This is one that has been bugging me for a while.
My mum used to sew when I was little, but stopped at some point and didn’t really come back to it. She never really taught me to sew either – because I wasn’t interested in learning back when she sewed.
I say she never taught me to sew, but she has somehow infused me with a few things along the way. For example, that a herringbone stitch makes the best invisible but strong hem, and that you should use the same composition of thread as the fabric you are sewing.
The idea is: if you make a cotton chambray shirt, you should use cotton thread. That way, if you put a lot of pressure on the seam, the seam will pop rather than the fabric tearing. While neither is desirable, the seam is easily sewn back together in a way that a fabric tear isn’t. This will also make the fabric and the seams behave similarly – so if you later want to dye the garment, both the fabric and the thread should take the dye in the same way.
So who does this? It seems logical to me, so I habitually follow the principle. I make an exception where I feel it makes sense – like sewing a very heavy weight cotton or denim, but otherwise I would try and match cotton with cotton, synthetic with synthetic, silk with silk.
Do you match your thread type with your fabric composition?
Do you have other “thread tricks” that make you deviate from whatever you usually do?
Or do you just buy big spools of mid-grey all-purpose and get on with it, like I do with my serger?
————————————
Chloe is a Sewcialists Editor, who lives and sews in Australia. She blogs at chlo-thing.com and can be found on Instagram here.Â
Oh no this is fascinating!!!! I was raised to use Polyester thread for everything! Can’t wait to read the comments!
So what would you use cotton or silk thread for?
For the most part I use polyester all purpose thread. I occasionally use silk thread for basting because it glides better without waxing, but that’s about it.
Yes! The jasika blazer had me use silk thread for basting and it was awesome!
i have used Gutterman rayon Sulky for basting as it behaves same but is much cheaper than silk thread.
Great tip!
That is an interesting approach. I started off sewing quilts and I was told to always use cotton thread while quilting because it would help them last over the long haul. Then when I started sewing garments, I was told to always use poly thread for stability. So that’s what I’ve always done….Is cotton serger thread even a thing?
I started off quilting too and learned the same there. That’s a good question re serger thread – I was really talking about sewing machine thread in my post. Am not sure if I have seen anything but poly for a serger… Which makes some sense when I mostly use them with knits I guess?
I do the same – poly thread for garments, cotton (Aurifil thread) for quilts.
Such an interesting q! OK – if I’m tailoring, I’ll use silk thread. And I’ll use heavier thread on denim and thick fabric. Otherwise, my preferred thread is Gutermann (which is poly, if I’m not mistaken). Having said this, the shop up the block that sells thread uses another brand (can’t remember the name) which is mainly cotton. They sell a lot of quilting fabrics… I buy this brand when I need new thread cuz it’s close by and easy. But it’s not my fave. Having said this, I haven’t had any problems using it.
Interesting! Gutermann sell poly, cotton and silk here, but that could be regional variation (am in Australia). I haven’t even begun to think about what brands I prefer!
Gutermann sell loads of different threads here (UK), including cotton and silk, but the colour range is really restricted compared to polyester.
That’s true here – definitely fewer colours if it’s not poly!
I use poly, although I may have some cotton coated poly. It is my understanding that since poly is stronger, cotton is used primarily for quilts and bowl cozies. I use silk for hand sewing since it tangles less easily. I have started to use a finer gauge poly to sew the cotton lawns and rayon challis that I prefer.
I use cotton thread when I’m quilting, because I learned to sew/quilt for charity, which required it (because cotton thread would break rather than drag heavy hospital equipment around if it got snagged) but when I’m not quilting I use whatever I’ve got! I was gifted a big bag of pre-owned thread when I moved for grad school, and a lot of labels were already removed, so I’ve just been going with color, rather than type… I haven’t gotten too much trouble for doing that, so I’m not sure what I’ll do when I finish this allotment up!
Oh! That makes sense, but I’d never heard it before! I match color, but I just use Coats & Clark whatever-whatever (polyester? Poly-cotton?). These comments have me interested in silk thread now, though!
Polyester all the way for my machines, it performs better. I have cotton for hand quilting and the rare occasion I am topstitching a garment I plan to dye after construction. And silk for basting, of course.
I am not sure if I have paid attention whether one in the machine works better than the other. I will be trying to assess that now though!
I use poly all-purpose thread for almost everything. Silk is great for hand basting but it’s only available in 100 meter spools here so that would get really pricey real fast! I always learned that cotton thread isn’t as strong/durable so the seams might break or wear out quicker…
Cotton is definitely weaker but that’s the point really. The idea is the seam should break rather than the fabric tearing! Silk is definitely expensive here too and I haven’t seen it in the big spools either…
This! and a big no for kid’s clothing.
