website has an amazing amount of user information and help on it, and they have real sample cards for all threads they sell. It is just a bit more expensive, but the performance is so much better than any other brand, it's worth it to me. While I've used other brands and they turn out ok, this brand seems to be the best for me. I've used it my home machines as well as my mid-arm, also in my bobbins, with very few issues. Many cone/spool sizes, and hundreds of colors, fibers, sizes. They also run sales that help bring the price down a bit. They have a sample pack you can get to experiment with, and single spools are sold in a lot of quilt shops. Might be a good place to start.

I bought a cotton thread set from Thread Art a few years ago. I have been pleased with it and other than needing a new spool of white, I haven't needed to buy any thread for a long time now.
http://www.threadart.com/p-100-cotto...ols-1000m.aspx

My gosh, more information. I am so glad I posted my question. All is extremely helpful. Many thanks to all of you.

Thank you for all of the info.

I'm a big Aurifil thread fan for piecing. For quilting I usually use something a little thicker. I like the Aurifil because it is so fine and I get accurate seams when I press. Fabric.com has my business for Aurifil thread. They consistently have the best price and their $35 for free shipping is lower than most. Great fast service as well. I am planning on using King Tut which the local quilt shop sells to give that a try for quilting.

I like Essentials threads from Connecting Threads. I have it in a bunch of colors and it is wonderful for quilting and piecing traditional cottons. I have found that Aurifil does better on batiks for piecing. For quilting I also like King Tut and Superior. There is a wholesale-to-retail online store called J. Hittle that has fantastic prices on threads and things like rotary cutter blades. Our quilt group places an order together a couple of times a year to save on shipping and split up large orders. We did one a month ago and all ordered rotary cutter blades, each of us getting 10 blades for about $1.50 each. A real bargain!!
http://www.jhittlesewing.com/visitor/index_jhs.html

... and Thank You for all the websites and info regarding them. I truly appreciate it.

I agree....king tut is the best cotton thread I have ever used. Among other things I use it to make quilted potholders as it won't melt when exposed to heat. It is also a great piecing and quilting. A big thumbs up!

Me too, I just get out my handy dandy teensy brush and go sweeping :)

I bought a lot of neutral thread at this site too. She has great prices and after she closes her webstore next month she will still have a physical shop and I think will still sell via email. I always think about getting a color chart too but they seem expensive.

I use the CT polyester cones for quilting and for piecing. I've never had a problem with it and have been using it for about 4 years.

How about buying just one to see how you like it?

I guess she will only be selling patterns after her store closes. Bummer.

I've gotten good prices and service from Tristan Threads in Canada. On Aurifil, that is.
http://www.tristan.bc.ca/cart/produc...roductid=16191

I use ct thread for everything but handsewing. love the colors, price and performance.

I like supporting our local quilt shop. We are always lamenting on this board about quilt shop closures. Every little bit helps them out. Oh I like aurofil as well.

This is my least-favourite thread ever! I find it not only linty, but bobbly too - you can actually see the lumps on it if you hold it up to the light. The only positive thing I can say about it, is that it's cheap.

CT Essentials is far superior IMHO - I've pieced and quilted very successfully with this (gift - they don't ship to UK), although I much prefer Aurifil for piecing and King Tut for quilting. I like the way King Tut variegated changes colour every inch.

Thank all of you for sharing your thread experiences. Your suggestion of buying one spool, cathyvv, is a good one. I do support my LQS buying my Aurifil there (and some exceptional fabric). It's a fairly small shop but they do have some beautiful fabric I can't live without. LOL. (You all know that feeling).

My Pfaff loved CT, but my Bernina 820 (new model) is allergic to it. Go figure! Now I use Aurafil as well.