To Starch or Not to Starch....That Is A Question....

My blog is about a lot of different aspects of the quilt world.  Sometimes it’s about the actual quilts and sometimes it’s about the process and sometimes it’s about inspiration. 

But sometimes it’s about the basics, because if you can do the basics correctly, that will take you a long way in making any other technique look good.  We discussed thread at length in a previous blog and today I would like to write about pressing verses ironing, to starch or not to starch, and prewashing your fabric. 

One thing I have discovered about all three is that quilters can feel passionately about these basics.  So let’s just jump right in and stir the pot.

First of all, if you’re ironing your quilt, you’re doing it wrong.  The word ironing connotes that one is sliding the iron back and forth over the fabric to get the wrinkles out.  Darling, you want to iron your clothes (if people actually still do this…), but press your quilts and your fabric.

Why?

Ironing may stretch the bias, because you’re sliding the hot iron over the surface of the material.  Pressing is an up and down motion and it will dispense with any wrinkles, but it won’t play with your bias.

And here’s where your preference of starch or a substitute (such as Best Press) can come in into the equation.  So let’s just jump right in and talk about the first issue – to starch or not to starch your fabric. 

All fabric, whether you prewash or start sewing the fabric as soon as it rolls off the bolt, needs to have some starch or starch substitute pressed into it to make it sew better.  While the fabric off the bolt does have some “body” to it on the right side of the fabric as a result of the finishing process, the back of the fabric does not.  Fabric manufacturers won’t spend time or money finishing the side of the fabric that’s not seen on the retail sales floor.

So the back of the fabric (whether prewashed or not) needs a little help.  Some quilters will starch the entire cut of fabric and others only starch the pieces they’re working on at that time.  Either way is fine.  You want to starch the wrong side of the fabric. 

Lay the fabric on the iron surface with the wrong side facing you.  Spray the material well and allow it to sit for a minute. 

 

If spray starch is being used, let all the little, white bubbles dissipate before putting a hot iron to the surface. 

 

Then press the fabric with an up and down motion.   This up and down motion forces the starch into the fibers and gives the fabric wonderful body and makes it easy to sew. 

 

 

 

 

There are a couple of schools of thought at this point, and they’re both entirely personal preference.  If you’re not a “pre-washer” (which we will discuss further down in this blog), one application of starch may be all the fabric needs.  However, it’s not wrong to starch the fabric several times.  Some quilters prefer the fabric to feel more like paper than material, so they may repeat this process as many as three times.  It’s entirely up to you and what feels best and works best for you and your sewing machine.  I do think that if you are a “pre-washer,” more than one starch application is needed, since all the finishing chemicals in the fabric are dissolved in the pre-wash. 

So now, let’s talk about which is best – starch or substitutes, such as Best Press?

I use both, each for different applications.

 

Starch has been around it seems like nearly forever.  It’s been on the shelves of grocery stores along with laundry soap and bleach and sizing.  I use the regular starch or the heavy duty, whichever is available.  I use it to prep my fabric for cutting and sewing because in my 27-year quilting opinion, spray starch gives the fabric more body and works best for this step.  Other quilters prefer Best Press or other starch substitutes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Indeed for years and years and years starch was the only player in this game until someone invented sizing.  Sizing is kind of like starch – it gives the fabric a bit of a lighter hand than starch – but chemically it’s very, very different.  The former chemistry teacher in me could get into hydrocarbons and such, but let me just boil it down to this:  sizing can play with the dyes and bond with the natural fiber make up in your cotton fabric.  And this is not good because that means all those wonderful marking tools that you use that either rinse out with water or disappear with heat or over time are suddenly faced with an entirely different set of chemical molecules than they’re made to deal with.  And that means the marks made with those marking pens and pencils may not completely and absolutely come out.  So leave the sizing for those folks that still iron clothes and reach for the starch.

Couple of cautionary statements about starch at this point.  First, don’t starch fabric you plan on storing.  The big appeal with starch substitutes is that, since they are not plant based, they do not attract bugs.  Starch won’t either, if you starch the fabrics as you use them.  Don’t wash, press, and starch the fabric and then store it for months before cutting.  That’s like putting out the welcome mat for all kinds of six-legged critters.

Second, don’t by the dollar store starch.  True, you may save yourself a few pennies, but you’re gaining a great deal of water weight (and I could make really bad jokes right now about water retainage, but I won’t).  The cheap starch is made with cheap ingredients and nothing is cheaper than water – unless you drink the imported kind.  Buy your starch at the grocery store or drug store.

