Some years ago, Superior Threads came out with 3 sets of L-style prewound bobins called Frostings for Piece O'Cake - The Piece O'Cake people are famous for their applique projects. A couple years later Superior Threads got the brilliant idea of putting the whole collection of 36 colors in one plastic ring and calling it a Frosted Donut. How wonderful to have the most popular MasterPiece threads right at your fingertips without having to purchase the entire spool! It was perfect for any applique project. Recently, someone suggested"Why not do the same thing with the Bottom Line prewounds" - so they made a similar collection and called it Holy Super Bob's. Again, I knew it would be ideal for applique. 
I thought that these were fantastic products, but I never had occassion to properly appreciate them until my last project. As mainly a machinequilter, I mostly worked by machine. But for Mrs Boomers leafing quilt I needed to hand applique a leaf shape to 144 six inch squares! As I was organising the project, I realized that I was finally going to use those Donuts!
The Donuts were the pefect threads for my project. Between both collections I had the perfect colour thread to match each leaf. I got some zip lock bags and organized the leaves into similar colours, added a matching bobbin, cut the backing squares added a needle and some pins and a set of directions. This way I could give each helper a bag of materials so they would have everything they needed to complete the hand applique part of the project. Many of the gals came back for more and in about 12 days the 144 squares were all completed.
Lots of people raved about the thread. "It just disappeared into the fabric!" "It was so easy to work with!" I expected it to be good yet I was still surprised at just how easy it was and especially how good the end results were with such inexperienced people (like myself) doing the sewing! What a difference the right thread makes! Now MasterPiece is 100% extra long staple Egyptian cotton and one of the finest threads on the market. Yet after hand appliquing lots of leaves, I think that I prefer the lowly Bottom Line! The polyester was a smoother thread to sew with and my stitches were truly invisible.
4 comments:
I love the prewound doughnuts by Superior to Marthe. Now I have every color (almost) that I might need of both hand or machine applique! They are so neat to have on hand for all kinds of sewing projects. I plan to buy more. I like the silicone doughnuts to store them in too! So portable and handy, easy to store. Thank you for mentioning them. Bob and Co. did a good thing with these!
I love the prewound doughnut but I have to say I would not use the poly on your applique if using all cotton cloth.If you seen older appplique quilts where the thread of the applique has been cut away by the thread because the thread was stronger than the fiber it was sewn into. I just don't want that to happen to my projects. I love all threads silk cotton,polys but it could be a recipe for disaster.
The polyester threads as well as the currently available cotton cloth has come a long way in recent years. What may have been true years ago is not true now. The new technologies that go into making the polyester ranges in Superior Threads for example, will not cut through the cotton cloth. But don't take my word for it, go to the experts, find out more on the education pages on the Superior Threads website. I love cotton threads, but whenever polyester serves my purpose I am happy to use it.
It will be great to watch Superior Donuts, i have bought tickets from
http://ticketfront.com/event/Superior_Donuts-tickets looking forward to it.
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