Christine’s Intro.
We recently delivered our presentation ‘The Evolution Of Thread’ to a Quilting Group in Wheathamstead near St Albans. We were delighted when during the Show & Tell a lady (later turning out to be Judith who has kindly penned the below) showed her quilt which had been stitched using a variety of our threads. The story exactly epitomises what Threads In Focus is all about.
Read On……
Judith
I was delighted to have my quilt ‘Poppy Day’ featured on the cover of the Show Guide at the National Quilt Championships at Sandown this year. It was first in the Small Wall Hanging section and also won the Machine Appliqué award.
This quilt was made in small blocks which were almost completed before being sewn together – I make up a quilt ‘sandwich’ of top fabric, wadding and backing before I stitch on my appliqué pieces.
I use different colour rayon threads on top, but you could use 40s M/C embroidery thread; on the back I use HT Poly bobbin thread. You may need to adjust the tension on your machine but after that you need only change the top thread for the differently coloured appliqué pieces.
Because the backing on this quilt was a dark patterned fabric I used the smoke colour HT Poly bobbin thread which hardly shows at all.
I also used HT Poly in the bobbin and 50s 100% cottons on top for the machine quilting.
Hope these are some helpful hints to make your quilting more enjoyable.
Judith Wilson
Christine & Her Comments
Most of the threads Judith used were exactly the purpose for which they were made. For instance Machine Embroidery Thread for Machine Embroidery! Rayon as opposed to Machine Embroidery for a different lustre! That said it is great to see the technique & thread crossover from Machine Embroidery to an award winning quilt! However it is when Judith describes her use of HT Polyester that her inspirational use of basic threads really came into its own.
HT Polyester is an industrial thread manufactured for blind hemming (see our previous TIF article covering HT Polyester Here). Who would have thought this most practical of threads could be used for such a creative purpose. It is for this reason why we should all look at the properties of thread (not just their labelled use) and consider them before each project. It can be the case the properties fit exactly the effect you wish to create.
(By the way, isn’t Judiths quilt stunning! Click To Enlarge)
Further Reading/ Pages Of Interest
HT Polyester Thread In Focus Article
HT Polyester Shop Page & Images
