Does thread really matter?
 

Don't kill me...its a real question. I've been buying Coats & Clarke on the big spools. Seems to work fine but all the Bloggers seem to love Aurafil. I don't know if they are getting compensated so...yeah. I'm about to try machine quilting my own work instead of sending it out. (I'm not made of money which is why I want to start finishing the process as well as starting!) Anyone who has thoughts on brand, fiber etc. Please advise...

If you quilt/sew for yourself, use what works for you.

Before I knew I was "supposed" to use a "better" thread, I was using Maxi-Lock because it was $1 and a huge cone of it and Coats and Clark machine quilting thread, and those first quilts have never had stitches break. I can't snap a piece of Maxi-Lock by pulling on it.

When I bought my first cones and spools of Aurifil and tried machine quilting with it, I was constantly breaking thread and couldn't figure out why. Turns out it's great for piecing because it's a 50wt 2ply thread so it's very very thin. So much thinner than the Coats and Maxi that it's crazy easy for me to snap a piece of Aurifil by tugging it. I hear quilting stitches snap when I tuck my kids into bed in the more recent quilts that have been quilted with it.

The Coats machine quilting thread I have is 30wt. No idea what the Maxi-Lock is since it's marked as an all-purpose thread and I know many use it for serging. The lower the number for weight, the thicker the thread. But the number of plies for the thread varies as well. So I think many like Aurifil because it's thinner so you don't lose as much fabric to your seam allowance. I don't use it for actual machine quilting anymore because it's just ugh. I know many people love it too because it lints less and yes, when I look at a strand of it, there are less fuzzies than when I look at a different brand. But I use ConnectingThreads essential cotton too because while it's also a 50wt, it's a 3ply, and much cheaper! I've gone back to using Maxi for quilting if it's the right color, Connecting Threads for quilting or piecing, and basically whatever I have that I want to use up.

Aurifil for quilting - I go much slower when I quilt with it so there isn't as much breakage during the quilting. I still don't like hearing stitches snap when the quilt is being used so when I finish these cones, I'm unlikely to purchase more. My kids are 2 and 4, so we're rough on quilts. Your mileage may vary :) Use what you want and what you can live with.

Again it comes to preference. Because most of my quilts get high usage as utility or bed quilts I usually will use a stronger thread when quilting. I am not to concerned with the thread for my own piecing either. When making a block or quilt for someone else I try to use a stronger thread . I don't make quilts for others outside family very often. When I do I prefer Glide threads. They can be a bit more costly but IMHO worth the extra.

I use everything that I like and works for me. A lot of coats and clark, and yes, serger thread for FMQ which I like a lot. I can't break it if I try and it looks good on the quilts I use it for. To me they are all linty anyway, so I just keep my machine clean. I have aurifil, wonderfil, glide, YLI on a cone, Isacord, Superior threads, a lot of different brands. They all work in my machine so I use them. I don't use polyester for piecing just because it is more slippery at the ends and I am not good about leaders/enders. None of my quilts have fallen apart, had broken stitches, etc. even the ones the grands have used and have been washed a zillion times. I went to a presentation a while back by a YLI representative and he did a demo with everyone thinking cotton was the strongest, but, it wasn't and he said just use the thread you like if it works in your machine. Seems good to me.

I have tried all brands of threads and I don’t find a lot of difference. So far, my quilts seem to stay all sewn together. Some threads seem to make more lint and I have stopped ordering those.

I have used good old Coats Dual Duty for both piecing and quilting for most of the last 40 years. No problems.

Started using more threads when I started using my friend's long arm. We needed a lighter weight for the bobbin, got long fiber threads etc. for the top.

When my friend gave me the Bernina, she said it was fussy about thread which is one of the reasons she got a different Bernina, she does a lot of fancy stuff and purses and things and I just use cotton. She suggested Aurifil which is great stuff. I have also used some of my old Dual Duty and it seems to produce lint in the modern machine that was never there in my vintage machine.

I suspect most of these bloggers are using the aurifil for piecing, not for quilting. I would not use aurifil for quilting but I love it for piecing in the top and I use So Fine in the bobbin. I like using lots of different types of threads for quilting, depending on the look I am going for. My thread addiction is just as bad as my fabric addiction but I quilt on a LA and I always treat the quilting as another design element on the quilt, not just something to hold the layers together so I suspect I am fussier about thread than most. It is not uncommon for me to use 3 or 4 different types and brands of thread on a single quilt. I may use a monofilament to do all the ditchwork, a 40 wt poly for the motif quilting and a 100 wt to do background fills or areas where I really don't want the thread to show but just the texture all of this with yet a different thread in the bobbin (usually a 60 wt poly). In addition to the different thread types I will also use multiple colors.
I highly recommend Diane Gaudynski's book "Guide to Machine Quilting". She explains how different threads will give you different looks with lots of close up pics. You can pick it up used on Amazon for less than $6 plus shipping. Definitely worth it.

The quilts that I made 20 years ago using the "old" Coats & Clark Dual Duty thread - and are our couch quilts - have held up fine. My blocks are/were the expected size, also.