All purpose thread for almost everything. Occasionally switch to a specialty, but not often.
I use all purpose thread (Coats or Gutterman) for most sewing — clothing, home dec, patchwork — and poly coned thread on my serger. I can’t remember the last time it caused a problem — though decades ago the old cotton-wrapped poly thread could be a nightmare. I mainly use all cotton quilting thread for hand quilting (ethough I’ll use all-purpose in a pinch there too) and a big cone of all cotton that I use for basting. I own few spools of silk, which I bought because I thought the sheen would be better for quiling/topstiching for some things I plan to make from thrifted silk ties and shirts — and even then I’ll probably use the all-purpose for seaming.
I have never heard of cotton wrapped poly thread! Any idea why it existed?
They created cotton wrapped poly to give thread the cotton look, feel and heat resistance and the poly core to give it the stretch cotton thread doesn’t have on it’s own.
I haven’t sewn garments in a long time, however, I typically match thread type to fabric type as well and I used cotton wrapped poly on cottons that have a bit of a stretch blend added into them.
The quality of polyester threads has improved immensely in recent years so I have to experiment once I get back to my sewing room.
I grew up sewing with Coats Dual Duty which is cotton wrapped poly. Horrible stuff. I have no idea why it was ever invented!
When I discovered gutermann poly my sewing life improves!
I learned the same as you; cotton thread for cotton fabric and poly/ all purpose for most everything else. I usually follow this unless I already own a color in poly and don’t want to also buy it in cotton. As for the serger I only own thread in white, black, and red.
Good to hear it’s not just me! Though I couldn’t do without grey in the serger… Lots of people have mentioned red as one of their 3-4 colours too.
Judging by how quickly I use them up, black, brown, light and dark grey are my basics. I rarely use white but I think it really depends on what fabric colours you sew most often. Also I use good quality polyester for pretty much everything. Cotton pops seams way too easily in my opinion.
A whole bunch of random thoughts that I have heard along the way:
Poly thread has a little more give than cotton
A seam should always be weaker than the fabric …In case it rips under stress, the thread will break instead of the fabric rending
Sewing machines were made to sew best with cotton thread and cotton material (not sure I buy this one…)
Threads have a Z or an S twist…Z for machine and S for hand sewing
Take a close look under a magnifying glass to see how smooth or how fuzzy/linty a thread is
Someone already gave the tip about basting with rayon…
Now in general, I will sew with whatever means I don’t have to wind a bobbin. At times, I will wind two bobbins at the outset of a project but generally I wind 10-12 at a time in Black, white, grey, beige, dark & light blue, red, and purple, and maybe green and/or any color I think I might be in the mood to sew in the near future. I go with close enough and use up the bobbins I have.
I generally try to match the upper thread but close enough is usually good enough.
I try to buy black and white in big spools
Joanns carries a Gutermann 26 spool assortment which I pick up a couple of times a year with that 50% off coupon
So I have a couple of boxes around…
The other thing is, sometimes I could probably get away with using whatever is on hand but I convince myself that I really need matching thread BUT (Confession time here) I think it is so I can go to my favorite fabric store walk very slowly through the store to the back where the thread is, past all the bolts and the remnant tables, to get my spool of matching thread and maybe just see the perfect fabric I just have to have to reward myself for being so good at getting the matching thread instead of just using what I had on hand.
Do you know *why* threads have a Z-twist or S-twist? Why is one be better for hand-sewing?
The direction of twist applies to all twisted threads and yarns. For a lot of textile crafts, one direction of twist remains intact and doesn’t tangle easily, while the other direction will loosen up and nd ecome weaker as well as tangling more easily. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember which is best for machine vs. hand sewing because I normally use the same threads for both since that’s what I have on hand, but ca attest to the truth that direction of twist does affect the outcome of many projects.
You sound super organised! I love the idea of winding lots of bobbins at once. I think we all make the odd fabric store trip to get something very specific because we might want to look at everything else 🙂
I haven’t tested this out enough to know if it makes a difference, but my American Sewing Guild Neighborhood Group friends and other sewing friends have emphasized these two tips for threading my sewing machine that are supposed to take advantage of thread twist:
If you have a front-load bobbin, when you thread the bobbin case make sure to see which way the thread is spooling off the bobbin. It should look like the bobbin is unwinding clockwise or like the thread is making a “q”, not a “p” as it unwinds (you wouldn’t want to pee in your machine! was the mnemonic one of my sewing friends gave me). Your machine manual probably has relevant advice as well.
