Quilters and sewers need quality materials to make durable projects at home. Homemade clothing, quilts and crafts must have lint free, strong and smooth sewing thread. In addition, home crafters want to choose between assortments of filaments made from silk, polyester, metallic, wool, rayon, nylon or cotton that will work nicely with a homemade project. To achieve the best appearance on quilts or clothing, the sewer will also want to choose from a wide variety of sewing thread colors. A home sewer or quilter requires strong fibers that remain intact while moving through the mechanisms of various models of sewing machines. The filaments must also easily fit into machine and hand needles with different sizes of eyes.
Types of Filaments
There are many different types of filaments and choosing the right one for your project is important. Things to consider when choosing a type of sewing thread depend on what attributes a particular filament or material has. Following is a walkthrough of different materials and some of their properties.
Each type of sewing thread is most suitable for particular fabrics. Wool filaments are typically thicker providing a homespun appearance for hand sewn or machine stitched crafts, quilts and clothing. Cotton is a popular filament that is useful for most projects. Silk filaments are extremely thin and durable making it an excellent sewing thread for attaching decorative beading to clothing. Sewers and quilters may want to use a strong and stretchy polyester filament. Alternatively, a blend of polyester and cotton provides a unique fiber that stretches slightly while still looking like cotton. When a home sewer or quilter wants to maintain bright color, using a rayon fiber to stitch items together is a wise choice. Nylon filaments are transparent and strong but also may melt when ironed. Metallic fibers create texture while adding vibrancy to fabric items such as clothing, crafts and quilts.
Choosing a Filament
In addition to fiber content, filaments are available in different weights. Weight for filaments tells sewers and quilters the thickness of the sewing thread. Knowing the thickness of filaments is important for making a project by hand or machine stitching. The weight measurements of filaments are printed on the labels attached to spools. When a quilter or sewer is shopping for supplies for a thin or delicate fabric, a higher weight number is selected that indicates a lightweight filament.
Before you start your next sewing project use this information to help you choose the correct sewing thread. You may even want to try a new material that will still suite your project.
