Needles & Threads! Oh My! Part 3

Posted on 05/16/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

Time for Part 3 of the Needles & Threads extravaganza!! Today, the amazing Kelly Wood is sharing her extensive knowledge of quilting threads! Kelly knows A LOT about fibers and was kind enough to share her knowledge with the Machine Quilting Bee last Saturday. And let me share it with you today!! Here’s Kelly!

Kelly started with telling us about the make up of the fibers. There are two types of threads: natural and synthetic. Natural fibers include cotton, silk and wool. Synthetic includes polyester and rayon. Rayon is made from wood pulp (which is natural), but is man made.

The threads are formed with different processes in addition to being different fibers. Cotton fibers can be spun from long staple or short staple. Long staple means longer pieces of cotton fibers which means stronger thread and less lint! Typically, the longer staple means nicer thread, while shorter means less expensive and more breakage. Silk is a filament thread which is one long strand. Polyester can be spun or a filament. And because Rayon is weak when wet (and doesn’t recover strength), it should only be used for an art quilt that will not be washed.

The higher the thread weight, the finer the thread. Unfortunately, the weights are assigned by individual companies and not universal. Typically, a 50 wt cotton will be similar to a 40 wt polyester.

Kelly showcased her favorites! She used all neutrals so that we would not be sidetracked by bright colors:) And she showed different quilting patterns to showcase each thread.

Soft Touch Bobbin Thread Polyester 60 wt, YLI Silk 100 wt & Aurifil Cotton 50 wt

Polyester 40 wt, YLI Cotton 40 wt & King Tut Cotton 40 wt

Signature Cotton 40 wt & Sulky 12 wt

Kelly also suggests Sewer’s Aid. She runs three stripes along the spool from top to bottom. She says this can prevent lint and help a thread run smoothly through the machine. I’ve never used it, but I’m looking forward to trying it!

Thanks for sharing your samples and knowledge Kelly! It’s really nice to see what everything looks like quilted, especially since her quilting is so beautiful!!
xo LC

Needles & Threads! Oh My! Part 2

Posted on 05/15/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

It’s time for Part 2 of the Needles & Threads series! I hope you found yesterday’s post about needles to be helpful. We are back with Shirley Bailey of Sew Original for today’s post on threads. This is a four part series, so check back tomorrow for Quilting Threads with Kelly Wood and Friday will be a recap and post of my personal favorites! Let’s get started!

COTTON & OTHER NATURAL FIBERS

Silk (100 wt): 100% silk (shocker!). It is one continuous piece, not woven. It is great for hand appliqué. It also is great for hand basting as it is very easy to remove; it will glide out. Do NOT construct a silk garment with silk as the thread is so strong that it will cut the silk fabric.

Mettler Fine Embroidery (60 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 60 needle. 2-ply thread. This is great for voile, batiste, lawn and other lightweight fabrics.

Mettler Silk Finish (50 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 70-90 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for construction as well as piecing.

Aurifil (50 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 70-80 needle. 2-ply thread. This thread is great for piecing. Because it is 2-ply, it is great for precision piecing. If you construct with it, shorten your stitch length.

Mettler Machine Quilting (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-100 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in a huge variety of colors.

YLI Machine Quilting (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.

Superior Threads King Tut (40 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in only in variegated. The color changes are more frequent on the King Tut at 1″ intervals.

Premium Sulky (30 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 90-110 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine quilting and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.

Premium Sulky (12 wt): 100% cotton. Use a 110-120 needle. 3-ply thread. This thread is great for machine appliqué and top stitching. It comes in both solid and variegated.

SYNTHETICS

Embroidery Threads

Use embroidery needles.

Isacord (40 wt): 100% polyester. Available in a wide variety of colors and variegated. These are colorfast and will not bleed or fade.

YLI Variations (35 wt): 100% polyester. Available in a wide variety of ombre colors. These are colorfast and will not bleed or fade.

Yenmet Metallic: Available in a wide variety of metallics. This is a wiry thread.

Bottom Line by Libby Lehman (60 wt): 100% polyester. Use in the bobbin for embroidery. Available in a wide variety of colors.

Bobbin Cones: 100% polyester. Use in the bobbin for embroidery. Available in black and white.

Bobbin Play & Serger Threads

These threads will all be put in the bobbin if you want to use them on your domestic machine. You will sew upside down. They are too thick to feed through the top of the machine, but work great in the bobbin! You will need the tension of your bobbin to be set differently; Shirley recommends having a second bobbin case. Some can also be used in your serger.