Now Best Press. 

 

I do use and like Best Press.  I primarily use it when I’m doing Mylar applique or making bias tape with bias tape makers.  I like the softer look it gives the edges of the applique pieces and, since a paint brush is used for that step, I do find it plays better with a brush than spray starch.  Best Press is a little (okay, a lot) pricier than starch but it comes in different scents and it does last longer than starch.  And if you really like it, there is a “recipe” for homemade Best Press out there on the internet that involves distilled water and a trip to the ABC store for cheap vodka.

Let’s now focus our attention on the last question:  To prewash or not prewash the fabric before sewing.  Some quilters do and some don’t.  I do both.

Let me explain.  When I began quilting back in the early ‘80’s, everyone prewashed their fabrics.  Ellen Freeman, the lady that really taught me to quilt, instructed me to prewash all of my fabric, press it, and cut a tiny corner off of one side.  This was a sign that, if I didn’t get around to using the fabric for a while, that clipped corner meant I had prewashed the fabric and it was good to go.  So I dutifully prewashed everything, including light colors.  Most of us did.

Recently, because of the great breakthroughs in color fastness and those wonderful color catchers you could put in the wash to deal with colors that fade, prewashing kind of fell out of fashion.  There for a while, I was one of the few quilters I knew that still prewashed.  So I began to be selective.  My dark colors I would still wash, but the lighter ones I wouldn’t.  And this worked okay until I had a fairly light pink fade on a piece of white during the pressing process.  I immediately threw it in the wash with a color catcher, but it didn’t get rid of all the faded color.  If this had been a quilt I was making for me, I honestly wouldn’t have cared that much, but it was for a local library’s silent auction to help raise funds for their children’s section.

I was heartsick. This time I threw every piece of fabric going in that quilt into the washer and prewashed it.  Then I started over.

So now I’ve gone back to prewashing every piece of fabric.  Live and learn.  The only time I might not do that is if the fabric will be used in an art quilt, landscape quilt or other type of quilted wall hanging.  Those are honestly not washed often, if ever.

And I’ve recently learned a new thing or two about prewashing.   We have a wonderful man in our guild that worked in the textile industry for years before retiring.  He knows tons about color and color fastness.  He told us at a guild meeting that nothing -- not soaking in salt water or adding vinegar to the water – can truly “set” a color that runs.  The best bet to make sure all the excess dye is out is to wash it in warm water a couple of times.  This will get rid of most excess dyes.  He also said that after this, if the fabric still bleeds, to discard it or use it in something like a wall hanging that won’t be washed, because it will fade regardless.

Like everything else in quilting, there are no real right and wrong choices.  It’s up to you to discover what you like and what works best for you.  Don’t be intimidated, just try different things!

My guild’s (High Point Quilt Guild) quilt show is this Saturday, August 15 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Hartley Drive YMCA.  If you’re in the area, please come and join us!

Love and Stitches,

 

Sherri

It's Been One of Those Weeks..

It started with a cold...

The granddarlings decided to give me another cold.  I've been miserable, but had so much going on that I could not take the time to be sick.  So yes, I had plans for the blog even though I wasn't feeling well.

Then my computer got sick.  According to my son-in-law, who is all things technical, it was a common issue with Windows 8.  However, the "fix" took off all the applications I had put on...like EQ7 and Dear Jane...and QuickBooks.

"No sweat..." or so I thought, because my laptop is backed up by Carbonite. 

I  have come to learn that things in my life are never as simple as what I believe them to be.  The Carbonite software wouldn't download from the Cloud and frankly, their customer service sucks.  Meanwhile, I have three meetings and email and well, you get the picture.

So originally, this blog was supposed to be about starches, Best Press, and prewashing fabrics.  Instead, this is a public service announcement about why I really don't have a blog this week.

I did finally get the Carbonite software to do its thing and fourteen hours later my laptop was up and running.  I had to reload QuickBooks and EQ7 and then try to remember who I had loaned my Dear Jane software to.  I did get that back and now Jane is on the laptop again. 

So my laptop is all well again...

And I still have a cold....

Until next week.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Inspiration....

I have a "first finish" this week!  I finished putting the borders on my At Piece with Time!

I took it to the long-arm quilter today.

I had the opportunity to go with "the boss" this week to Asheville.  I love Asheville for a myriad of reasons -- The Biltmore House, the mountains, the art community, the Folk Art Center...but most of all I love the Asheville Cotton Company.  That's a wonderful quilt shop.  If you ever have the opportunity to go there, take it.  They were having a sale, so I came away with six yards of material I absolutely had to have.

