Ongoing Quilt Projects, Continued from the "No Appreciation...." Thread

[speckledhen]

Soooooooo can you nice people point me in a good direction?

Wondering which weight cotton thread for machine quilting and which for hand quilting......

If you have a favorite place to find said threads at a reasonable cost I sure could use that info too.

Hand quilting thread is usually about 30 wt and coated, in my experience. I buy it from Walmart unless I need some color they don't have, pretty cheap. It's labeled "Hand Quilting". You can't use it in a machine because of the coating, though.
As far as machine quilting, I like no heavier than 40 wt, but a 50 wt will "hide" on the quilt surface, very fine. If you want to see the thread more, then you'd want a 40 wt, probably, maybe even a 30 wt, but I'm not an expert at machine quilting, not at all.

I used the cotton machine quilting thread from Walmart and my machine liked it fine. It is a hefty 30 wt, 1200 yard spool, about $5, comes in black, grays, tan, white, the usual neutrals. I have used some cotton threads from the quilt shop, but not many, probably Signature brand, but I've been using Maxi-Lock serger thread recently, very cost effective, but some say not to use it, some love it, just depends. I've had little trouble with it (just don't buy on Amazon, too pricey).

I just ordered some from Connecting Threads, but can't say anything about it yet. I think they are 50 wt, 3 ply cottons. Here is a link:

http://www.connectingthreads.com/cfthread/thread_list.cfm?ID=600902&showAll=yes&ac=1

 

[speckledhen]

Adding that folks love, love, LOVE Isa Cord polyester thread, a 40 wt, I think, very strong but slippery, can't piece with it, I hear. It's more expensive than some, but you have to use what works and what your machine likes. My machine doesn't care for any Coats & Clark threads.

This is the last place I bought Maxi-Lock, on sale now here:

http://sewtrue.com/Store/Maxi-Lock-Serger-Thread-AS-LOW-AS-2.00-EACH-P184.html

 

[jeria]

Awesome Speckledhen. I love log cabins. They would be hard to hand quilt with flannel with all those seams.

 

[jeria]

If using cottons 40 or 50 wt-- for a kids quilt or one that will be washed often I would do 40 wt. If doing poly there are lots of choices. They can be thinner as poly is stronger. I tend to buy cones made especially geared to machine quilting. I love Filtec polys and their cottons are nice also.

 

[speckledhen]

It seems like everyone has a favorite thread, for sure. I'm just learning about different threads for machine quilting and probably never would have tried a poly unless the Maxi Lock had been recommended by Miss Prissy, if any of you remember her. She has a Tin Lizzie long arm quilter she uses for hers and uses it in her machine. If my machine had not liked it, I would have gone on to something else. I'm getting several cones of the Connecting Threads brand, an extra-long staple cotton 50Weight. This is what I ordered. If my machine loves it, I'll get more. If not, I won't. That's more important than if I like it. Rhonda gets to choose, LOL:

 

[DuckLady]

Lillian LongArm hates Star Quilting thread, but loves King Tut, Gutermann, IsaCord and other spendy ones, though she will consent to use Coats mercerized cotton if she must.

My Brother is the same, but my Juki is a happy go lucky machine and will use anything.

 

[DuckLady]

I may not be able to wait for the SewSlip to start this quilting. It says it was in transit to the carrier three, no four, days ago, no other updates. Ticks me off when it just quits tracking and you have to guess what's going on with it. Coming USPS, too, supposedly. Maybe someone just didn't scan it. That's happened on occasion. I've never had one before so I could go ahead and start. Bad weather coming in tonight, chickens are in the barn, such a damp chill in the air that I don't leave it open because of all the ancient, arthritic hens in there when the air feels this way.

Cyn, I belong to a FB group for Angela Walters' Challenge and they are saying you can use a teflon baking sheet. Clean and new of course. Might hold you till yours gets there if you have one around.

 

[speckledhen]

Cyn, I belong to a FB group for Angela Walters' Challenge and they are saying you can use a teflon baking sheet. Clean and new of course. Might hold you till yours gets there if you have one around.

I'm not sure I've even seen one at Walmart, though I've never looked for one, per se. I've gone without for a lot of quilts, so it was just a little extra help quilting the next to larger quilts in line. Good to know, though, in case the SewSlip gets messed up (if it even gets here!).

My machine likes Gutermann cotton. I have a few small spools of it here, but not nearly enough to do a bed quilt.

 

[speckledhen]

I sent a nasty gram to the company who sold me the SewSlip and started the quilt anyway. Not waiting for something that may never come.
I'm doing a paisley feather here and there and filling in with paisleys. I'm thinking I may do something entirely different in the middle square of the stars, though, to make them have a different texture.

Question: if I wanted to do something like this in the center square of the star blocks, when would I do it? Can I wait until the end or do it as I get to each one? I hope that makes sense. If I wait, I am afraid it will be puckery around it.

 

[jeria]

Speckledhen that is basically McTavishing. You can use it anywhere if small as a background or larger add more curves to make it interesting. Adds tons of texture.