I have a question about thread. I am making a baby quilt which has machine embroidery in each block. I am quilting it, and have some lovely silk thread, but I could not quilt with the silk thread because it frayed and broke with every few inches of stitches. I thought silk was a strong thread, but either its much weaker than I though or maybe there’s a trick to sewing with it (especially on a quilt). I (unsewed:) removed about 20 inches of stitching and went to the poly thread and it’s doing fine, but I would like advise if anyone knows, if I can use silk for quilting. Is it even practical to use for utility sewing.
Thanks, always appreciate your time and help and enjoy reading all your stories, questions, responses and interest in the sewing of others.
Replies
Silk IS a very strong thread, but perhaps there were some other reasons why this didn't work. Perhaps the thread was old, or exposed to sunlight (sunlight will just kill silk) which weakened it. Also, did you wax the thread when you tried to use it? The quilting threads that I have seen are slightly thicker and stiffer than regular sewing threads, the better, I suppose, to deal with all the abrasion that happens to a quilting thread.
Perhaps one of the quilters among us would know?
What brand of silk thread were you using? the Gutterman silk thread that comes on the blue spool is not a very stong thread, I use it when I put zippers in by hand, it just sort of melts into the fabric, but for quilting it won't work. You need something like Tire brand silk thread. but why are you using silk thread? I think cotton would be better for quilting
HeartFire
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