Help please metalic threads

[sewhappy]

I bought soooooo much metalic thread at market (Show specials and no shipping) thought thats the way to practice but not sure about it now. My dealer gave me some suggestions and alot of encouragement but I need more. What has worked for you in the past??

Looking forward to your responses.:cool:

Sewhappy

[victoriasews]

I loosened the top tension to almost nothing and it sewed out beautifully. I used a 4.0 needle. Sew a bit slower. I sew crazy fast usually and that causes the thread to break more. Slow down and relax.

[MODEN]

I agree, loosen top tension, put thread through only one hole instead of all three on the guide, and I put my cone into a ziplock bag and sprayed it with Sullivans Silicone thread. Slow down....and it will work just nice.

[Bonnie]

Or use Sewer's Aid....the liquid silicone in a bottle...loose tension and silicone will be your secret weapon.

[Quilting4You]

Hallo Sewhappy,

which product or from which company did you choose for the metallics?

Kind regards,

Romy;)

[pigletaz]

Bonn, Germany, really - sorry to break in here, but my ancestors were from Bonn and it dates back to the early 1800s. Is the name Brauninger common there? just curious, thanks. pigletaz

[snowquilter]

Hi,

Just an additional thought for metallic threads. You didn't say if it is on cones or spools. If on spools, an investment in the Hartley horizontal spool holder will help tremendously. Metallic thread on spools likes to come off the side of the spool, not the top---something about the way it is wound and twisted. The spool holder is good for All APQS machines (maybe others, too) and George. As others have suggested, slow down, light tension and through fewer eyes helps, too.

Claudia Myers

[DawnCavanaugh]

One more tip or two for taming metallics...

[*] Use a smooth, fine thread in the bobbin such as Superior's Bottom Line, or even invisible thread such as Mono Poly. Cotton thread in the bobbin has lots of tiny hairs that tend to snage the metallic as it sews, increasing breakage. (You'll need to loosen your bobbin case tension so that it allows the metallic thread to pull it into the layers of the quilt.) Invisible thread can be especially helpful since it has some stretch, and puts less pressure on the metallic.

[*] If you have the Hartley vertical or horizontal spool holder accessory, you can also run two threads together through the needle. I have used fine grey thread along with a fussy silver metallic, and also invisible thread with a nubby gold thread. The threads will join at the three-hole guide above the tension disks (follow Claudia's hint about skipping a hole or two if the pre-tension is too great). You'll loosen the tension a bit to accommodate two threads. Use a 4.0 needle so there's room in the eye for both threads.

[*] As earlier mentioned, slow down. (Hard for us jackrabbits to do!) The friction caused by the needle penetrating the fabric creates heat; this heat basically "melts" the metallic thread and it breaks. That's why the liquid silicone products work so well--they act as a cooling agent for the needle.

[*] If you are in love with a particular metallic but it simply won't behave, consider loading just the quilt top only and a water-soluble stabilizer underneath. Then quilt with the thread. The metallic becomes more of a topstitch decorative element, and you'll have to re-load the quilt with batting and backing after removing most of the stabilizer to quilt it with regular thread through all the layers. But this trick can help since the thread is only trying to penetrate one layer instead of all three.

You can also put the quilt on your frame "upside down" and put the metallic thread in the bobbin.

Lots of options--just don't give up on a thread without trying a few "modifications" to the normal thread path or trying other hints--metallics are so luscious it would be a shame not to use them!

Happy Quilting,

Dawn