The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Trials and Tribulations While Shredding Thread

I’m writing from the depths of thread shred hell and have accumulated what I call “thread shred cred(entials)”. Right after my last post on how well my work with metallic wrapped silk thread was going, it started shredding. At that point I had put in at least 4 shred-free hours when all of a sudden the wheels fell off and I was shredding thread every 4 inches.

How could that happen? It was sudden and dramatic. I have spent well over 20 hours meticulously working through this and still don’t have a solid answer. I even went to the Ultimate Authority on Quilting with a domestic sit down machine, Diane Gaudynski, my hero. She gave me some great tips and referred me to Ann Fahl’s book, Working with Metallics, which I do not have yet. OK, there’s your first clue-someone wrote a whole book on working with metallics! This may be minutia to some of you, but for those of you who work with metallics, I’ll be detailed about my set up and what seemed to work. I am working with cotton backing and squares, but inadvertently chose a poly/cotton blend for my sashing and borders. I have double batted with a layer of Orient and a layer of wool and I spray basted my quilt sandwich together with 505.

I am using YLI “Sparkle” which is a 100wt silk thread wrapped with a metallic strand-it’s so luscious! Sparkle is like a twinkle, a wink, on your quilt. It’s subtle but impactful. My bobbin thread is a Tire silk with a Japanese label so I don’t know anything about it-it feels a little heavier than a 100 wt.

All the shredding is coming from the top thread. See that little imperfection in the right hand side of the photo below? Of course in theory that could have happened as it threaded through my machine-I saw it early in the thread path through the machine.I have tried or done all of the following:
-I started out using Superior Titanium coated “topstitch” needles-had 4 shred-free hours with this until things inexplicably changed.
-Tried “jersey” type needles-Diane Gaudynski had great success with these while using Sparkle thread.
-Tried both of the above type needles in size 70 and 80, even tried a 90 topstitch.
-Opened new packages of each of the above needles. I know that sometimes an entire pack of needles can be bad-wanna ask me how I know??
-Tried various tension settings both bobbin and top-my tension is dead on perfect.
-Tried 2 different delivery systems for my top thread: thread stand and horizontal orientation on my machine (thread is straight wound).
-Tried bypassing one or two of the tensioning points on my machine.
-Even changed machines: went from my Bernina 185 to my Bernina 153.

I even took the cover off of the side of my machine so that I could see the entire thread path and look for any premature signs of shredding. At one point I heard an ominous klunk and this is what I found. Guess there’s a reason why that cover is there, huh? I changed each one of these parameters one at a time in order to isolate the issue. Bottom line, I am not totally sure, but I suspect that my spool of Sparkle has some defects.

I also think that the poly/cotton fabric for the sashing/borders has something to do with it. It pops every time a needle hits it-ick. I wonder if that scratchy poly is playing havoc with the delicate metallic wrap on the Sparkle.  To be clear, I have worked with Sparkle before and had NO problems-it’s not the thread type per se, but perhaps this particular spool. This was supposed to be my carefree quilt; I was going to put those blocks together and romp across the surface, strewing feathers in my path. This has all been very frustrating and time consuming at a time when I have many deadlines coming up and I need to get work out the door-isn’t that the way it always is? But I am learning a lot about thread shred! Meanwhile, the Sierras are dry as a bone so there has been zero skiing this year. My poor little ski boots are lonely, sniff, sniff. It does keep me at my machine though, giggle!
Despite all this trauma, I love the way this quilt is turning out and I’m having great fun…when I’m not shredding.

Comments

  1. My comment disappeared–I must not have hit the correct spot to post!! Anyway, I’m sure you know that sometimes needles just get hot, too. But you sure have gained an education in thread through this, haven’t you? After all you have tried, you are probably right and it’s just a bad spool. A new spool and your original setup may get things going again smoothly…hope you find your perfect solution before it drives you absolutely crazy!

  2. Yay, comment came through! I thought about the hot needle thing-that certainly would explain the sudden shredding, but unfortunately not the 142 subsequent shreds that occurred 4″ into a brand new needle. I think I was already crazy….!

  8. The finished product is spectacular. Kudos to you for your perseverance. Is it possible that all of your spools came from the same run and you just have defective thread? Wonder if the thread has run numbers on it. If you ever figure it out let us know. By the way, I had some problems posting as well. Tried once and my post vaporized. Let’s see how this one works.

  9. Thanks Bobbi. It’s all one spool, one 700 yd mini cone. I will post my final conclusions if there are any.

  10. I quit using metal threads a long time ago, for many of these reasons, but my friend Anne Fahl has written a guide to using metal threads, you should check out her pamphlet and see if some of it will help you. I know she told me that some of the problems have to do with needles and some with the way the thread comes off the spool. Good luck.

  11. Diane Gaudynski told me I needed that book! I have it on order. I’ve not had any trouble with metallics before so I am especially puzzled about this. I am going to read Ann’s book for sure!

  12. Very informative post, Jenny. Sorry you’re having these problems… but, you’re learning for all of us. Thanks for sharing!!!!!

  13. I feel your pain! Been there myself. Thanks for sharing the details of your process and the advise you got — I’ll be adding Ann’s book to my self too.

  14. The book is great and I’ll be writing about it probably in my next post. My basic set up may be to blame: double batt, tightly woven backing, poly in my sashing. You’ll like her book!

  15. Wow! You are like me in that the mystery *must* be solved! When I started using metalics I had the same journey as you. I have never been able to get the YLI sparkle, another brand of holographic, and various metalics to work ever. The only metalics that work without any issue for my machine (Elna) is the large spool of Coats and Clark metallics. Also using Klasse’ titanium needles for metallics or embroidery. If you can find these needles, they are **always** buy 2 get one free! Where I shop, they take the coupon off the package at the time of purchase!
    I never even heard about the hot needle theory. Interesting!
    I’ll be follwing your blog!
    Your quilt is beautiful. You do amazingly controled quilting!

  16. Thank you! How funny though, your different experiences with metallics-the only metallic I’ve had trouble with has been every single Sulky plus recently the YLI Sparkle. Go figure. I am pretty sure the Sparkle issue is due to operator error, giggle! I have some of the Klasse needles-haven’t tried that yet!

  17. What a gorgeous quilt! And your feathers are so lovely!
    This is a long shot – you have been so thorough and scientific about isolating the problem – but I wonder if the thread was wound onto to the bobbin with the twist in the same direction? I know when hand quilting, the direction of the thread twist makes a difference between things twisting up and tangling up and not?

  18. Thanks! I am guessing it must be wound in the correct direction-I had the spool mounted correctly (straight wound=vertical orientation) and I wound in the normal manner-not too fast. Bobbin looks correctly wound too. Bobbin thread is silk. I have noticed that when students come to free motion class with hand quilting thread it absolutely does not work well. Bob at Superior Threads says, like you do, that the twist is the opposite. I hope when I get back to that quilt it goes well again.