Monofilamental

Stitching with monofilament thread sometimes drives me nuts. The spool will jump and twist and snag the thread, making the thread suddenly go TWANG!! like when a whale gets caught on an ice fishing rod (this has not happened to me in real life; I am only painting a picture). Not fun at all. I have tried lots of different brands and bobbin threads and needles and tensions, but so far it has been pretty much a lost cause.

However, I have found that stitching sloooowly does help a little, and so does holding ever so lightly on to the thread where it comes off the spool as it makes me aware of tension issues before the machine makes that scary noise. You know which one I mean, the one that has you running for cover as it sounds like the thing is going to blow any second.

As I was finishing another Layer upon layer piece with an invisible binding last week (see my tutorial here), I did not want a visible stay stitching around the edge, so what to do, what to do. Well, I could give the old invisible thread another go, just one more time.

I wound monofilament thread onto the bobbin, and instead of holding the thread with one hand while trying to stitch a straight line, I used my favorite thread stand to help guiding the thread. Yup, red cloth pin to the rescue.

I simply put it on top of the vertical thread holder thingie and ran the thread through the hole. Somehow it helped guiding the thread smoothly-isher off the spool and to the next thread guide thingie, avoiding those abrupt and quite startling twangs. I still couldn’t stitch pedal to the metal style, but I was able to keep up a respectable speed.

Ah, trusty old red cloth pin, you saved the day again. For another post about this particular cloth pin saving the day, see here.

So, how about you, how do you feel about monofilament thread? Have you found the perfect brand that makes invisible machine stitching a pleasure instead of a pain? Do let me know!

Thanks for stopping by!