Obsession of the Week: Fat Thread

I love tricks to make quilting “pop.” We can’t always afford heirloom quilting by a pro, but there are lots of ways to make an impact at home.

I’ve been playing around with 12wt thread, specifically Wonderfil’s “Spagetti” line, which is a cotton. I’ve used it quilting on a small domestic machine at home as well as on the longarm and had great result. A few things to bear in mind:

• Use a large-eye needle, ideally a size 90 or 100 Topstitch.
• You will probably need to turn tension down, perhaps a lot. Test on a quilt sandwich sample first. On the longarm we actually reduced the bobbin tension slightly as well as the top thread tension.
• Try a longer stitch. Longer stitches also show off the thread better.
• Don’t speed.
• Expect a lot of fluff.
• Buy extra. Spagetti is sold in 100m spools. I used an entire spool to quilt a lap/baby size project.

All that said, the rest of the process is the same as with any other thread, and the impact is stunning. For inspiration, Susan Cleveland has a lot to teach on the subject. The video below is full of great information on quilting with 12wt thread, quilting on a domestic machine, and machine applique - but skip to about 22 minutes in.