On Wednesday I chose these fabrics for a new project. As I work on it, I will share more photos--it's something I've been thinking about for awhile and finally the fabric selection fell into place. I can always tell something isn't quite right when it takes me more than 10 minutes to select all the fabrics I need. If I am agonizing over it, I need to step away. Prior to these fabrics, I had tried at least twice and had about half the fabrics chosen when the process went awry. A week later, voila!
Fiber content of thread has been a hotly-contested discussion topic for quite some time. When I first started quilting I used cotton-covered polyester for piecing, applique and quilting. It was readily available and reasonably priced. Then we learned that polyester can actually wear holes in your cotton fabrics over time. I still figured I was okay because my polyester was encased in cotton. Well.... The polyester wears away the cotton covering and then turns toward your fabric! So now I use only 100 percent cotton. 60 wt. for applique; 50 wt. for piecing (both hand and machine), and 40 wt. for hand quilting. My quilts are softer to the touch and more flexible. Some people say they don't care what kind of thread they use--I say that's a poor attitude! We are making tomorrow's heirlooms. I want my quilts to outlive me!
Stay tuned to see what happens to that group of fabrics--I can't wait to get started!
I am glad to hear your views about using cotton thread - especially since they match mine. tee hee. I started with polyester at the advice of my first quilt instructor, but when I heard the theory about the poly cutting the fibers of the fabric, I too went to cotton.
ReplyDeleteThe information about the weights is very helpful. That always leaves me scratching my head.
mk