For those of you who don't know "the boss" (the hubby -- who owns the business that I have my "real job" with), let me take this opportunity to tell you that he is as much "into" photography as I am "into" quilts.  And he's a wonderful amateur photographer who hopes to juxtapose his hobby into a full-time profession when he retires.  As a result of his photography, we stop at a lot of places to take pictures.  And this is good for me, because it slows me down to see life through a lens instead of through the eye of a needle.

Because let's face it, as quilters, sometimes we burn out.  We can look through our stash and look through our patterns and sometimes there is just no inspiration.  We get very comfortable in our own comfort zones of favorite blocks and color schemes and techniques.  Bill is a landscape photographer, so we spend lots of time outdoors.  This really helps me, because in my humble opinion, the good Lord is a wonderful Master at color.  He puts colors and hues and values together that I have never thought of.  Spending time looking through a lens, really concentrating on the things in nature, right in front of my nose (or lens, in this case), really slows me down to see colors and flowers, and vines in a different way.  As a result this tends to rev my creative engines in the quilt room.

 Even vegetables and fruit can teach us a lot about color and value.  These pictures were made near the original Mast Farm General Store in Valle Cruis, North Carolina.  The Mast family also have a little B&B that has a flower and vegetable area where we stopped to take these pictures.

 Have you ever seen such a gorgeous Sunflower?

I hope these pictures inspire you to use different colors in your quilt.  The way I figure it, if these plants can use all of these colors, there's no reason in the world you can't have them in your quilt!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

Row, Row, Row

I work part-time in a quilt shop to support my fabric addiction.

And this quilt shop is participating in the Row by Row program this year.  Let me just say up front, it has been a blast.  We've had quilters in from as far away as Washington state, California, and Canada.  Last Saturday we sold out of all the kits we had, and as I am writing this, we have exactly 6 kits left for today.  We've had to order additional fabric for the kits and we're praying it comes in by Monday so we can make more kits.

I've loved meeting quilters from all over the place.  My favorite customers are the non-quilters that come in to purchase the kits for their quilter friends.  You see, you have to physically come into a shop and pick up the pattern (which is free) or the kit (which is not free) or have someone pick it up for you.  After November 1, you can order the kits over the internet or by phone.  My very, very favorite customers are the men who are picking the pattern or the kit up for their wives or mothers.  They tend to listen very intently to the directions, look the kit over, make sure that all the fabric is there, and then wonder out loud about the license tag.  They take notes and then shake their heads as if all this cutting up of perfectly good fabric to make quilts is the oddest thing in the world.

One poor man made the mistake of calling the quilts "blankets" while there was a shop full of female quilters.  I thought they were going to tar and feather him before I could get him checked out.

I've learned a few things about quilters while going through this Row by Row experience.

1.  Money is never really an obstacle if you really want a fabric or kit.  Our kits are about $25.00.  To be fair, all of the fabrics are batiks, and they are a little more expensive than other cottons.  I've yet to have one person (even if they comment on the price), put the kit back in the basket and ask for the pattern only.

2.  The new customers are going to look at your quilt shop in a different way than you do.  Dragonfly Quilt Shop is just about my home away from home.  I'm here at least one day a week.  I've met some of my closest quilting friends here.  However, if you've ever noticed, when one becomes accustomed to one place -- so familiar with it you can literally see it with your eyes closed -- you tend to take for granted what is in it.  New customers look at the same fabric through new eyes and are going to purchase it with new ideas.  And suddenly everything old is truly new again.  You become inspired and the creative juices start to flow.  Then you find yourself hoping that the customer leaves at least one yard of the coral fabric on the bolt for you to buy before you clock out.

3.  Quilters are different from one another...yet so alike in so many ways.  We are suckers for new patterns.  We tend to gravitate towards gadgets -- especially new rulers.  Color waves can make our decision about a pattern turn on a dime.  It seems most of us are like that.  What fascinates me with quilters is color choice.  One quilter can take a color I really don't care for, make a quilt with it, and completely change my mind about that color.  We do tend to knock each other out of our comfort zones.

4.  The fellowship of quilters is warm and wonderful.  I've met so many new quilt friends (both male and female) through this experience.  And while we talk about quilts, I often find that we also share burdens.  A husband's knee replacement.  A wife's sudden death.  A retirement.  A job layoff.  Grandchildren.  Within the circle of quilts, there is also the circle of life.  It's the warmth of quilts that tend to ease the hardships, share the burdens, and offer the fellowship of support through the difficult times and share the joys of the good.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri

If Idle Hands are the Devil's Workshop...