Pearl Cotton Rayon (left): 100% rayon. Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Mimics the look of pearl cotton. Designer 6 Sheen (middle): 100% rayon. Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Shiny and thick thread. Metallic (right): Use in the bobbin for decorative stitching. Metallic finish.

Wooly Nylon: 100% nylon. Great for edging napkins and costumes. This thread stretches out to sew as normal thread, but retracts to fill in the gaps.

Jeans Stitch: 100% polyester. Use 110-120 jeans needle. This thread is used to hem jeans and is available in a variety of colors, including jeans gold.

Monofilament: 100% nylon (left) & 100% polyester (right). This thread is available in clear and smoke. For machine quilting or any time you need clear thread.

Wash Away: It does what it says! It washes away with water. A great basting thread. Make sure you keep it labeled and stored away from your other thread. Nothing worse than piecing with this!

Fusible: This thread fuses when heat set with an iron. It’s a great temporary fix for a hem!

This concludes Shirley’s guide to threads! Thank you so much!! All of these are available at Sew Original. Obviously, there are tons of other threads out there, but this is a pretty inclusive guide to most thread types!
xo LC

Needles & Threads! Oh My! Part 1

Posted on 05/14/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

As long as I’ve been sewing, the guru has told me that most problems (in the sewing studio, we’re not solving world peace here!) can be fixed with this checklist:
1. Rethread the machine. Are you using the correct thread?
2. Check your bobbin. Take it out, put it in again. Are you using the correct thread?
3. Change your needle. Are you using the correct needle?
4. Clean & Oil your machine! There’s usually an errant thread causing the problem. (I clean and oil my machine EVERY TIME I run a new bobbin. And it purrs:)
Common denominator in all of these? Needles and threads! Most of my knowledge about needles and threads can be traced back to one person, Shirley Bailey, co-owner of Sew Original in Winston-Salem & Boone. She teaches a class to all her new Bernina owners about this very topic. And she’s been gracious enough to let me interview her for my blog and share with you!

Isn’t she cute?! Shirley is a real blessing to the sewing and quilting community. Her knowledge is incredible; she knows everything about sewing. And is forever willing to share her knowledge! I’ve asked her thousands of questions in the years I’ve known her and she still takes my calls! She’s so amazing that she actually wrote the directions for the YKK zipper package. So next time you’re putting in a zipper, think of her:)
Back to the Needles & Threads! This will be a four part series FULL of information!
Part 1: Needles with Shirley Bailey
Part 2: Threads with Shirley Bailey
Part 3: Quilting Threads with Kelly Wood
Part 4: Application (aka What I Use)
Lets get started!
Choosing the right needle is critical to your project’s success! You’ll take into account what the material is (quilters’ cotton, voile, knit, leather, heirloom, etc) and what you’re doing (piecing, top stitching, quilting, decorative, embroidery, etc).
Needles also come in different sizes: the smaller the number, the thinner the needle and smaller the eye.
General Needle Size:
60: very fine batiste
70: voile
80: quilters’ cotton
90: denim and twill
100-120: canvas
Needles should be changed every 4-6 hours of sewing. Not just when they break!

Universal: These needles come in sizes 60-120. This needle is in between a ballpoint and a sharp. It’s a general purpose needle for woven and knit. Not for knits with Lycra or Spandex.

Microtex/Sharp: These needles come in sizes 60-90. This needle has a sharp point with a thin shaft. It works well on microfiber, silk and artificial leather. Perfect for precision piecing!

Stretch/Ballpoint: These needles come in sizes 60-100. This needle has a slightly rounded point for sewing knits. Use a 70 for lingerie, nylon, jersey. Use a 80 for t-shirt weight and 90 for sweatshirt weight.

Quilting: These needles come in sizes 75 & 90. These needles are for machine quilting. They are designed to go though all the layers and prevent skipped stitches.

Topstitch/Cordonnet: These needles come in sizes 70-100. This needle has a sharp point with a large eye and deeper groove to accommodate larger threads. Use with heavier fabrics. Great to top stitch on totes with lots of interfacing.

Leather: These needles come in sizes 80-100. This needle’s point is a sharp cutting wedge. Use with leather only, not synthetic or vinyl.

Jeans: These needles come in sizes 70-110. They penetrate extra thick woven fabrics like denim. Built for minimal needle breakage because the shaft is less prone to flex.

