Ok, I really like my Star thread, 50/3, in about three different colors. It only costs about $5 a spool, but I am tired of trying to find it in the stores and am wanting to order online. Threadart.com has a long-staple Egyptian cotton in 50/3 that looks very similar to my favorite, and it's only 1.99 a spool.
I hate shopping for thread. What are your favorite online retailers and what is your favorite machine piecing thread?
My favorite machine piecing (or hand appliqué, or hand piecing, or just about anything) thread is Aurifil. I buy it at my LQS or, when they don't have the color I need, I Google it and find a decent price. BTW, it *looks* like it's expensive, until you work out the per-yard price as compared to other brands.
Uh oh....you've probably opened another can of worms. I think you're going to get an awful lot of Aurifil lovers....it's not cheap initially, but it does last a long time. It's not linty, and doesn't take up much room in a seam. Does Connecting Threads carry the Star thread? If you find the colors you like....see what the biggest quantity is....maybe you can buy it by the cone and avoid the shopping hassles for a while.
has a few colors of Aurifil - red, loud yellow and almost black sort of purple for $ 5. Not a great choice but the thread is wonderful and the price is good. Their Genziana brand is very similar and only a little more in price. When color really matters I do lots of searching to get the best price. Polly
I definitely DON'T like Threadart.com. My machine has fits with their thread - both embroidery and cotton. I like to piece with Aurifil also. If I want to use a cotton thread, I like Masterpiece by Superior.
has a lot of different higher endthreads and they are good folks to deal with. Those are some of the ones I have used with good success, depending on what I was looking for.
Aurifil for me too. The large Aurifil spools have more thread on them than most of the other brands. As someone already mentioned, it's a fine thread that lays nice & flat in your seams & another bonus to it being so fine is that you get more thread on your bobbins, so you don't have to wind them as often. I took Polly's advise last year & have been buying it from
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& the price is about half what it is in the stores. If you buy 1 - 5 spools, it is $5.50, but if you get 6 or more, it is $5.00 spool. The shipping is $6.95, so get some friends together & buy a bunch & you'll really be getting a bargain. They are nice people to deal with also! Have not tried the Genziena thread yet, but the price seems to be comparable to their Aurifil prices. I also like Presencia thread, which is recommended by Harriet Hargrave
My Janome 6600 came with a 'bonus' assortment of Robison-Anton thread in 50 wt. I like it very much and use it for piecing and MQ'ing. It's reasonably priced, too.
As most have said, I love Aurifil. I also like Presencia and Masterpiece from Superior threads. All are cotton, and basically a 50 wt. (Although I did have a cone of Presencia 60 wt. that was a dream for piecing.) For piecing I do like to use cotton thread because it stands up to the heat of the iron better. Bottom Line and So Fine are both very fine polyester thread from Superior Threads. Very good for what they are, very fine and you can get lots on a bobbin. Haven't used them for piecing, but have used "all purpose sewing thread" and cones of "serger thread" for a lot of sewing over the years. And yes I have pieced with it too. Works great. Haven't used the Star because it looks so linty..... and I have been a bit of a thread snob for a while.
BTW, when you change to different brands of thread you might want to check your seam allowance. I found a definite difference when I switched to Aurifil from the old Mettler silk finish 50wt. Same weight, but very different sizes of thread. (weight is just that, how much does X number of yards/meters weigh. Same weight can be different thicknesses depending on tightness of twist and number of plies and so much more. One reason a lot of newer threads have a "Tex #" instead of weight size. )
Have fun, Pati, > Ok, I really like my Star thread, 50/3, in about three different
Thanks Pati - once again! I had so wondered why the same 'weight' had such different appearances, when I tried comparing 'thickness'. I hadn't though about it much, but had always subconsciously assumed it was like knitting wool 'ply'. Great to have this reason. . In message , "Pati, in Phx" writes snipped a bit
I like the Essential Thread from Connecting Threads, too. It is very inexpensive. Not as nice as Aurifil, but still a good thread. I like it better than the Star thread -- doesn't lint quite as much in my machine.
Julia > I have lots of spools of thread from Connecting Threads, which work
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