Does anyone use vanishing thread to baste their quilts? I was reading about it on SewThankful and it sounds like a great idea to baste your quilt together before quilting. Then, just wash and it's gone! I always wash my quilts after quilting anyway, and this would eliminate the step of having to pull out all the basting thread.
The only thing I've used it for is for basting the extra layer of batting when doing machine trapunto. If you use it for basting for quilting, you would have to make sure that it doesn't get wet or even damp while you are working on it, or your basting would disappear. I'm not sure how it would perform in humid situations or if it would "melt" from any moisture on your hands while you were working. I store my water soluble thread in a ziplock to keep it dry when not in use. I'm not sure it trust it to last long enough for a hand quilting project; of course, I'm not a fast hand quilter -- a hand quilting project might take me a year.
Julia in MN
I've never used vanishing thread on quilts but I have used it a lot for machine embroidery techniques. It's really surprisingly strong IF it's perfectly dry. I found that even very humid weather can compromise its integrity. I learned that the hard way during a very humid period of summer. I used a bobbin that I had previously wound (thread on the top, vanishing thread on the bottom) and I couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong with my machine and "why won't this *&^&* thing sew,,,,grrrr". I had to use an Exacto knife to get the thread off the bobbin. When I went to rewind the bobbin my entire spool was gunked together. I now keep the spool and wound bobbins in a small tight lidded jar with a few of those silicone packs that come in pill bottles. Solved the problem beautifully. I also used it for basting on some tricky fleece clothing I was sewing. I only threaded the machine with it and used regular thread in the bobbin (this stuff is a little expensive IMO) and after I washed the garment I easily pulled the bobbin thread out. I'm not sure if the regular thread would come loose and look like a covert QI project done in the wash on a project the size of a quilt but you could take a spray bottle and wet down the "vanishing" side of the quilt to dissolve it and pull the regular threads pre-wash or, if you aren't frugal (nice word for CHEAP) like me you'd be using the vanishing thread in both bobbin and machine. In that case it probably wouldn't matter.
Val
"Boca Jan" wrote in message news:Q6CdnXEnCJhAu_TanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...
You might have a problem with your humidity there. I don't use it to baste, but when I've used it I've had problems in the winter here with the humidity.
In the past few days someone posted about running dye in a bolt of fabric- and someone else responded about the fabrics laying wet against each other and the dye soaking into other fabrics. I have had a bad experience with dyes running after wetting the quilt to remove water soluble marking pen lines. The wet quilt was on a Formica top directly under the ceiling fan. The dyes ran something fierce. I'm afraid to try that again. My quilts get yanked from the washer the moment it stops moving and right into the dryer. YMMV
Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.
Safety pins for me -recyclable! Roberta in D
"Boca Jan" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:Q6CdnXEnCJhAu_TanZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com...
Howdy!
Pin baster.
Handquilter.
Merry Christmas!
R/Sandy
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