What thread to use?
 

I'm getting ready to practice a on a small sample of my first quilt. My fabric is 100% cotton and will be using warm and white for the batting. I need help in trying to figure out what weight of thread to use for my machine quilting. I used 50wt Aurifil thread in 100% cotton for my piecing but I'm not sure if I should use a 40wt or the 50wt that I already have. Is there a better weight for strength or are all machine quilting threads equally strong? I have already purchased a cone of Coats and Clark in a 30wt from Joanns, but now I'm second guessing my choice. I read that the heavier the thread, the more your stitches will show. This is my first quilt ever, so I really don't want my mistakes to show. I have a Singer Confidence 7469Q sewing machine and don't know if I would need to adjust my tension for switching to a heavier thread. Also what stitch length should I use? I will probably do straight stitch quilting. Any help out there would be great. Thanks!

I suggest you practice on your sample with all three threads and see which one you like.

quiltsRfun has excellent advice. If you haven't tried to free motion quilt and have a hopping/darning foot, try that on a practice quilt--you may find that it's easier once you get the hang of it than straight line quilting (fewer puckers).

The 30# thread will definitely be more visible than the 40# thread. If you do decide to use it, make sure you have it set up right on the machine (I use a wide coffee cup to put it in behind & under the first thread tension guide. Also, the thread contrast with your backing will matter on how visible the quilting is on the back.

I like 50 wt Aurifil for quilting, in a colour that blends in with the top. It's strong enough, and lets the piecing be the star. I'm more confident in my piecing than my quilting, so it suits me.

Definitely sew a sample, and see what you like.

It depends on if you want the thread to sink into the quilt so it barely shows, or if you want the thread to be a design element. I frequently use multiple weights of thread in a quilt. For stich-in-the-ditch, I generally use a finer thread, but if I am doing fancy quilting that I want to show I use a heavier weight. I always do a sample piece with the thread(s) I want to use, the batting (because the thickness matters) and play with the stitches/patterns until I am happy with what I am going to do.

I like isacord for poly or superior king tut if cotton is the choice. it is way less shredding than aurifil when fmq. If you want less visible stitches I wound go with invisifil. Wonderfil and superior are my 2 favorite brands of threads and I have had less issues than other brands like aurifil and yli. If you want a thinner cotton I would go with superior masterpiece

I personally prefer a thinner thread so it doesn't look so heavy when you need to backtrack over areas.

If you don't want mistakes to show you should use a lighter weight thread the lighter the better. 30wt and 40wt would show up a lot more than 50wt or 60wt

Superior has a new quilting thread that is 100 wt. It almost disappears and is strong! Mistakes hardly show at all. Here is a link:

https://www.superiorthreads.com/shop...d=MicroQuilter

I use Aurifil 50 for piecing and quilting. I prefer the quilting blend in rather than stand out. I tried a 40 wt and did not care for the heavier look. As others have suggested you may want to try others on your sample, the only thing about that is the price of the thread! I still haven't found a use for the 40 wt I tried:)