Advice from all you expert sewing folk please

Wonder if any of you needlewomen (men?!) could advise me on sewing thread. I am wanting to add a selection of various colours of thread onto my Christmas list. I have seen lots of multicoloured packs on various selling sites but the trouble is I know a lot of the multipacks are cheap threads that are useless for machine sewing. Can anyone advise on a make, composition of a reasonable quality of general purpose thread that I can ask for.

I always use Guttermans as I’ve never had any problems, and have got through hundreds of reels over the years :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Guttermans are what I use, but I have heard Metler are quite good too, cheaper ones might seem like a bargain but I’ve usually found they break too easily so you spend more time re-threading than sewing :confounded:

I use Gutermann or Metler too, and always polyester rather than cotton because it’s stronger :smile:

1 Like

I use Guttermann and Metler too, mainly polyester but cotton when I’m quilting.
It can depend on the machine I’m using though. My Pfaff is very fussy and plays up with cheaper thread, but my Brothers are happy with Starlite from BSK, and Coats Moon thread…although I clean the machine regularly as they give off more lint.
x

have to say I’m agreeing with Kim, Melanie and Diane, but I also use Coats and Sylko supreme which is cotton covered in polyester.

I too use Guttermann!

My sewing machine is quite old, it works best the guttermans or mettler.

I have one of those little spools of thread with a bobbing the same colour case and I love them I got it from lidl ages ago

But again I’m with everyone else

Guterman and metler are my favourites too

Thanks for all the replies - looks like Gutermann and mettler are the ones to go for :smile:

Yes, Gutermann for me too.

For me also, Gutermann. I always think cheap thread, poor results

I use gutermman’s mostly too. I also YLK (cotton) for quilting or if I’m intending to dye something after I’ve sewn it. ('cos the dyes I use won’t dye polyester).

I like the strength of gutermman’s sew-all and it comes in a good range of colours. Lots of places sell it too which always a plus.

I only have one thing to add to all the excellent advise above. Always use a named brand. eBay is full of cheap thread with no name, it’s useless and will not work properly for machine stitching.

1 Like

I agree with everyone about Gütermann and Mettler. Another good brand is Aurifil, which comes in several different weights. All three brands are popular with quilters and come in a beautiful range of colours. Like Melaine, I generally use the Gütermann polyester thread as it’s very strong and reliable. This time of year I’m getting through about 1km of thread every four to five days!!

Gutterman or Mettler are good, smooth threads . One other thing - try to match thread content to fabric used - i.e 100% cotton thread for 100% cotton fabric, polyester based thread for polyester/polycotton. Two reasons for this - first, cotton can shrink when washed, so could distort if used on polyester, and second, polyester is tougher than cotton, so could actually cut through cotton fabric on the seams.

If you look at the information on the thread reels, you can also see what ‘weight’ ( thread thickness) the thread is - the lower the number on the reel the thicker the thread . 50 weight thread is in the middle range and is best for general sewing, 40 weight is thicker than 50 and good if you want to add any decorative top stitching . If you do a lot of machine sewing you can get bobbin weight threads ( 60 weight) . The advantage of this thread is the bottom stitch does not show so much on the fabric top surface - useful, especially for machine quilting!