Then I have no need to worry.

I've been busy, busy, busy and this fall looks even busier!  But I love to be busy with quilts, so  I don't see a problem with this.   So let me get you caught up on some of the projects that I've been working on.



Remember I shared that I had started a Double Wedding Ring Quilt.  Here is where I left you last...

 

Since that time I have started putting the other side on, as well as one of the two-and-a-half inch squares that will form the four-patches.

 



Here are what my centers look like.  It may be difficult to tell with these pictures, but the centers and melons are a light yellow.



 

This may give you an idea of what the quilt will look like.  I love the colors!  This quilt makes me happy ... it's so bright!

 I've finished the center square of my Dear Jane and have started working on the triangles and kites.  These are very different than the four-and-a-half inch squares.  I think they're harder, they often have more pieces, and triangles just require a different skill set than the squares.  They take more time, too.

And here are two squares from my guild's history club's mystery quilt.  Every month our leader, Susan, gives us directions for a block.  The next month we have to return to our meeting with the block completed and give her the name of the block.  We get points for making the squares and finding out the squares name.  The person that completes the blocks, puts the quilt together and quilts and binds it will win a prize.  Needless to say, with our guild's competitive quilters, this is quite a contest.

So that's what I've been up to this month...I still have a lot to do, but there's a lot happening in my life right now. 

Love and Stitches....

Sherri

And Thursday We Met....

The second Thursday night of every month is my guild meeting....

And since last week the blog had no pretty pictures, just lots of good information, I decided to show you all the pictures I took of the members' show and tell.  We have show and tell at every meeting and it's hands down my favorite "regular" thing.  The men and women I quilt with are so very, very talented and I am always so inspired by what they show.

 This is Alicia's Tumbling Block quilt. We had a Square-in-a-Square workshop with Gloria Stickney a few weeks back and this is one of the workshops she offered.  Alicia took it and this is her top.  It's not quite finished, but the colors are beautiful!

 Since it is July, members were encouraged to bring patriotic quilts that they have done. This is Shelly's flag quilt.  It as made in the early '90's and was her first experience with fusible web.

 Yes...this is the back of a quilt.  I wish I had thought to bring my big camera, but all I had was the camera on my cell phone. Marty made the this at a charity quilt workshop we had (we make chemo quilts for the cancer patients at Hayworth Cancer Center at High Point Regional Hospital).  The picture below is the front of the quilt.  It's a nice quilt, but what sets it apart is Shelly's quilting.  Our guild is blessed with several member who are either really good with quilting on a domestic machine or have a mid- or long-arm.  Shelly has a long arm and free-motioned beautiful flowers in each square of the quilt.  This made a rather plain quilt just "pop."

 Doris brought her flag quilt made from a Fons and Porter kit.  Doris is one of the most talented and prolific quilters I know.

 Doris also had the beautiful Dresdan Plate quilt.  She just recently finished this one.  Last year we had the Pizza Girls in for a workshop and this is one of their patterns.  I just love these colors!

 This is also a quilt that Doris recently finished for her brother. It's a Hawaiian quilt that's dark blue and white. 

 Lisa brought this quilt made of teeny-tiny tumblers that she pieced and quilted.  I don't think the tumblers were larger than two inches. This chick has patience.

 Our First Vice President, Susan, is not only a quilter, but also a pattern designer.  There are two small flag quilts she designed and quilted.

And here is an eagle quilt she made.  Susan designs and makes only small quilts.

I hope the pretty pictures this week make up for the lack of pretty pictures last week!  And I hope you find the same sense of inspiration and awe in the show and tell!

Love and Stitches~
Sherri

Oh,What a Tangle Thread We Weave....

Let’s talk about thread…

Thread is one of those items that seems so mundane that as a quilter or someone who sews other projects, you just kind of take it for granted.  But we shouldn’t.  Not really.  It is, after all, thread that holds everything together.

So this is one of those blogs that’s not going to have so many pretty pictures, but is going to have lots of (hopefully) good information you may want to keep in mind.

When a quilter glances at the top or bottom of a spool of thread, one of the first things that is noticeable is the weight.  Most threads in the United States are labeled either 50, 40, or 30 weight.  The higher the number, the thinner the thread.  So a 50 weight thread is much thinner than a 30 weight thread.

