A new thread

Firstly thank you all so much for taking the time to stop by and say Happy Birthday - you all made my day yesterday.

So I have started on a quilt for my as-good-as teenage neice.  For data protection reasons, my sister, her mother, has asked me not to reveal her name to you so we will just call her "my neice".  She sent me a swatch of her wallpaper. 


And a sketch of her design to work from.  


I decided to raw edge applique the circles and letters as setting them in would not look as perfectly perfect and would also be a right kerfuffle.  I was all set to blanket stitch around them in a heavy thread (you know I love a blanket stitch) when it occurred to me that perhaps my neice wouldn't like that folksy look.  So I got in touch with Alex Veronelli (the lovely man from Aurifil) and asked for his advice.  He suggested I try their new nylon monofilament invisible thread.  Well, I confess I have tried nylon monofilament threads before and not liked them because they were kind of shiny and also melted under the iron.


So I did a little tester with blanket stitch and a straight stitch on a spare piece of fabric and, after playing about a bit and finally re-setting the tension to close to zero, the stitches looked perfect and as good as invisible.  I then put my iron on full heat and let it sit on the stitches for five whole seconds.  Lifted the iron and they were still there.  Did the same for ten whole seconds.  Lifted the iron and they were still there.  I suspect Aurifil would not recommend such an excessive amount of heat but I was very happy with the results.


The thread comes in two colours - clear and smoke (which I guess I would use on darker fabrics).  It comes in regular sized spools and in cones for long arm quilting.  On my machine I used the regular sized spools and have sent the long arm spools off to my mate Trudi to try out and she will let you know what she thinks of the thread in due course.

Comments

  1. So sorry to have missed your birthday! Hope it was wonderful.

    Good info on the thread- thanks!

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  2. Um, her name is on this post in the pictures?

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  3. Is her name Hannah? It's a really cute quilt! Perfect for a tween/teen.

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  4. Maybe your sister should now sue you for breach of confidentiality..? You are right about DD - folksie just ain't her bag. She is however delighted to be the focus of your blog, is very happy to have her name splashed all over the internet and is looking forward to a big reveal of her identity. Your Younger Sister - T x

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  5. I guess she like it then! lol Looking forward to putting the thread through it's paces :) And it IS a beautiful quilt! So how are you going to quilt it?

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  6. Gorgeous color palette--looks like you had a lot of fun putting this one together!

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  7. Love it. I agree you can't be too careful with the identity of minors on the internet.

    Did you use webbing on the circles?

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  8. Gotta love Aurifill! Gotta love the design genius of the mystery girl niece!

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  9. Happy belated birthday from me as well! Interesting about the thread! Who would have thunk it! Such sisterly love not to reveal your niece's name..not your fault it's on the quilt!!

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  10. Remember what you said a while back about differences in sense of humour....same language.

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  11. I hope you lived it up on your birthday. I have not tried the Aurifil monofilament but the Superior made from polyester is fantastic.

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  12. hmm
    Does this invisible SUPER thread have a number besides the name?
    I love that quilt, by the way!
    Your niece made a beautiful design!

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  13. Poor Hannah - hopefully the beautiful quilt will make up for the mad aunt!

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  14. Sorry to have missed your birthday yesterday - hope it was a good one.

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  15. Good decision to keep the identity details a secret. Always a wise move...

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  16. Well, I guess others have posted the same as I...is her name not Hannah?LOL
    Happy Birthday anyway.
    Still giggling.

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  17. ha ha hahahah ha haha hahah! you are so hilarious Lynn!

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  18. Love the quilt - she's going to be the envy of all her friends! (Well, a wonderful quilt made by a quilting celebrity aunt...who wouldn't be envious!!)

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  19. The curves look great but not something I would do....curves and me don't get along. Happy Belated Birthday. Starting a new job and getting my littlest one into daycare makes it harder to keep up with blog reading.

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  20. Oooh you are the Johnny English of quilters

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  21. What niece would not love that quilt?!

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  22. Well it seems you have messed up a bit "Big Sis" hehehehe this is something I would do!!!

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  23. I totally laughed out loud when I saw the pictures! I love it!!! So something I would do...whether on purpose for a little rebellion or on accident! Lol

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  24. Ps I saw your post on angelas blog about going to the sewing summit. We can totally be the cool kids that stayed home this year... We should have a rebellion party. ( not that I didn't want to go...I just knew I was going to be prego or here where I am.)

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  25. A total secret, no one will ever know...
    Thanks for the info on the thread I'd like to use some in the future and you've worked out all the kinks for me. :)

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