Bobbin Thread Question
 

Hiya, Quilters,

I'm quilting a reversible Amish-inspired quilt, using corduroy fabrics. The front has a lot of black and the back has a lot of red. I want subtle quilting lines, so I thought I would try red in the bobbin and black on top. When I tried out a sample sandwich (using leftover fabric), I was mostly happy with the results, except the red bobbin thread on the bottom was peeking through the black quilt top ever so slightly. Is this the nature of the beast or is there some adjustment I can make with the tension?

As always, thanks for all your help!

Best,
Aso

Unfortunately, achieving the perfect tension of not seeing bobbin on the top or top on the bottom is one of those grand master ninja quilter things . that being said, there is a somewhat unconventional method of , faking it ! In your case it would be easy since it is the red showing on the black, if it were me, and it REALLY bothered me, I would use a fine tip black permanent marker and ever so carefully, cover the red that peeks through in the most noticeable spots.

Sometimes after the quilt is washed the thread doesn't peek through. Also, is the thread really coming through to the top, or are you just seeing the bobbin thread through the hole made by the needle? If this is the case, you won't see it anymore after the quilt is washed. Sounds like a very dramatic quilt - hope you will post it when finished.

Those dots of thread peeking through are what we in the longarm business call 'pokies'. Unless you're using a fairly thick batting, it's pretty much the nature of the beast. This is why I almost always match my bobbin thread to the top color. After all, if we were hand quilting, we'd be using the same color thread top & bottom :)

You could try using a thinner bobbin thread, sometimes that helps the stitches 'lock' in the batting better.

You could also choose a thread color that is mid way between the two colors - maybe a brownish? Then it will still be subtle on both the red and the black.

Andi

Thanks for all the suggestions! Dunster: you're exactly right--the red thread in the bobbin is peeking through the holes; it's not actually coming through. So, it sounds like that might disappear after washing the thread! I'll let you all know. If it doesn't, sounds like I can play around with a permanent marker and maybe a different thread.

I totally agree with Dunster!