And that’s really about all the numbers really tell you.  The United States adopted this grading system from the Japanese, who really are much better than we are at it.  The Japanese would label their thread 50/2 or 50/3.  A spool of thread labeled 50/2 is comprised two strands of thread and a 50/3 is made of three strands of thread…so a 50/2 is still thinner than a 50/3.  Somehow most of the US manufacturers decided that the second number wasn’t worth the effort and didn’t print them on the spools.  That’s why you can look at two different brands of 50-weight thread and one may look thicker than the other – because one is probably made of three strands and the other is made of two. 

So which is the best one to use?  Well, that depends on what you’re quilting, piecing, or sewing.

It doesn’t have to do with necessarily strength – a three-strand thread would most likely be stronger than a two ply thread.  If strength was the only factor every sewer had to consider, we would all be using nylon.  However, there are lots of other things to consider when choosing a thread.

What is the thread made of?  My hands-down favorite for piecing and most of the time for quilting is long-staple cotton thread.  It’s more commonly known as Egyptian Cotton – which is kind of a misnomer because Egyptian long-staple cotton is grown in Turkey, Romania, Pakistan, India, Brazil, China, and the United States – although Egypt is getting pickier about the name.  It’s impossible to know just by looking at the thread if it’s truly a long-staple cotton, but after you’ve sewn with it awhile, you can readily tell.  This type of cotton thread sews and quilts beautifully, is low-lint, and doesn’t break. 

If you’re looking at polyester thread (and yes, you can use polyester in quilting and should use it in garment making), you want to consider the number of micro strands that make up the thread.  If the polyester is a 50/3, it’s made of three strands, which in turn are made up of numerous micro strands.  A cheap polyester thread may only have six or less micro strands per strand, while a high quality polyester thread may have as many as 48-50.  This is why some polyester threads are so very, very much better than others.

How was it processed? As anyone knows who has baked a cake, you can start with some very good ingredients and still end up with a total disaster depending on how you actually make the cake.  Too many eggs, not enough flour, baking soda, and salt – you have a mess, and nothing edible.  The same goes with thread.  Manufacturers can start with fantastic materials and unless they’re processed correctly, the thread will not be high quality.  It has to be twisted just right.  Too loosely twisted or inconsistently twisted will result in a thread that you will fight with during the entire creative process.  It has to be a consistent smoothness. Slubs or thin spots will result in tension and breakage nightmares.  It doesn’t need to be too “linty.”

Lint…let me just stop here and strongly advise you to clean your machine regularly.  A quilter can use the very best thread available, but it’s still going to leave lint in your machine.  It is vitally important that you clean your machine regularly.  Do it monthly, or at the end of every project, or when you change your needle (which should be every eight hours of sewing time), but make sure you clean it.  And find yourself a good machine guy and have it serviced at least every 18 months.  The machine guy or gal knows how to clean your machine in areas you can’t get to.  This will greatly extend the life of your machine and make your sewing time much more pleasurable. 

Is it easy to use?  The last thing I want to do is “fight” with the thread when I’m piecing or quilting.  It should come off the spool or cone easily.  If you’re using a cone, it should come off of the top.  Is it a crosswise or horizontal spool of thread?  One is not better than the other, but it may make a difference which spool pin to use on your machine.  My Janome likes the crosswise threads on the horizontal pen in the top of the machine, but it likes the horizontal threads on the vertical pin on the top of the machine.  My Juki works better if I use the vertical pin for all thread.  So consult your machine’s manual about this issue.

Am I looking for Attila the Hun thread or Marvin Milk Toast?  In other words, how strong does the thread need to be?  The quilting process needs a stronger thread than piecing.  Machine embroidery thread is not going to be as strong as quilting thread. 

What else does the label tell me?  It may or may not say mercerized, because today nearly all thread is mercerized.  When a thread is mercerized, it means the fibers were treated with a solution that caused them to swell and allow the dye to penetrate the fibers better.  Mercerized thread has a higher luster than non-mercerized.  It should also tell you if it’s a long-staple or short-staple thread.  If it doesn’t say this, assume it’s short-staple.  Long-staple or extra long-staple is worth the bragging rights.  If the label says the thread is gassed or polished or has a silk-finish, that means the cotton has been passed at a high speed through a flame to burn off the excess fuzz in order to create a higher sheen.  Glazed means the thread has been heated and then coated with a wax, starch, or other chemicals to give it a hard finished.  Glazed threads are stiffer than unglazed and are almost wiry.  Be careful about using a glazed thread in your machine…it can gum it up. 

