Hand Quilters - I Need Advice
 

I've pretty much decided that I'm going to hand quilt my sister's Double Wedding Ring. Thankfully with the American Rescue Plan passed, we're just waiting on our payment so I can get her batting and backing and I can get it started, but I've been doing some research and now I have some questions.

I'm doing the metal to metal technique but my questions are about the thread. Everything I've seen so far, suggests using a 28 weight thread for hand quilting, which I have no problem with. I was originally going to machine quilt and bought the thread for it. I can use that thread for another project at a later date if I have to, but I was wondering how much of a difference using a 28 weight thread versus something like a 40 weight would be? I know a lot has to do with strength, so therefore the durability of the stitching, but is it also the look and feel of the stitching, as well?

I really want to do this right, so like I said, if I have to use 28 weight, I'll just have to maneuver some things around a bit. I'm just curious about your thoughts and what you normally would use for hand quilting.

Myself, I would not use 28 weight thread unless you are going to quilt a big stitch. I would use a regular hand quilting thread. I use YLI hand quilting thread.

I agree with P-BurgKay. I prefer YLI hand quilting thread. I have used Coats and Clark hand quilting thread without a problem as well.

I use Coats and Clark quilting thread for all my hand quilting. It is smooth and easy to handle. I have hand quilted 5 out of 6 DWR quilts and the hand quilted DWR's came out so nice.

I never look at the weight, I just get hand quilting thread.

I think it's Aurifil that recommends using their 28 wt. for hand quilting; I tried it once because I was trying to match many colors, but I didn't like it. It was constantly breaking/fraying off my needle (it's only 2-ply and it doesn't seem very strong to me). I prefer a regular hand quilting thread like Gutermann's. If you were doing big stitch or trying for a decorative effect, then I think the 28 wt. would be appropriate.

I really like the Gutermann hand quilting thread.

I'm not entirely sure how big the stitch is going to be, I've got some of the background fabric sandwiched up and marked, I was going to play around this weekend with it to find out what looks better and go from there. My gut is thinking maybe a medium size stitch because of the curves involved, that's why I decided to hand quilt instead of machine quilt, I can't seem to get the curves right if I'm working on the machine. I'm still practicing my FMQ'ing, it's just taking a little longer than I hoped, mainly due to the migraine swarms I've been having. I haven't told my sister yet that I'm hand quilting it, I thought I would surprise her with it.

Thank you so much, ladies. Going to check with YLI, Coats & Clark and Gutermann's to see if I can match her colors now. You guys are the best.

I use Coats and Clark hand quilting thread.