Thread question

G'day Cindy

Thread is a personal choice, so my suggestion is to get a couple of spools of each until you decide which content suits you best. I've read all the comments about rayon not being sturdy and not standing up to continual washing....I only use rayon and found just the opposite. Rayon has a much nicer sheen and looks quite luxurious. The poly I tried was dull and funnily enough I had more thread breakages in the machine with poly, whereas rayon flows more easily.

Just my 2 cents worth! Bronwyn ;-)

C> I am new to machine embroidery. I just received my HV 1+ this week and have

Thanks everyone for the answers to my question. :) You all are great!

Cindy

As others have mentioned, I prefer polyester for items that will get lots of laundering.. For decorative items that will see little laundering, I prefer rayon for it's improved sheen. As with regular sewing, you really want to avoid threads that will "lint off" excessively.

Madeira is one of the better brands, and they produce machine embroidery thread in both polyester as well as rayon:

Thanks everyone for the answers to my question. :)

Cindy, I use Madeira rayon almost all the time. I have some Sulky rayon as well. My D1 does fine with either. The 1+ I had was balky with the Sulky. After using the D1, I have concluded my 1+ had some problems that weren't fixed in the initial tune up after I bought it on ebay. Your 1+ may do fine with Sulky. Some people hate rayon and use the poly imitation of rayon which works well for them. One of my local shops sells Maderia poly because their customers prefer it. I have another shop nearby that sells the rayon so it depends. One site you may find useful is

(not associated, saw them at a sewing show and liked them). They also have a tips page. I know you didn't ask this but...for embroidery designs, I like (Again, not associated, just a happy customer.) You can buy design packets or individual designs and they have sales often. Their design color sheets refer to Madeira rayon numbers which works out well for me since I mainly use Madeira. There are lots of conversion pages out there too. Stabilizers are as important as the thread from my experience. Get yourself some good stabilizers in a width that works efficiently with your favorite hoops. It depends on the type of fabric you will be embroidering most often. Have fun, Cindy. Marilyn in MN

True, which reminds me. Where is Fred?

Seconded! I had difficulty with a design package I bought from

(not their fault, I downloaded and converted from .HUS to .XXX), and was delighted when "Debbie", one of their people spent time in several e-mails helping me fix the problem. The designs sewed out perfectly. Absolutely wonderful customer service!

That's another reason I liked them, too.

AMEN to all of the above advice. Having and using the proper stabilizers is essential.

Beverly