If your machine gives you the option to change the direction of your spool pins, the guidance I got is that you should use the horizontal direction for spools that are threaded to look cross-hatched, and the vertical direction for spools that are threaded straight. I think it is also supposed to make a difference which way the thread comes off the spool as you sew, “towards the front” or “towards the back,” but I admit I don’t pay know the rule and don’t pay attention to it.
None of the above advice makes a visible difference to any given straight seam as it comes off the machine, as far as I can tell, but together all of it is supposed to strongly influence the durability of your sewn seams over the life of the garment or project, particularly in longer seams like side seams or in decorative or zigzag seams that use a lot of thread per inch of fabric.
These tips from Alabama Chanin for threading needles for hand sewing were very influential to me and do make a difference when I hand sew: https://journal.alabamachanin.com/2012/02/the-physics-of-sewing/
I always use poly – I accidentally bought some cotton thread once and only realised because my machine was really playing up when I tried to use it!
How interesting! I never thought about it before, honestly, but having the seam rip instead of the fabric seems would definitely be worth it. I’m a little cynical, though; wouldn’t it depend more on the quality / weave of the fabric, or on the quality of the thread?
Well yes to some degree I think, but ultimately it’s just about what will give first. Another commenter suggested it used to be an issue but all of the elements (thread and fabric) have improved so much that it’s not required any more. That would speak to your quality suspicions quite well too!
I much prefer 100% cotton for its flexibility and because, yes it breaks more easily, meaning I can mend seams instead of fabrics. It also seems to work better in my machine. But poly thread is way more readily available and often much cheaper, so I do end up using it sometimes too. Silk thread is great for drapey fabrics since it’s not as stiff as other threads, but I hardly wver use it because it’s so expensive and I tend to work with stable materials.
Lots of people commenting that one or the other works better in their machine which is interesting. I haven’t picked up on a difference, but I could just not be putting two and two together…!
No, I do not. Back in the day (I’m 68, so I do mean *back*), my research and experience tells me that it was important do to the way threads were spun and, especially, the then-new synthetic threads and fabrics were produced. Then, it really was a fact that polyester threads would eat into cotton fabric fibers, and cotton threads would break in polyester fabrics.
But, spinning and production techniques have come a long way since then. Synthetic threads are now smooth and safe to use with cotton fabric. Synthetic fabrics, for the same reason, no longer chew through cotton fabric.
For myself, I now usually sew with polyester threads and cotton, linen, or wool fabric. The poly thread is stronger and leaves less lint in my machine than cotton threads. And my natural fiber clothing and quilts continue to be beautiful and comfortable throughout the years.
This is super interesting! I hadn’t considered whether it might have changed over time. Synthetic fabrics and threads were still rare even when I was little – it’s interesting to reflect on how fast that has changed!
I have been told that by my grandma … and particularly with cotton it’s also so that hopefully if the garment does shrink the thread will shrink with it too. But I rarely bother too as that’s too much effort. I just use a standard cream colour almost all the time.
I mainly use polyester at the moment but have been thinking of moving more to 100% cotton where suitable, as a plastic reduction strategy, I know it’s only a bit of thread but every little helps. I’d love to find a manufacturer that uses card reels or even better would take back and reuse empty reels.
Wow this is amazing. I am more of a hobby sewist I don’t sew all that often but I never thought of matching the thread.
Oh, for quilting I use cotton, because you don’t want the thread to be stronger than the fabric. I know this because the sashing on the quilt my grant grandma made me was sewn with probably coats dual duty and the seams have ripped.
But for clothing, bags, and home decor, I want the seams to be strong and I don’t expect the item to last for generations, so I use gutermann poly.
Also, something I don’t confess to my sewing students… I really only care about the thread that goes through the needle of my machine. I usually fill bobbins with overlocker thread because it’s cheaper than the gutermann, especially here in Chile. But only gutermann or good quality quilting cotton in the needle!
Cotton, with cotton. Polly with everything else. Only quality thread.
I definitely do not match fibers between thread and fabric as I don’t feel that gives the best look necessarily. A Mettler cotton can give an exquisite topstitch to a silk blouse. Try it! Silk buttonhole twist is the only way to go on a tailored wool coat. Ask Jeffrey Diduch, tailor extraordinaire. I could go on.
One issue I find difficult with thread that has reared it’s head lately as well as often in the past is working with yarn dyeds. I love working with yarn dyed linens and do so a lot. They beg for topstitching but it is near impossible to get any that actually shows up nicely. I have tried, darker, lighter, heavier stitches, triple stitch, double stitch, you name it. The best I can do is a triple stitch in a dark color but even that isn’t that flattering to the fabric. I will continue my quest for this holy grail. Any suggestions appreciated.