I switched to higher quality, Coats has 'dumbed-down' their quality so they can compete at Wal-Mart.

If you look at the numbered ends of the spool, you will see that what Wal-Mart carries is a different number than the quilt shops (like me) carry. A few years ago I had a customer bring in a spool of grey quilting thread, Star 1200 yd spool. She said she had purchased it at my shop. Luckily it still had the end pieces with numbers on it and I compared the numbers and told her that she had not purchased the spool from me but has possibly got it at Wal-Mart. The look on her face told me that is exactly where she had purchased it. She then bought a spool from me and never had the problems encountered with the Wal-Mart spool.

When the spool jumps it's usually because one end of the spool has a little slit in the edge to put the thread into when not sewing to keep it from unravelling. Look to make sure you have the slit away from where the thread comes off, put it on the bottom of the spindle or away from where the thread is coming off from. The thread gets caught on that slit and causes problems Hope you understand this.

Good Luck

Suzy

Try Silk Thread for applique, number 242 -#100 is a taupe and blends with all colors. It is very strong. Just be sure to tie a knot after you thread your needle, this will keep the thread from coming out of the needle.

Forgot to tell you that is YLI Silk Thread.

I do use Coats & Clark for piecing. I have to use other thread for my quilting machine, because C&C won't hold up to the speed.

My mom used to always say "don't buy that cheap thread, buy good quality C&C" and it was more expensive than other brands way back when. Well about 10 years ago I bought a huge box of threads at a garage sale and it was a mix of the 'expensive' C&C and the 'cheap' threads as my mother called them. Today, I'm still using all of those threads in every machine that I have including my LA. I have had NO PROBLEMS!

C&C are not all the same. If you look at each spool you will see them marked T2, T4, T6 etc. Each is a different weight of thread, the store should have a little chart to tell you how it relates in thickness to other brands. I find that many people do not understand the sizing on the needles that they purchase and are often using thread that is too thick for their particular needle (and often fabric) which is for sure going to cause shredding and lint. I also find that the lint factor is more of an issue of what kind of fabric you are sewing (fabrics are not all the same either). As long as you match your needles, threads and fabrics to the proper size I find that most any thread will act as it is intended. I think with all of the expensive threads that are available today it's pretty much like my mom saying "don't buy that cheap thread". C&C works just fine as long as I match my fabric and thread to the proper needle. The other thing that I find a lot is that people just don't change their needles often enough. That causes further stress on the thread as it is being dragged through the fabric rather than being inserted. If you can HEAR your needle going through the fabric, it's too dull in most cases. JMHO.

If C&C was really as bad as some say it is then it would be out of business years ago.

There's always a market for inexpensive items. Quality is subjective.

This was interesting - thanks for sharing it with us.