Hi Guys,

What is the best thread for....

1) Machine Quilting

2) Hand Quilting

Also, at the moment I am piecing blocks and using just ordinary polycotton thread.... am I doing the right thing?

Hugs

Caroline

For my piecing I either use 100% cotton or an all-purpose poly that is cotton covered. The biggest thing for me is to match my color. The same goes for machine and hand quilting. Whatever brand I find the color I need in. I'm not a thread snob!! :lol: :lol: I'm just a matchy-matchy!!! :lol: :lol:

I know you are supposed to use cotton thread - but I have to admit I have always used a poly thread, for almost everything.

I recently machine quilted with a YLI varigated cotton thread and it looked fabulous!!! Would deffinately recomend the extra expense.

Just don't use hand quilting thread in your machine. It has a coating on it that will damage your machine.

Go to"Superior threads.com" they have a chart available to show what type of threads to use. They now carry hand quilting thread.

LOL When I saw a line that said, "Threads" I thought someone was talking about our LQS, Threads of Time, which we often refer to as "Threads" I jump in to see what someone else thought of it (it's wonderful btw) but you were talking about real thread. My mistake. LOL

I use it all. For piecing I just use a neutral color cotton or poly cotton blend.

For hand quilting I use the special hand quilting threads and I love the YLI and King Tut (Superior Threads) brands. I only sew when I have to put the lenghts of fabric for a wholecloth togehter by hand and I use cotton thread for it.

I use different threads because I have a lot of different threads. Right now I'm using InvisFil thread top and bobbin. I buy a spool of different brand thread at every quilt shop or show I visit. It doesn't matter to me if it is poly or cotton. Most of the best threads for machine quilting are poly. YLI silk thread is the best thread I have ever used but way too expensive for everyday use. So far I'm finding that InvisFil thread is very close to sewing with silk thread. I use a lot of Connecting Thread's brand.

I've used Coats & Clark dual duty all-purpose thread (the cotton covered polyester stuff - there is something different available now) for machine piecing for almost 20 years and had no problems with it "wearing out" the seam lines.

I used to be "matchy-matchy" - but for piecing discovered that as long as the stitching doesn't show when I try to pull apart a seam, I'm good to go.

When piecing light to dark, I think I try to go for a "medium" colored thread.

For almost all medium to dark colors, I've found that sort of a greenish gray - about the color of easter egg dye when the colors get all muddied up - works well for just about everything.