How to fix stray threads that show through?

[juliagraves]

Hi all -

My client made a navy and white quilt, and many of the seam allowances are pressed towards the white, which is very sheer. There is definitely shadowing of the seams, so I'm trying not to quilt them down, which just makes it look even darker. I pointed out the shadowing to her before I started, so she's aware of this.

However, the navy fabric has a lot of stray threads. I got as many as I saw while loading, but others have migrated out and I see them in areas I've already quilted.

My instructions to quilters say to clip stray threads, remove pet hair, etc, so I don't feel obligated to fix this, but I would like to have suggestions as to what the quilter can do if she's unhappy with this. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Julia

[nora123]

Julia, this is a great question. I also mention it to my customers but I feel that is where I stop. I do not have time to clip threads and pick stray dark thread out with a needle. Sometimes you can use a very long flowerhead pin and stick it in the light side and sweep the dark thread under the dark area. This has worked for me. Then I quilt close to the seam and it cannot migrate again. Ditch work is great for this. If your customer does not like the result she will have to decide to clip threads and press seams the right way. And some quilters don't care. I hope this helps.

Nora

[quiltmonkey]

I think we quilters have referred to these things as "Varicose veins" and I remembered this tip:

Julia, I had a customer quilt once that had lots of stray threads showing underneath and I used the tiniest crochet hook I could find (the itty bitty tip) and was able to go in through the fibers and yank it up through the top and snip.

[Quilting Heidi]

Clotilde has a very find crochet hook to get those stray threads and it works great.

[juliagraves]

You guys are the best! I feel much better about having the conversation when she picks the quilt up now that I have some suggestions for how she can fix it.

It also seems like the navy seam allowance is just a thread or two longer than the white, so there are little dark lines along every seam (and they are all pressed to the white side!). I don't think anything will fix those.

I love the "varicose vein" description! Very apt!

Thanks again,

Julia

[lisae]

Hi, Julia,

I did the exact same thing Shana ad Heidi suggested on a pale pink wholecloth baby quilt that somehow had a black thread show up in the middle. Worked great!

[ffq-lar]

Number 12 steel crochet hook. Also, a "snag puller"--looks like a needle with screw threads. The sharp end go in a seam closest to the errant thread, you position it up next to the thread, twist it so the thread wraps around the needle, and pull it out the seam. It will work on loose threads but not those that are unraveling from an edge. Then I use the crochet hook. If you are careful, you don't need to insert in a seam--just coax the warp apart and snag that thread. Feels great when you fix those uglies!

[Gator]

Yep, I have a tiny crochet hook. I us it for lots of thread pulling. It's as thin as the quilting needle. One of the workers at my LQS got it with LA'ers in mind. She doesn't know that I couldn't live without it.:cool: