Annie Pearl

I have heard a lot about 50 wt thread to piece with. How about FMQ, do you use 50 wt for that too or do you use a different wt? I haven't any experiene with FMQ and I want to do it right.

crashnquilt

If you are just starting to FMQ, I do suggest you use the 50 wt thread so that you can see your quilting. But regarding what weight of thread to use actually depends on the end result that you desire. If you want the quilting to be like a shadow of design then you would use a 60 or 80 weight thread. If you are wanting the quilting to show then you would use heavier threads like 50, 30 or 12 weight. Always keep in mind your actual design, if it has some backtracking in it then you would want to use a light weight so the backtracking doesn't show so much.

MadQuilter

I'd suggest that you spend some time on the superiorthreads.com website. There is real good info about needles and thread.

I use 50/3ply cotton thread for both piecing and quilting (for the most part). The only difference is that I use neutrals (beige, cream, grey....) for the piecing and matching colors for the quilting.

Masterpiece Thread (from Superior) has a 50/2ply option for piecing which means that the thread is a hair thinner and it will help with that 1/4" seam. They also have a 50/3ply Masterpiece now.

Some renowned quilters use Bottom Line in the bobbin for quilting and I am planning to try that soon. It is a 60 weight and makes the quilt stitches disappear into the fabric.

I am also planning to use a 40 weight for quilting which provides a slightly heavier look.

Prism99

50wt 3-ply has been the standard thread sold in the U.S. for decades. However, it is far from my favorite thread for either piecing or quilting.

I have found that 50wt 2-ply Aurifil is the best so far for me in terms of piecing; its thinness helps the seam to iron out flat and therefore helps me keep my seams exact. Not all threads of the same weight and ply are created equal! Aurifil is a high quality cotton thread that is very smooth and non-linty. After reading a recent long thread about using cotton or polyester threads for piecing, I have finally decided to ditch poly and use cotton exclusively for piecing.

I also very much like 50wt 2-ply Aurifil for quilting on my domestic machine. A finer thread like this does not show my mistakes as much. Plus, I like to do a lot of quilting and this thread does not make my resulting quilt stiff. I have had a stiffness problem in the past quilting with standard 50wt 3-ply cotton thread.

For my midarm (Voyager 17), the 50wt 2-ply Aurifil is not strong enough. For frame quilting, my absolute favorite thread is Glide -- which is a 40wt polyester thread.

There is no "right" about FMQ; it's personal preference. There are quilters who use thick decorative threads for quilting too, in order to achieve the look they want.

Edit: I should add that you often cannot directly compare threads even if they have the same "weight" and ply. This is because "weight" has been redefined several times and now there really is no universal standard. There was an interesting thread (no pun intended!) about this problem several weeks ago.

AnnieSue

It really depends on what you want your quilt to look like. My Sweet Sixteen and I love Isacord!