A couple of pointers. I think it's worth buying a good quality polyester thread. Gutterman and Mettler are the brands I use most often. Not the cheapy threads that come on the little cardboard spools. Sorry about that, I'm all for saving money, but it makes a difference to your sewing.
Three reasons for buying good thread:
- the thread is what holds your sewing together. There's no point creating a gorgeous project if the stitching is going to give way.
- the thread is the item that has the most contact with the workings of your machine. All those loops and hooks and levers, the tension mechanism, the bobbin and the whirlygigs under the foot plate where the stitch is formed . . . the thread runs through them all. Hundreds of meters of thread for every project you sew. I've had several sewing machine mechanics tell me that they know what sort of thread has been used by the condition of the sewing machine.
- Cheap nasty thread can make it hard for the machine to keep a good tension. This is one you'll notice right away. The tension is what keeps the balance between the top and bottom parts of your stitch. When things are going well, you don't need to think about it. You sew, the stitch forms and it's all good. When it goes wrong, though, you adjust and fiddle and try again and pull out stitching and it's a pain. Sometimes the solution is as simple as what thread you're using.
I'm a hand-spinner which means that I sit at my spinning wheel for hours making yarn--aka thread! I could tell you lots about length of fibres, twist and so on, but you don't need to know all that. Just buy a good quality thread from your favourite sewing shop.
Good thread = happy machine = happy sewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment