Quilting myths or preference?
 

While I like using cotton fabric in my quilts, I am very partial to quality polyester thread. Compared when I quilted with cotton, I have way less breakage issues, and cleaning the lint from my machine was considerably reduced as well. It comes in any color imaginable and I see no quality difference in the appearance of my quilts. So for me less hassle is better if the end product is the same. Still, I know that many quilters, will smirk and think that I do not know what I am talking about. So really, how many of us choose by our preference and how many of us just follow the pattern we were taught years ago? Please tell me, am I missing something when it comes to polyester thread - it is strong, versatile, has little or no lint, and often it is cheaper than cotton.

While I don't consider myself an expert, I do use polyester thread. I don't make art quilts. I make quilts I expect people to use.

I use polyester for the same reasons you use it.

If you were to check you would find many, many long arm quilters use polyester thread almost exclusively... The high speed machines do not do so well with cotton threads. And, check thread website s, resources like Superior Threads, or Connecting Threads and you will find their (machine) quilting thread is polyester. Hand quilters tend to still use cotton.

I prefer using a polyester thread to quilt with. I quilt with a longarm machine so need the extra strength from the polyester threads to reduce breakage. I also found that the 100% cotton threads not only produced more lint, but they tend to break after the quilt was off the machine and being used, especially if the quilting was stitched diagonally. i do want my quilts to be used for a long time and be able to stand up to that use.

I use cotton thread for both piecing and quilting......so I stop and clean lint balls more often.....I don't do quilted art pieces so no need for other threads... When I use serger I use serger thread, when I do embroidery I use the thread recommended for it...just my way....

I think that the early polyester threads probably had some issues associated with them -- such as being so strong they could saw through cotton fabric. However, polyester threads these days are made with tensile strength very similar to cotton thread, so there really is not a danger anymore of polyester threads sawing through cotton fabric!

I read a blog recently done by someone who repairs vintage quilts. She had a quilt that was made using cotton thread in some seams and polyester thread in other seams. She was having to repair the seams sewn with cotton thread, because it had deteriorated; the seams made with polyester thread did not require repair. However, she noted that the polyester thread had not faded in color as the cotton threads and fabrics had; the polyester was still its original color.

I use polyester thread (Glide) for quilting because it gives me no problems. Plus, I am not making vintage quilts meant to be handed down for generations. I do think that, with machine quilting, polyester thread can be an issue for those making an elaborate quilt meant to be cherished for generations. In other words, for that kind of quilt I would be fine with using polyester thread for quilting, but I might want to use a cotton thread for quilting -- just so all the colors would fade together.

I don't know about silk thread colors. Do they fade like cotton? If I ever were to make a "show" quilt meant to be handed down in the family for generations, and if I were to do machine quilting on it, I would probably want to use a very fine silk thread. I know a lot of the show quilt winners are quilted with silk thread.

As a LAQ, I much prefer polyester threads for all the reasons you state, appearance, strength and no lint. I do have some cottons in my stash but given a choice, I will choose poly over cotton for quilting on a LA. Even fine detail work I use a 100 wt poly (invisifil) because I really have a hard time shelling out the $$ for silk thread when I can get the same look using invisifil. Hand quilting, I do like cotton but I also hand quilt with a much heavier weight thread.

I'm with you Tashana, I use polyester a lot for the same reasons...I don't make show pieces, I want mine to be used til they're rags!!!

Wow....and here i thought i was the only one who used polyester thread !!!!!!

Well I use cotton thread. for piecing and for hand quilting. and yes i do have to clean my machine. But if u use Egyptian cotton thread u get very little lint.I also only use cotton batting.no poly. Poly thread can and does stretch where as cotton does not. And u get puckering at the seams with poly. Just my opinion. I guess I am just an old fashioned quilter. And my quilts are made to be used also. which is why i use cotton. just has a better feel to me.

I use cotton and poly. Most times I will have poly in the bobbin and cotton on top. The difference in poly and cotton thread is at the bottom of my list to ponder about. The color of the thread is more important to me.

Count me in for the polyester thread. When I use cotton thread I see considerably more lint. And I've found with FMQ it's good for multicolored blocks as it's not so obvious with my swirling and meandering.

I like to use a very hot iron to iron seams when I am piecing, and do prefer the cotton thread. I don't like it being linty, but I just do the cleaning bit more often. When I put the piece on the long arm and quilt it, I do use Polyester. So mine quilts are a mixture.

I think the issues with polyester thread on cotton fabric have more to do with piecing than with the actual quilting. Particularly if there is less than a 1/4" seam. Jan from Be*Mused wrote a post about a quilt that she made in the 80s for her sister. I'll link the article but in essence she shows where the cotton wore away from the poly core and cut through the seam of the patchwork. I think many factors could be at play here but, in my opinion, this is the type of situation most people think of when the question of piecing with polyester thread comes up.

http://bemused.typepad.com/bemused/2...r_caution.html

I think that most people would agree that with the strength of the three layers (and more when quilting over seams) and the improvement in quality of polyester thread there is no danger when quilting with polyester thread.

I'm going to have to try Glide on my next project. What's the best source to purchase it? My lqs doesn't carry it.

Use what works for you or at midnight, what matches the color you are sewing.

I don't think this is a myth. You can compare the quality of invisible thread from the 70s which indeed felt like FISHLINE to the current invisible thread that is being produced in this century. There is a difference with the quality of the thread. I am certain that the quality of polyester thread has improved from the thread that was produced in the 1900s. I have seen older quilts where the cotton fabric in a quilt had been cut by the wear of polyester thread from earlier years. I have also seen bearding from older quilts with seams pressed open. But batting has also evolved as so many things have in quilting. Usually old wise tales do have a legitimate source. We each need to make our own decision of what we think is best for our quilts and our DSM.

Bob with Superior Threads says it is fine to use polyester thread with cotton fabrics.

You can buy direct from the manufacturer www.bobbincentral.com but I have read they have a minimum purchase? I have yet to find that stated anywhere on their website but then again when I order thread I am dropping at least $50 per order so maybe the minimum purchase appears when you check out.

It is also carried here:
http://www.quiltscomplete.com/Depart...ead/Glide.aspx

I use poly thread now. I'm a convert, used to would not stray from doing it "right" and using cotton thread I have had a lot of thread breakage in my machine quilting on the diagoanal when I had used the cotton. I use the poly for piecing also.
Robin in TX

I piece with aurifil because it is so fine but I use whatever I would like the look of when I quilt. I don't know if my quilts will last forever but I sure enjoy creating them.

I like to do fancy stitch embroidery with my machine and I use whatever thread goes with the design . I love using the variegated threads and there are very few colors in 100% cotton.

Curious as to why the thread breaks more when sewing on the diagonal?

There seems to be nearly universal agreement that polyester threads have been vastly improved from early varieties and are fine to quilt with. It's just a matter of preference. I find the idea of using cotton thread to be more appealing (same with fabric), so that's what I use.

That myth was exposed a while ago. Just like you were only supposed to use cotton fabric. I use whatever I find fir my colors and price. They used to say if you use poly thread on cotton it will eventually cut thru the fabric and that's been disproved. There us a video on thus somewhere by a Bob somebody. It's very interesting.

I ordered from bobbincentral and never saw a minimum order requirement. (I wonder if that is for wholesale orders?) I LOVE the Glide thread and wish I could find it locally. My longarm dealer used to carry it, but she could not make much money on it.I had to mail order from her as well, so shipping was paid one way or the other!

I use whatever thread I feel like. Cotton, poly, silk...some quilts just call for different threads. If I am going to do alot of small quilting I tend to head for SoFine. I have some silk in there but I bought it for my husbands quilt..which is STILL not done!. Even Permacore and Omni which are poly , leave lint in my bobbin area. Lint is a fact of life in machine quilting, so pull out your paint brush and brush it out!

Like others, I use what suits ME. I will always listen to advice and read the "rules of quilting", but in the end, I do what is best for me and what makes me happy with the process and end result.

I have used polyester thread, but found that for me it didn't work for piecing. The cotton setting on my iron melted the poly thread and the quilt literally fell apart when I lifted it off the ironing board. Now I just don't let poly thread near my quilting area so I don't accidentally use it for piecing. I still use it in my serger for clothes.

i heard stories like yours from other quilters, but honestly, it never happened to me. I use poly thread for piecing and iron it on cotton setting and it has never melted. This and other stories was one of the reasons I started this thread. I have just spent a small fortune on Omni by Superior Threads, and if I did not know it was a polyester thread I would have thought that it was cotton. It is even as linty as cotton. Once I use up this batch I will have to swith to something less linty, like Glide.

I think Glide would be on the thick side for piecing. Love it for quilting, though.

maybe it is just old fashioned me. but when did we become a community of quilters where anything goes?

I truly believe quilting has always been an "anything goes" activity in it's purest form. I know my quilting ancestors did not have a list of rules to tell them how to do it "right". My mother and grandmother sewed quilts for necessity and warmth, and used what they had. I cannot imagine them turning up their noses at a gift of fabric or thread because it just wasn't the thing in vogue at the time. Quilt police were never an issue.

If one is doing art quilts for entering competitions, then by all means, the rules of the competition must be followed. But when did those become the rules for the rest of us who quilt for fun, charity, love, etc.?
IMHO, it's old fashioned to do what suits and pleases you, rather than following a lot of rules that you never signed up for. LOL. Hugsss and smiless and happy quilting!

I just wanted to add, I have never had poly thread melt and I've ironed thousands of blocks in the 100+ quilts I've made. I wonder if the thread that melted might have been the clear poly invisible thread. That I've had melt any time a hot iron comes in contact with it.

I use this same process.

I just realized today that Guterman is 100% Polyester and I use it for hand stitching my gfg and it is the only one that has not frayed or broken on me. I am doing some machine applique with fancy stitches and most of the prettier thread is either poly or rayon, there is very few variegated cotton threads which I love in doing machine applique.

My LAQ uses poly. When I bought my Tiara, myLQS recommended 100% poly. This is all a change from when I bought my Bernina 153 10+ years ago and was told use only cotton thread.

I have always( about 40 years now) been told not to use poly thread on cotton fabric because it acts like a razor blade and will cut the fabric.

this is one myth of many. Here is a great article on the subject. http://www.superiorthreads.com/educa...ar-the-fabric/

I like the Anton rayon thread as well.

I really prefer all cotton fabrics in my quilts, but when it comes to thread I am far less picky. The newer poly threads are not like those fishing line poly threads of our youth! And my LA won't tolerate cotton thread up top.... it snaps every six inches, so I don't even try anymore! I can use cotton thread in the bobbin area, but not on the top. And of course someone is going to say mixing two kinds of thread is a problem, with the poly being stronger than the cotton, but I have quilts that are 20 years old and have been washed numerous times, and show no signs of suffering from that issue, so I don't worry too much about that either. I think you have to decide what works in your world and go with experience. Sometimes the so-called-experts are just flat wrong. (And sometimes we are! LOL!) But I think my quilts will outlive me, at any rate, so I'll just be content with that for now.