Omega QW Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Someone at my guild recently announced that the teacher of a workshop she had attended advised against using silk thread for applique because it was stronger than cotton and would tear the fabric (like that old polyester vs cotton argument). I was stunned. I have always used silk for applique and had never heard anyone advise against it. Comments? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hi Marilyn. I heard the same thing. I also heard the silk stretches over time. So who knows????? Personally, a good cotton that matches well does the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neher-in-law5 Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 I don't do much applique, but have found that Invisifil does a great job of sinking into the fabrics very well and the difference of color shadings is not noticable. I wonder if that comment is coming from those who practice more of the purest theory of applique, similar to the thought that a real quilt is only done by hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busy Quilting Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 I was at a a class last week where the tutor said that after 7 years her appliques with silk were coming away from the background. IE the silk was disintegrating. She much prefers to use Bottomline now. Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Three words: OLD WIVES TALE!!! And, we are not old wives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogiquilter Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 I second the invisifil. That stuff is awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyce Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 Lindsa I'm with you old wives tales. I have appliques about 12 years old done with silk thread not problem with it at all. Maybe I'm lucky but don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilted charm Posted June 6, 2011 Report Share Posted June 6, 2011 I don't know, but I attended a class at MQS called quilts for show from start to finish. The quilter was Linda Taylor, and the other teacher was the lady that does all the applique on her show quilts. She said she uses YLI silk thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisae Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 One of the things I have learned recently is you can get "blistering" with silk thread. Blistering is those little divits along curves in your applique. Apparently because 100 wt thread, which silk typically is, is so much finer than the fabric it causes this. If you use 50 or 60 wt thread you will not have this issue. So...I have lots of silk thread...guess I will try it on the longarm! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I say use whatever floats your boat. I tend to do my applique by machine, and I use Madeira Monofil for it. If I do it by hand, I decided to save myself a bit on all those colors of thread and bought a couple of Bottom Line assorted bobbins in different colors. Works great! In this day and age, you can use just about anything. If you take a Threadology class from Bob at Superior, he'll tell you that using one kind of thread on your longarm is like letting your husband buy a great big Big Screen TV and then leave it on ESPN all the time. I don't know about you, but I like to change channels every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Von Roberts Posted June 7, 2011 Report Share Posted June 7, 2011 I also use Invisafil for both hand and machine applique. There is a good selection of colours and they do disappear well. The colour I use most is 464, a tan colour which seems to blend well with a wide variety of fabrics other than very dark or very light.. It is much cheaper here in NZ than YSL silk and just as fine. Yvonne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
On Pins and Needles Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I have personal experience with this one. About 4 years ago I made a king size quilt with 232 6" dresden plates appliqued on it. I used YLI silk for the applique because the dresden plates were scrappy, all different colors and it was easier to hide the stitches with the fine silk thread. Well, it has been slowly coming apart ever since I put it on the bed and I am in the process right now of re sewing at least 75% of the appliques that have come unstitched....it's not a happy project. All the centers are the same color so I used a cotton thread for them, they are all still perfectly intact. I have to say this is a quilt that is on the bed every day, hubby sits on it to put shoes and socks on, takes his nap on it, so it does get used. I think if your quilt is mostly for show then silk is fine, I'd never use it again for a bed quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted June 8, 2011 Report Share Posted June 8, 2011 I personally use silk before and now bottom line when doing applique quilts for competition. Our Quilt Guild is big on applique, all our opportunity quilts are applique. 2008 was the year I was asked to applique and we used bottom line and in 2010, we used bottom line again. Bottom line is so fine that it actually sinks and almost disappear when you match your thread with the color of the applique. Prior to that, we used silk. My personal applique quilts with silk thread are still intact. I suppose its okay as long as it does not get exposed to sun and not used like utilitarian quilts. However, the applique quilts done by DH's Granny Whitaker from the thirties to seventies are all in great shape, she used cotton threads of the day. Good old cotton is very reliable, my 2 cents. I have one applique quilt to enter January, must do the longarm quilting asap. Corey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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