Color of thread to use for quilting
Hi! I am pretty much a novice at quilting although I have made a few baby quilts. I'm going to try my hand at free motion quilting and I wondered about thread color. If the quilt has large blocks of several colors, like pink, purple, and blue, do you use a different color for each block, to match the block? Or so you use one color for all?
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if you are planning to do an all over edge to edge type quilting i would use a neutral- like light gray if the fabrics are mostly light- a medium or dark gray if the fabrics are darker. creams work well too but grays tend to blend in & disappear. i don't know many people who change threads often when doing free motion quilting but it is your choice. often i will go with the background- when i have alot of colors in the blocks.
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Also, you have to think of how much you want the quilting to show. My FMQ is still not as good as I would like so I tend to go for colors that disappear as much as possibe.
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Originally Posted by ckcowl
(Post 5637180)
if you are planning to do an all over edge to edge type quilting i would use a neutral- like light gray if the fabrics are mostly light- a medium or dark gray if the fabrics are darker. creams work well too but grays tend to blend in & disappear. i don't know many people who change threads often when doing free motion quilting but it is your choice. often i will go with the background- when i have alot of colors in the blocks.
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If the blocks are bright colors, have you considered using variegated thread incorporating as many of the colors as possible?
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On similar quilts I've either gone with a neutral, or with whatever color seemed predominant (usually matched my binding). Right now I'm using bright white on a Dr Seuss quilt so it will stand out a little but not be overpowering -- that thing is already crazy enough.
If you want the quilting to be featured, use a brighter color. If it's the texture you're after then pick something neutral. And if you aren't yet confident in your FMQ then don't pre-wash anything and let the quilt shrink up a bit in the dryer. It's a fabulous equalizer. :) |
Originally Posted by gramajo
(Post 5637313)
If the blocks are bright colors, have you considered using variegated thread incorporating as many of the colors as possible?
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I love variegated thread and use it all the time on my quilts if they have lots of colors in them.
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I like to use variegated too and through the years have built up a good supply.
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I do a lot of scrap quilts, so varigated thread is the best choice for me
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Originally Posted by JulieR
(Post 5637479)
If it's the texture you're after then pick something neutral. And if you aren't yet confident in your FMQ then don't pre-wash anything and let the quilt shrink up a bit in the dryer. It's a fabulous equalizer. :)
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Originally Posted by gramajo
(Post 5638297)
Yes, it is a great equalizer. I rarely prewash and always wash when the quilt is finished. My quilting leaves a lot to be desired. :eek:
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There are some nice variagated thresds out there!
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I like variegated if I can get in the right colors. I like a base color in other areas. I changed thread at least 8 times on one quilt, bit usually can get by with 2 or 3. I was thread painting the animals on the wildlife quilt, so it took a lot of changes. The quilt I just finished had red areas with scrappy, yellow areas with scrappy and then white areas, so those were my three colors. The red was variegated red to white. I kept a cream color in the bobbin for all. I don't mind changing top thread, but I try not to change the bobbin.
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