I am absolutely new to quilting. I get my sewing machine tomorrow and I was looking at thread today. It's Gutermann's 100% natural cotton sewing thread and it says cotton Ne 50-30 wt. Is this a suitable thread for quilting?

I'm assuming that means it's a 30wt thread, which is a bit thick for piecing. I have no idea what the "Ne 50" means, but there is so much difference between a 30 wt and a 50 wt, that I can't imagine the 50 applies to weight. The lower the weight, the thicker the thread, and vice versa: the higher the weight, the thinner the thread.

I always use 40wt Masterpiece from Superior Threads for piecing. You can get a large cone of a basic color -- beige, light gray, off white, etc. and it will last you forever! And it's designed and made strictly for piecing. You can piece anything with those colors, so don't think you have to match the thread with the fabric just for piecing. You do for quilting, of course. I use Superior Thread's "King Tut" for quilting, and they have wonderful pre-filled bobbins of lots of colors that I use. Sometimes the bottom thread is a different color than the top. For example, I did a cream/light brown/blue top with a solid blue backing. So I used blue thread in the bottom, and a variegated thread for the top.

Even if you don't use Superior Threads, poke around their site. There is a ton of information on threads, weights, cotton VS polyester, etc. that was so good for me to learn as a Newbie.

I think it means 50 wt 3 ply. This is what I use for both piecing and machine quilting.

You can certainly use that thread for practice, and lots of people would use it for piecing and quilting.

After years of quilting, though, I have found I prefer Aurifil 50wt 2-ply for piecing. It is a finer thread with very little lint, meaning I need to clean the bobbin area less often plus the bobbin holds considerably more thread. I haven't tried Masterpiece or Prescencia, but those are also very high quality threads for piecing.

With thread, the higher the wt the finer the thread. A newer way to measure thread size is Tex; the higher the Tex number, the thicker the thread. Ply is the number of threads twisted around each other. Typical "regular" thread is 50wt 3-ply.

For quilting, it depends a lot on the look you want. I happen to like thin threads for quilting because they aren't so obvious (my mistakes don't show as much!). My current go-to thread for quilting is Glide, which is a very strong 40wt polyester thread that provides a hint of shine. It is available online at http://www.bobbincentral.com/ . Their

Edit: Where are you looking for thread? The ones I listed are typically available online -- much more difficult to find locally. If you are shopping at JoAnn's, then Mettler and Gutterman regular lines (these would be the spools with the largest selection of colors) are fine. I used to use Mettler silk-finish 60wt thread for piecing (this would be a very good thread for you to start with) until I tried Aurifil.

Gütermann cotton thread is 50 wt. The notation 50-30 wt represents 50 wt/30 tex (tex is just another measurement for thread thickness). It is a 3 ply thread.

Thanks to all of you so much. I will definitely look into the recommendations given. I was looking at the Gutermann's thread on Hancock Fabrics online. We do have a JoAnn's not to far away, I've just never been there. I will go there to check out fabric though. I do 90% of my shopping online so I will check out the websites that you guys mentioned.