oklahomamom2

So last month I bought some aerofil thread I have been hand quilting on it and for some reason lately it has been breaking or shredding on me while quilting. I bought it off amazon but usually buy it from hawthorn but my husband said it shouldn't make a difference. I was wondering if this has ever happened to anyone else?

Tartan

Was it hand quilting thread? I like Guterman's hand quilting thread, it twists less and is stronger.

fruitloop

I was at a retreat this last weekend and a Bernina dealer was there. She was sewing next to me. She had the top of the line 830 Bernina. Her thread kept breaking. She said I can't use Aurifil on my Bernina, it doesn't like it and that is the thread I packed not thinking about the machine I was bringing. I said I thought Aurifil was one of the best threads. She said it is but the new high end Bernina's sew at their best with poly thread.

jokir44

Is it possible that the eye of your needle is too small and is shredding it? Sometimes it is difficult to find a quilting needle with a big enough eye.

oklahomamom2

It is hand quilting thread I made sure before I got it. I don't think that the eye of the needle is too small I didn't have problems with the first one I had. I'm seriously thinking of changing threads. I bought some Dual Duty from Walmart because I got so frustrated.

Sync

I hand quilt with aurifil thread. Their quilting thread is a 40wt/2ply, other hand quilting threads, such as YLI is also 40wt but are a 3ply thread (one strand of thread more than the aurifil). I have had problems with the aurifil thread shredding but solved that problem by going to a larger quilting between ..... Jeana Kimball size 10, normally I use Roxanne size 11

QuiltE

FruitLoop ... whooooooaaaa!!!!!! .... I have a Bernina 820 and no problems using Aurifil for FMQing or regular seam work. Any thread will shred IF you are trying to move too much too fast, which ultimately if the thread does not shred, your needle will bend and eventually snap. You could do worse damage to your machine, should that happen, so better that the thread shreds/break. Aurifil is my thread of choice, and when I have my machine serviced, the techy sets it up with Aurifil. He has no problems with that and in fact suggested that it be done that way, and to remind him each time. If not, then I need to adjust the tension more as the Bernina standards are set to Mettler threads. Being that my most used is Aurifil, I would sooner have it set for that, and then do my adjustments when I switch out to Mettler or any other thread type and weight.


OklahomaMom... I know that you mentioned that it is handquilting thread that you are using but are you hand quilting? or machine quilting with it?I am not familiar with their handquilting thread, but see above re my FMQing comments re Aurifil thread. I will say that for the regular cotton 50 wt Aurifil thread, I do not use it for handstitching the bindings as in order to keep a good tight stitch, I often find the thread breaks. I blame that on my tuggability (word? ) combined with the sharpness of the eye of the needle cutting it.

cashs_mom

Berninas have always been set with high upper tension at the factory. I've had two and had to lower up the upper tension for a lot of thread or it would break. I use aurafil on my Artista 180 with no problem at all. I don't even have to lower the tension. In the 20+ years I've sewn on Berninas I have people tell me that they can't use specific threads on them because they would break. I've been able to use most any thread with a bit of tension adjustment.

QuiltE

Exactly ..... I think we were all "programmed" to not touch the tension!! (at least I was)

Whereas now ... we really need to get comfortable with doing so, knowing the hows of doing it and when!

Bree123

Aerofil by Madeira is a sew-all thread that can be used for hand quilting/embroidery; however, it is not waxed. I would run it through either some wax or Thread Heaven to condition it for the rigors of hand quilting. That should help. The other thing is to make sure that you always thread your needle with the end of the thread that first comes off the spool. Thread has a twist in it & is more likely to shred/break if you thread the end you just cut, rather than the starting end when you pull from the spool.

If neither of those help, I'd say it's probably the Amazon supplier. I have not had good luck ordering fabric or thread on Amazon. I haven't ever worked with Aerofil, but I've often received wrong orders with quilting items from Amazon so I no longer order quilting stuff from them. I have noticed that the items I do receive tend to come from foreign countries & many times the items available are ones that have been out of season for years. I used to think that was a huge benefit to Amazon, but now I realize that oftentimes it just means that the items have been sitting on some dusty shelf in a foreign country for the past few years.