Needles & Threads! Oh My! Part 2

It's time for Part 2 of the Needles & Threads series! I hope you found yesterday's post about needles to be helpful. We are back with Shirley Bailey of Sew Original for today's post on threads. This is a four part series, so check back tomorrow for Quilting Threads with Kelly Wood and Friday will be a recap and post of my personal favorites! Let's get started!COTTON & OTHER NATURAL FIBERSSilk (100 wt): 100% silk (shocker!). It is one continuous piece, not woven. It is great for hand appliqué. It also is great for hand basting as it is very easy to remove; it will glide out. Do NOT construct a silk garment with silk as the thread is so strong that it will cut the silk fabric.Mettler Fine Embroidery (60 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 60 needle. 2-ply thread. This is great for voile, batiste, lawn and other lightweight fabrics.Mettler Silk Finish (50 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 70-90 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for construction as well as piecing.Aurifil (50 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 70-80 needle. 2-ply thread. This thread is great for piecing. Because it is 2-ply, it is great for precision piecing. If you construct with it, shorten your stitch length.

Mettler Machine Quilting (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-100 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in a huge variety of colors.YLI Machine Quilting (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.Superior Threads King Tut (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in only in variegated. The color changes are more frequent on the King Tut at 1" intervals.

Premium Sulky (30 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.

Premium Sulky (12 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 110-120 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine appliqué and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.SYNTHETICSEmbroidery ThreadsUse embroidery needles.Isacord (40 wt): 100% polyester. Available in a wide variety of colors and variegated. These are colorfast and will not bleed or fade.YLI Variations (35 wt): 100% polyester. Available in a wide variety of ombre colors. These are colorfast and will not bleed or fade.Yenmet Metallic: Available in a wide variety of metallics. This is a wiry thread.Bottom Line by Libby Lehman (60 wt): 100% polyester. Use in the bobbin for embroidery. Available in a wide variety of colors.Bobbin Cones: 100% polyester. Use in the bobbin for embroidery. Available in black and white.Bobbin Play & Serger Threads These threads will all be put in the bobbin if you want to use them on your domestic machine. You will sew upside down. They are too thick to feed through the top of the machine, but work great in the bobbin! You will need the tension of your bobbin to be set differently; Shirley recommends having a second bobbin case. Some can also be used in your serger.Pearl Cotton Rayon (left): 100% rayon. Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Mimics the look of pearl cotton. Designer 6 Sheen (middle): 100% rayon. Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Shiny and thick thread. Metallic (right): Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Metallic finish.Wooly Nylon: 100% nylon. Great for edging napkins and costumes. This thread stretches out to sew as normal thread, but retracts to fill in the gaps.Jeans Stitch: 100% polyester. Use 110-120 jeans needle. This thread is used to hem jeans and is available in a variety of colors, including jeans gold.Monofilament: 100% nylon (left) & 100% polyester (right). This thread is available in clear and smoke. For machine quilting or any time you need clear thread.Wash Away: It does what it says! It washes away with water. A great basting thread. Make sure you keep it labeled and stored away from your other thread. Nothing worse than piecing with this!Fusible: This thread fuses when heat set with an iron. It's a great temporary fix for a hem!This concludes Shirley's guide to threads! Thank you so much!! All of these are available at Sew Original. Obviously, there are tons of other threads out there, but this is a pretty inclusive guide to most thread types!xo LC