So what does all this mean?  For quilters and other crafters, that means we now have hundreds of thread choices.  It means that quilters are no longer confined to piecing and quilting with only cotton thread.  We can freely use polyester because the old fear that polyester thread would cut through the cotton fabric no longer holds true (if it every actually was true).  Rayon thread is never a good choice because it is not always colorfast.  Nylon thread will discolor over time.  Silk thread is beautiful, but it is expensive.  So you have to consider what you’re going to do with the thread.

For me, piecing needs a finer thread.  Heavy thread is going to cause more bulk in the seam and may play with your quarter-inch seam.  For the quilting process, it depends on the look you want for your quilt.  If the quilter wants to show off the fabric more than the quilting, a finer thread is needed – it won’t compete with the material.  If you want to show off your quilting skills, go for a heavier thread that’s going to be seen.  I love variegated thread and if I’m showcasing it, I pick a long-staple medium-weight thread.  If I used a finer variegated, it wouldn’t show. 

Still, even with the best thread, there are still times when the thread is going to break.  When this happens, if the quality of thread is not the issue, check the following:

Your needle – is the right size and the right type?  Topstitching needles seem to work best for sewing, quilting, and embroidery.  It has a wide, deep grove that protects the thread and reduces drag and friction.  The eye is larger, so the thread has more room to move.  It also easily separates the fabric fibers.

The tension – is it too tight?  Most machines have an automatic tension setting and most of the time it works just fine.  However, please feel free to play with the tension.  Some thread is going to require you to loosen the tension.  The factory tension setting is about at medium, but some threads and some applications (such as machine applique) may need to have less tension.  Metallic threads and other decorative threads may even need to be pushed down to a one or two.

Bobbin thread tension is a little tricky, but it can be done (never let a machine tech tell you this can’t be done).  If you use a machine with a bobbin case, there’s a screw on the side.  Think of this screw as a clock and turn it at one-hour increments (righty-tight, lefty-loose).  A thin, fine thread in the bobbin may need it tightened just a smidge and a heavy, decorative thread may need to be loosened a little. 

And let’s address the matching bobbin/top thread issue right here.  In most newer machines now, it’s fine to mix threads.  I always use Bottom Line thread in my bobbin. I buy it by the cone and fill all my bobbins with it.  It’s finer than what I use on top of my machine and  it performs wonderfully.  Sometimes I have to play with my tension, but I really don’t have any issues with it at all.  When I machine quilt, I do have the same weight and brand of thread in the bobbin and on top of the machine. 

Just when you change your tension, be sure to return it to the machine settings at the end of the project.  I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to do this and started piecing with too loose of a tension – and the block comes apart when I press it.

Your machine – is it clean?  Is the timing off? Are there burrs on any of the mechanisms?

The thread delivery system – is your machine threaded correctly? 

One last piece of advice about thread.  Thread is like shoes – you get what you pay for.  So if you buy cheap thread, you’re going to get poor, uncomfortable results.  In my mind, it’s never made a whole lot of sense to spend hundreds of dollars on fabric and the scrimp on the thread.  The inferior performance irritates me.  I want the time I can spend piecing and quilting to be productive.  I don’t want to fight with thread.

Likewise, if you see some really pretty old thread on those wonderful wooden spools at an estate sale or flea market or antique store, by all means buy them if they tickle your fancy…

And display them.

Don’t use them.

Older thread has a shelf life.  The thread that’s on the market now will still be useable 50, 60, or even 100 years from now because of the manufacturing process.  The thread that’s so proudly displayed at antique stores – not so much. If it readily snaps when you give it a tug, just display it and don’t put it in your machine.

What kind of thread do you use?  I like Aurifil.  I use it regularly. 

I love any of the Superior Thread products.  Bob Purcell and the Superior Thread Company have a wonderful website that offers more information on thread than any quilter could ever begin to comprehend.  If you’re ever at a quilt show and they’re vending, stop by their booth and plan to spend some time.  I’ve ordered from them for years and their customer service and products are second to none. 

And again, I’m not on staff at any company I recommend on this blog.  I have sewn and quilted for years and have tried lots of brands.  The brands that I mention on this blog are products that I use and adore. 

Finally, one last note.  I love folks to email me with questions.  I love folks to leave comments on my blog.  However, in the last several weeks, I’ve had advertisers leave comments plugging their products.  This is not what this blog is for.  If you advertise your website, product (even if it’s quilting related), I will report you as well as remove your comments.  If I can find a way, I will block you from this blog.  You have been warned.

Have a safe and wonderful Fourth of July!  We are the Land of the Free because of the Brave!

Love and