Monofilament Thread Samples

That's for me! I'm 63 today.

I'm also boycotting Instagram today due to their proposed algorithm changes. (See previous post.)

So because I thrive on social media, you get an extra dose of me today! Ha, ha.

Today I'm preparing to go to Jacksonville to give a lecture and workshops to the All Star Quilters. The topic I'll speak and teach about is "Domestic Machine Quilting."

I'll give a Powerpoint (Keynote on a Mac) presentation about a domestic machine quilter's journey, show a dozen or so quilts, and then teach two half-day workshops.

Wanting to to provide thorough information, I recently collected spools of monofilament thread, also known as invisible thread, to quilt a test sampler.

These are the brands/types I compared:

• Aurifil
• Invisafil by Wonderfil
• Transfil by Mettler
• Sew-Art
• Wonder by YLI

I'd also like to add Superior and Sulky monofilament threads to my sample piece. 

With each monofilament thread, I used a different color of Aurifil 50-weight cotton thread in the bobbin. The quilt top fabric is a solid dark gray color. I thought it would show the threads more clearly, but it was difficult to photograph.

Beginning at the bottom... Aurifil. It sewed well and didn't require any tension adjustment. I like it.

Invisafil was a surprise. First, because it's such a fine thread. Really more like a thread than a fine nylon. Second, it has a silver transparency to it, rather than being clear. It's more shiny-visible than the other threads, but pretty. After using it, I learned that Invisafil is a 100-weight, cottonized-polyester, and that it comes in 60 colors! So perhaps it really isn't fair to consider it on the same level as other invisible threads. However, I do like it and would like to try other colors.

Sew-Art gave me the most tension problems. In the picture below, you can see the hot pink bobbin thread that pulled to the top, even after loosening the top tension to zero.

Transfil started well, but in a couple places the orange bobbin thread pulled to the top. I made adjustments to the top tension and a little later the bobbin thread appeared at the top again.

Wonder quilted beautifully. To be perfectly honest, I had only the smoke-colored version of this monofilament thread. It looks nice on that steel gray fabric.

Believe it or not, this is the solid lavender-colored backing. It too turned out to be a difficult color to photograph.

From the bottom up are Aurifil (purple) and Invisafil (green). Both look good.

Sew-Art (hot pink) and Transfil (orange). On the back, the tension problem with Sew-Art is apparent. The bobbin thread even feels stiff to the touch. Transfil looks very nice.

Transfil again (orange) and Wonder (blue). I like Wonder.

It's difficult to draw any firm conclusions except to say I probably won't again use Sew-Art brand. I could easily quilt with Aurifil, Invisafil, and Wonder. And I remain curious about Superior and Sulky. Linda