dumb question about thread
 

I have always used cotton thread for piecing and quilting. One time my LQS had some prewound bobbins that were polyester. I did try them and I really like them because there is sooo much thread on them I don't have to stop for bobbin changing very often.

She has not been able to get them back in stock since. So I went looking on my own and I found some - yay! BUT I also found cotton prewound bobbins. The cotton don't have quite as many yards on a bobbin as the polyester, but it is still much much better than when I wind my own bobbins.

My question is.. does it matter if I have polyester or cotton thread in my bobbin? Is one better than the other? I will continue to use cotton up top

Thanks

I do it all the time to no ill effect. I'll prewind a bunch of bobbins in the neutrals that I use, and just grab one. Might be cotton, might be poly.

I use polyester often, along with cotton, cotton along with silk, silk along with wool... In other words-- I use many different Threads, without problems. No one knows except me. I also use many different fabrics. I've made quilts with batiks and flannels together that are great, velvets, wools, silks with cottons... Sometimes I think people stress over little things that really don't need to be stressed over. As long as your thread is good, strong and the color& weight you want to use, use it. No one is going to say your quilt isn't good because you have polyester thread in the bobbin-- no one is going to know.

You should never limit yourself to only cotton thread for piecing or quilting! My normal piecing combo is Aurifil 2 ply 50 weight cotton on top and Superior Bottom line 60 wt polyester in the bobbin. BTW Superior does sell bottom line in prewounds but I wind my own. I use neutral colors in both, usually a grayish green color that seems to blend with everything. If I am piecing dark, I switch over to my dark neutral which is a charcoal gray. If piecing light to dark or bright to dark, I stick with my grayish green neutral.

For quilting I prefer poly. I love glide which is a 40 wt trilobal polyester with lovely shine. For longarm quilting I definitely prefer the prewound magnaglide bobbins. I also use super fine poly called Invisifil which is 100wt and looks and acts like silk without the expensive silk price tag. I save my real silk for applique.

Wow, this is a revelation. I always thought the top and bottom threads had to be the same material. Cotton/cotton or poly/poly.

Thanks everyone! I just wanted to check to be sure that I didn't do something stupid :)

Is this just for piecing?? If you were quilting with it, it would be a matter if it matched your top thread. I have never used prewound bobbins. I only use original Bernina bobbin in my machine. it is not a problem for me to wind my bobbins.

Wow this is interesting. I've always been told and read that if you're using cotton fabric you should always use cotton thread and bobbin. Reason being if you use poly thread it will outlast the cotton and would wear the fabric at the seams.

Some have good luck with the prewound and some don't. Doesn't take long and with my 2 machines often I wind 2 at a time. So goes quickly. I bought some extra bobbins for my 2662 the other day and filled them up.

I use prewound bobbins with the paper sides. I take the paper off and use the bobbin naked in my Bernina, Singer, Brother and Janome. I use Glide bobbins when machine quilting and thin poly or cotton when machine piecing. Why bother winding bobbins when you can buy them already wound in about every color you want?