Sunday, August 2, 2009

Something new I learned...

I've been reading this book. I grabbed it the last time I was at the library, not really sure that I was going to get anything out of it, since I don't have an embroidery machine. And it is mostly techniques that you need a more advanced machine than mine to use, but I did learn something that has really helped me, and I wanted to share it with you.I'm sure that you have noticed that different brands of thread are wound differently. This one (A Coats & Clark Dual Duty) is parallel-wound - that is, the threads are wound parallel to each other.
This one, (a Mettler Metrosene) is cross-wound - that is, the threads cross over each other.
I never realized that this made a difference in the way that you should treat them, but I learned from this book that a parallel wound spool of thread can kink and twist (and break!!) when used on a horizontal spool. And look - Janome has a horizontal spool...
No wonder I was having such trouble with satin stitching with C&C!! I thought it was just cheap thread, but it turns out that I was doing it all wrong!!

Well, I learned my lesson!!
Since I've been spooling my parallel-wound threads on the vertical pin, I have had so much more success.

4 comments:

Grandma G said...

Wow... what a great tip! Thanks for sharing this.

Myra said...

Thanks for sharing that, I always wondered why C&C thread never worked on the horizontal on my Bernina, only on the vertical.

Varina said...

So the question is why can my machine not use Coats and Clark despite being vertical, except for being a snob of course.

KID, MD said...

Well, Rina, obviously, Mme feels that she deserves a few well-earned luxuries. She is a wise old girl, after all.