Metallic: These needles come in sizes 70-100. Use for metallic and specialty threads. An elongated eye helps to prevent breakage and thread shredding.

Double Eye: These needles come in size 80. There are two eyes on one shank. Use to blend two threads.

Twin Needles: These needles come in sizes 1.6/70-8.0/100. This is actually two needles attached to one shank. Use for pintucks, hems and decorative work. Available in Universal, Stretch, Jeans, Metallic & Embroidery.

Triple Needles: These needles come in sizes 2.5/80-3.0/80. This is actually three needles attached to one shank. Use to create mock smocking and decorative work. Available in Universal.

Wing/Hemstitch: These needles come in sizes 100 & 110. This needle has a non-cutting metal wedge on each side of the shaft that creates a hole without cutting threads. Use for heirloom sewing.

Double Hemstitch: These needles come in size 100. This is a double needle with one Wing needle and one Universal attached to one shank. Use for heirloom sewing.

Embroidery: These needles come in size 75 & 80 and in Sharp & Ballpoint. The titanium coated version lasts five times longer. Use for machine embroidery.

Some (Schmetz) needles have a colored stripe on the shaft for easier identification.
Stretch: Yellow
Jeans: Blue
Sharp: Purple
Quilting: Green
Embroidery: Red
I also have this handy guide from Schmetz. I keep it in my needle case and use it often. Thanks to Linderella’s, I have a few extras, so let me know if you need one:)

I jot down notes on certain threads that work well (or don’t work well)!

Come back tomorrow for Part 2: Threads with Shirley Bailey!
xo LC

And the Nest goes to…

Posted on 05/12/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

Thanks to everyone that participated in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I entered A LOT of giveaways this week and probably won nothing;) But I really enjoyed checking out lots of new blogs and checking in on some old favorites! Reading who your favorite designers are was such fun! I love having a giveaway; reading all the comments is great!!
Last night, Mack did some selecting…

Apparently, it was really taxing…this is him two seconds later!

He picked lucky number 18!

It’s Kathy from Pennsylvania! She’ll be getting her charm pack this week:)

I hope y’all enjoyed the giveaway!! Anyone win big this week?
xo LC

My Favorite New Toy

Posted on 05/11/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

As most quilters know, the quest for a great iron is never ending. Well, the quest ends here! I’ve gotten the best little iron!! It’s a CORDLESS iron from Panasonic.

The guru had shoulder surgery earlier this year and ironing has become a real problem. So she has been looking for a new iron. She saw an ad in The Quilt Life, so we went online to read reviews. We went with the black one based on the reviews. She really needed light weight and cordless was a bonus since she’s a leftie.

Some of the reviews said the iron was not hot enough. To be honest, I’ve even used the medium setting for quilters’ weight cotton. It’s plenty hot! One of the best features is that the water storage container detaches so you can take it to the sink. So convenient!! Once it’s hot (in normal heat up time), you have thirty seconds of ironing before it needs to go back on the base for eight seconds. I got that info from the package because I’ve never gotten to thirty seconds!

We are both sold, another one will be ordered soon! Greatest. Iron. Ever. If you’re in the market, I highly recommend it. And while I definitely try to shop local, this was purchased from Amazon.
xo LC

The Mystery Bin

Posted on 05/09/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

I have a bin in my sewing room of projects I’m working on. I brought the whole thing with me on vacation this week. I’m embarrassed to admit how many things that should have been done forever ago were in there. At the bottom, buried! Some had completely slipped my mind. BUT I’m excited to show a lot of what I finished!!
This potholder was made with my tutorial for my friend Debbie for CHRISTMAS! I gifted it to her with the binding not sewn down, but now it’s finished:)

And this little pouch for Gina from the TMQG holiday party. When I gave it to her, the zipper didn’t work (always test your zipper)! I had to rip everything out and put in a whole new zipper. I’m sad to give it away, but she’s a sweetheart, so I will:)

Little label on the inside! I also filled it with goodies to make up for the eternity it took me to replace the zipper!!

And a mug rug. As you might know, I think mug rugs are dumb. My mug does not need a rug;) (I have one exception in an awesome mug rug that Aylin made me with fussy cut Tula Pink frogs. I heart it and it sits by MayC every day.) But generally, I’m not a fan:/ When I lived in Wilmington, we made mug rugs at a guild meeting. It was well over a year ago. Once more, unfinished binding. Agh, the binding gets me every time!! Now it is done and about to be donated to the guild prize bin.

