Inferior Threads

There is a secret ingredient that makes all these frames work,  The secret ingredient is thread! Thread that is actually designed for machine quilting at high speeds.

The JUKI QVP2200 long arm goes 2200 stitches-per-minute.
The Handi-Quilter Avante goes 1800 stitches-per-minute
The NEW JUKI TL QVP Mini that we use on our smaller machine quilting frames goes 1500 stitches-per-minute
Most ordinary domestic sewing machines go almost 1000 stitches-per-minute.

Many machine quilters really struggle with thread breaking and shredding. Often it comes down to the thread. People are using inferior thread. The high speeds of long arm quilting machines put a lot of stress on the thread. Poor quality thread will shred and break at higher speeds. Inferior threads are fine for slower domestic machines. But fast machines like long and mid arm quilting machines need Superior Threads.

Superior Threads are designed to flow smoothly through your long and mid-arm quilting machines without shredding or breaking whether you're stitching at 2200 stitches-per-minute or almost 1000. Using the right needle is important too.

This year at the 2015 Festival of Quilts our long arm and mid-arm machines were all threaded with various ranges from Superior Threads. We especially like the Magnifico and Fantastico light reflecting tri-lobal polyester threads because they are beautiful AND strong. Designed for long-arm quilting machines, they are happy to stitch at high speeds without shredding or breaking. This makes for happy quilters with less down time.

Our cat Tipsy thinks that this cone of Fantastico is a purrfect match!

 Fantastico comes in variegated colours with a one inch colour change. This creates gorgeous layers of stitching where the colours are evenly spread out through out your quilt.

Fantastico is available on 2,000 yd cones here in the UK from Machine Quilter for £13.45

Magnifico comes in plain colours on 3,000 yd cones for £9.95. That's a lot of joy for under a tenner!

This quilt used 2 different cones of Fantastico; # 5024 and #5025 to match the flowers in the border fabric.

Don't forget the BACK!

Here's the quilt back. Isn't the texture lovely! We used Bottom Line pre-wounds #607 Light Purple for the back. Also available here in the UK from Machine Quilter.


Finally, here's the finished quilt on show at our stand at the Festival of Quilts 2015. It's looking lovely with the back peeking through in the bottom right hand corner. We kept the piecing simple to show that gorgeous quilting is all about the threads.
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St Patrick's Day TREAT!

Happy St Patrick's Day!
Here's a little treat to celebrate the wearing of the green. Buy any cone of thread today and get 3 free pre-wound bobbins. Buy Green thread from any of the Superior Thread ranges and get 4 pre-wound bobbins at no extra charge. We think that pre-wound bobbins are the best thing since sliced bread. If you've never tried them before, today you can try for free. 

Visit our  machinequilter website today. We've got all the colours in the rainbow to choose from!




Find our more about pre-wound bobbins here.

Thread Wise

This post is about thread choices. I could have called it thread 'whys' as I'll be explaining which threads I used in this last quilt and why I used them.

I pieced the top with MasterPiece thread on top and in the bobbin. Why? Masterpiece is 100% extra-long staple , really grown in Egypt cotton. I like to match the fibre content of the thread and the fabric here in the piecing process. The pieced seams in a quilt are the weight bearing seams. Think about hanging up a completed quilt or shaking the wrinkles out of a quilt. What seams are bearing the most weight? In a house not all walls are load bearing walls. In a quilt not all stitches bear the same stress. Lots of people get their knickers in a twist about various types of quilting thread. But it is the pieced seams that are the stress bearing seams. And if we want to match the thread fibres to the fabric fibres, it is most important to do this for the pieced seams. MasterPiece will bear up well against the various stresses in the life of a quilt. With 75 gorgeous colours it's easy to get a good colour match. MasterPiece is a fine weight thread, not too heavy or bulky so it gives nice flat seams and sharp points. I find MasterPiece an ideal piecing thread.

MasterPiece comes in pre-wounds! I love pre-wounds because I hate winding bobbins. Pre-wounds can hold 3 times as much thread as the bobbins that you wind yourself and they work great in most sewing machines, my Janome Memory Craft 6600 work great with pre-wounds.

Because the cotton fibres are matched in the piecing thread I am free to use whatever threads suit my fancy for the machine quilting. For this project I've used Rainbows, a variegated trilobal polyester from Superior Threads. All the fibres that make up this thread are light reflecting which gives Rainbows a lovely shine to it. This particular thread is #803 Northern Lights.

I've used a pre-wound Bottom Line in the bobbin, a soft blue which disappears into the pieced backing fabric. Rainbows and Bottom Line are a machine quilting marriage made in heaven. They work beautifully together!

Finally, for sewing the binding by machine, I've used Sew Fine on top and a pre-wound Bottom Line in the bobbin. Then to hand sew the final stage of the binding I used a red Bottom Line to match the binding colour. The Bottom Line is just wonderful for hand sewing - it disappears into the fabric and it never knots up. I find it a real pleasure to hand sew with.

In summary, I've used a mixture of cotton and polyester threads in the quilt. The choices have to do with the piecing and quilting process as well as the look and durability of the end product. I'm confident that it will wash and wear well and I'm delighted with how it looks.