My husband and I had a great trip up to Fergus on Friday. We went to "Threadworks" at the Wellington County Museum and it was fantastic! If you can get there before June 13th, I highly recommend you go. The cost is-- are you ready? -- a donation!!!! Yes, that's it.
We drove through farm country and they look so good at this time of year.
Everywhere is so dry! We were driving by one farm while the farmer was raking his field and we had to close the car windows the dust from the field was so bad. We are suppose to be in for a long dry summer. Another one we drove by that was planted had the water guns going.
I am going to do a write up about Threadworks for Thursday. In the meantime, here is today's.................all about thread.
You have run out of thread, right in the middle of your project, so you hasten over to your favourite store to buy some more. The colours and the number of spools of thread boggle the mind.
Have you ever wondered how thread is made? I recently purchased a magazine that tells all about the process, from the time the bales of cotton arrive at the factory to the time you buy it in the store. The article is in American Patchwork and Quilting, the June 2010 issue.
I can't rewrite what they have written here as there are copyright laws. However, I did find the exact same pictures on the internet so thought I would share.
One bale of cotton weighs 613 pounds and will produce approximately 25,000 spools of thread.
Instead of re-writing the article (which is copyright violation), I have found the exact same thing on the "net". All People Quilt have a great tutorial on thread making with pictures. There are 30 in all, but it goes quite quickly.Do you know the 5 most popular colours of thread? Well, black and white naturally, and cream, but the last two rather surprised me. Red and navy! I wouldn't have thought that.
Thread sizes? Now that's another issue I deal with all the time. One time I took a class from Sewing Machines, etc., and Elsa said something that has stuck in my mind.
40 is fine..............30 is thick! The higher the number the finer the thread.
I just went and dug out some threads that are in my sewing room. My regular everyday Gutermann thread is a 50 and that number can be found on the spool.
Sulky Blendables come in various sizes but my favourite is the 30 weight. I use this a lot when machine quilting.
YLI soft touch is what I use in my bobbin when machine quilting. I love it! It is a 60 weight and it is very fine.
These are the brands I use. I have tried others, but always come back to these brands. I buy them locally as I know both the stores I deal with have a good turnover and the thread is fresh. Don't buy "old" thread. It will break easily and just isn't worth the hassle.