Apparently I thought turquoise quilting thread was a good idea…

Mack tested. And approved!

And the M pillow! I made this for Melody as a thank you for speaking at the TMQG. I gave it to her while she was here, but, again, the binding was never finished. The overall theme of this post…I don’t like binding! Since Melody is MissLetterM on Instagram, I thought this would be fun. I also did some recon and found out she likes Archtextures:)

Please pardon the lumpy picture. I already gave Melody the insert, so this is stuffed with my sweatshirt. I used a fun vintage label print for the backing.

There’s more, but you can’t see it until it’s been received:) So stay tuned…such a fun week of sewing!
xo LC

Rocking It

Posted on 05/08/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

Y’all know that I’m not a giant fan of handwork. The guru does most of it for me:) One exception is hand appliqué. And a huge reason for that is a great teacher…Kathleen Baden! Her classes are wonderful because you always learn a million things that you didn’t know that you didn’t know. So last year when she told me that she was going to do a class for her Rainbow Rocks quilt, I had to be in! Her quilt is gorgeous AND won second at QuiltCon!

I’d been hoarding a pile of charms, layer cakes and scraps in neutrals for quite some time. I decided this was the quilt! While the prep and appliqué on this quilt was time consuming, the shapes were not too difficult.

When the top was complete, I went to Kathleen’s class on big stitch hand quilting. I was very slow…we’d be here until Christmas (2017)! My quilt is full size and that’s a lot of “big” stitches! So I called my quilty friend Gina! And look at what she did!

The full shot! Thanks to Sue & Shirley for helping me pin it flat and steam out all the wrinkles.

My river side photo shoot! Thanks to the guru and Jymm for being my assistants (quilt holders). Jymm is my Dad’s creative alter ego for when I ask him to do something artsy:)

This is my favorite shot!

Some close ups of Gina’s beautiful quilting. I asked her to quilt in a few rocks; I’d left negative space when I layed out the rocks.

Look at the quilty goodness!

And my morning fog shot! Unfortunately I didn’t have Sue & Shirley to help with the wrinkles:(

Now, onto my next project…probably not hand appliqué;)
xo LC

Modern I Made

Posted on 05/07/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

I love swaps! I love sewing for other people and working to make something I think they’ll like! I joined this round of Modern She Made on Flickr. I’ve participated in the first two rounds of this swap as well! I’ve always made pillows for my partners. But this round, my partner requested a travel sewing kit. I thought it would be nice to make a matching pouch too! After a bit of stalking, I noticed her love of stars. I paper pieced some stars to be the focus of her pieces.

She also said she loved linen; I chose a linen blend in charcoal grey. Since these are for travel, I wanted a color that wouldn’t show dirt.

I don’t think I’ve ever used so much interfacing. And there’s something about using hardware that makes me feel more legit!

The star is actually on the back of the kit:)

The inside of the kit has little pockets and a vinyl zipper pocket. And a spot to put needles and pins. Plus a spot for a real pen!

Here are some close ups.

Fingers crossed that she loves it! I’m thinking about making the kit into a pattern or tutorial. Anybody want to make one?
xo LC

Giveaway Day GIVEAWAY

Posted on 05/06/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

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Today is GIVEAWAY DAY organized by Sew Mama Sew! And it’s really almost giveaway week:) Because you’ll have until May 10 at 8 pm est to enter!
I’m giving away a TULA PINK NEST CHARM PACK! Signed by Ms. Pink herself;)

It’s simple, just leave a comment telling me who your favorite fabric designer is and why. I’ll go first…”I’m not sure I could pick just one. I’m definitely a Tula freak, but I have tons of love for Denyse Schmidt, Laurie Wisbrun and Joel Dewberry! (And lots of others…) I love designs that have a secondary level and Tula is great at that! It looks like a vine, but it’s also a squirrel. Love that!”
I’m going to let Mack the Chihuahua draw the winner! (although he tends to use the random number generator) International folks are welcome!
Good luck! Let me know if you have questions!!
xo LC

Anybody Interested?

Posted on 05/06/2013 by LC @ May Chappell

I’m thinking about doing a class with Tula Pink‘s new book, City Sampler. There are 100 blocks in the quilt. I’m planning ten blocks a month; remember they’re small blocks:) And the first class will focus on color plans.
Based on who is interested so far, I’m planning on starting in August or September and meeting on a weekday. We will be meeting at The Little General. Email me if you’re interested and I will keep you posted on the details!
xo LC