Thread. Seems like a simple topic. It comes on a spool and there are lots of colors. Seems simple enough. It definitely isn’t. If you think the argument over what sewing machine is the best is a tough one… you should strike up a conversation about thread. Hand piecing. Appliqué. Machine piecing. Machine quilting. Cotton. Double ply and twisted. Coated and uncoated. Low lint. Mercerized. I’m already tired just typing this.
I would love to tell you that this post is going to end your suffering. That it will teach you everything you need to know about thread. It isn’t. I can’t do that. I can’t teach you, definitively, everything you need to know about thread because… well… because I don’t know you. I don’t know what you do… or what you like to do. I don’t know what type of machine you have or what you are trying to hold together with this thread. You could be dressing a turkey for all I know. Don’t laugh. It’s been done.
Why bother writing this post? What prompted it? A sale… that’s what happened. There was a sale. A major retailer had a sale on thread. I admit it. I flocked to the sale like a moth to flame. Probably excited and inspired by a recent Longarm show I attended. I looked at all the show quilts from quilt designer Jamie Wallen (check him out here and get inspired) and studied his stitches and his thread and … I got inspired to try new things. Isn’t that why we go to these shows? We all just want to be inspired and luckily they have vendors there to satiate our desires to acquire new things to play with. Most of us buy and buy to our hearts content and the bane of our budgets and then stash these items in a drawer.
I’m not the impulsive shopper. I have too many projects undone. Too many things in a drawer. Too many creative ideas floating in my head. Too much clutter. So I don't acquire. I resist the urge. But… then there was this sale. I got inspired by the sale. It was a REALLY GOOD SALE! So there I was in front of my glowing computer screen scanning colors and types and I found myself really lost. What do I really NEED? Seemed like a good topic to cover. What do we really need when it comes to thread?
I can really only answer this question for myself of course… because I know ME. But do I know my thread? It sounded like an interesting topic for my readers too. So… I thought I would explore the world of thread in a blog series. Something for you to think about. So let’s talk about it… and hope we won’t live to regret opening this discussion.
In the next couple of blog posts I will address my journey with thread. Hopefully you will learn a little something and open up a discussion of the type you use.
So… how about a survey. This one is all about thread and it will give me some insight into what you like and use, why and how we want to talk about thread.