Thread

Thread has an expiration date.

If you have some of grandma’s cotton thread on wooden spools, or some old Coats & Clark polyester thread with a 10￠ price sticker, keep it in a Mason jar for decoration. Don’t sew with it. It’ll be a frustrating experience for you.

Thread choice depends on the type of sewing that you intend to do. For best results, always match your sewing machine needle to your thread and type of fabric. Consult your sewing machine manual for recommended needle size/type and thread combinations.

FWIW: Here’s what I use for various sewing applications:

Garment Sewing: Mettler Metrosene or Coats & Clark Dual Duty

Machine Embroidery: I do not own an embroidery machine. Ask your sewing machine dealer for advice regarding the best threads for your project. Know that you’ll need a top thread in the color of your choice and a specialty bobbin thread in white or black.

I had an interesting conversation with customer today at Sadie’s sewing machine shop. The customer was adamant that she had to use 100% cotton thread on an embroidery project that was made from cotton. I informed her most embroidery threads were 100% polyester. Wish you could have seen the “mind blown” look on her face. Actually, you can use either cotton, polyester or rayonthread when doing machine embroidery. It really depends on the look you’re going for. Sulky has a good article explaining this here.

What about quilting?

Piecing: My personal preference is to use a 50 wt cotton thread. Popular 50 wt cotton thread brands that I use: Aurifil, Mettler, Gutterman, Madiera, Cotton + Steel (made by Sulky). If you are at Hobby Lobby and run across Sewology cotton quilting thread on the beige spool similar to Aurifil – grab it while you can! I stocked up when my local Hobby Lobby stores discontinued this thread.

Machine quilting: My longarm quilter uses polyester thread for machine quilting. So do I. My current favorite thread combo is AeroQuilt by Madiera (40 wt) for the top and Sew Fine by Superior Threads (50 wt) in the bobbin. Honestly, I’ll use whatever I have on hand that’s the best color match for the project. I’ll use Sew Fine top & bottom if I want my quilting to blend in more. I’ve also used Isacord, but it tends to be a bit shiny for my taste. I have yet to try Glide or Wonderfil for machine quilting. For kitchen textiles that could be used in the microwave, I make sure I use a 100% cotton thread – usually the same thread I used for piecing.