Thread life question

[Neher-in-law5]

I wonder if the purists of quilt making have given a thought to the life of the threads used for making their quilts today. I washed up my son's quilt made in 1983 from our church ladies and the seams are truly falling apart now. I am assuming that general cotton thread was used for the piecing (it was tied to a pre-quilted backing). The quilt was very well loved and used.

This summer/fall I made one for my son's son based on Jeff's. I found some of the same design transfers and used them in the same placement on the new quilt. The same woman or her daughter/granddaughter did the embroidery on the new one as had done the old one. I did piece the quilt together with Aurifil and did some quilting with King Tut because it was the coloring that worked best.

After taking them both out of the dryer I saw more seams open on the first quilt and wondered if using poly thread would now last longer on quilts we make today.

[Neher-in-law5]

This was my first time posting pictures to the new forum. Using my Mac, it worked the same as I have done with the old forum. I was even able to switch the second picture from a repeat to the picture of the 1983 quilt using full editor screen. I was able to browse my own computer to find the resized pictures and add them from there.

[Zora]

Yes, I do think thread has a bearing on the durability of a quilt. While I am sure our threads today are more durable, whether or not they are cotton, I am also sure a poly thread, or one with a poly component...will outlast cotton thread. When you see lint in your bobbin case, or around your needle, that is the thread weakening. Every time you take the quilt out of the dryer and fish out a wad of lint from the filter, that is your quilt wearing out. Washing machines and dryers are hard on quilts, too. And, I believe we "overwash" our quilts these days. It used to be a pretty big project to wash and dry a quilt, so it wasn't done often. Now, we can throw them in the washer and dryer every week if we choose and never break a sweat.

Some people feel poly thread will melt and weaken with the cotton setting we use to press our piecing. I have never had this happen. Most of my quilts are one extreme or the other...either made to be used and loved..or mainly for display. I primarily use something like Guterman all purpose thread for the well loved ones, and Masterpiece for the display quilts. I would not use the thin, cotton thread for a quilt that was going to be hauled around and washed often. I also prefer poly for the quilting, because it holds up well.

I think that's how the myth got started that poly thread "cuts" your fabric. It actually doesn't. The cotton fabric just wears out along the seam line where the double thickness creates a ridge that is more subject to abrasion, and all that's left is the poly thread.