As I was hand quilting today, it brought to mind my Mother who hand quilted in her day. Since I'm sure that quilting thread wasn't available back then (1940's and 50's) what kind of thread was used for quilting? I'm sure my Mom used whatever she had, probably all purpose thread. Anyone else thought of this? Just curious.

My grandmother used regular thread but ran it through beeswax prior to quilting.

My mother just use plain ole thread. I don't remember any bees wax.....really never thought about what they used.

Good question, when I had Home Ec.about the only thread you could find was Coats and Clarks and that was in the late 60's and early 70's .What other thread companys were around back then I wonder?

I have alot of my mother's thread--C&C--that I keep in a jar just for display not for sewing. They are all wooden spools and that is what she used for sewing clothes as well as hand quilting. As I recall, she and my grandmother used yarn to tie their quilts, or perhaps it was several strands of embroidery thread.

Just what I was going to say.

My MIL only used all purpose thread to quilt hers. She was asked to quilt one for a friend and the lady bought quilting thread for her.

plain old thread was used there were not all these crazy choices to make back then. ladies did run their thread through beeswax to help it glide through the fabrics.