[bright music]
- Announcer: Proceeds from The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show
support PBS Wisconsin programming.
Your financial gift helps make this event possible.
Thank you.
- Bob Purcell: We are not going to talk about just thread today.
We're going to talk the whole purpose of success.
How many of you have had frustrations when you're sewing?
Does the thread fray, thread break?
It happens.
It's frustrating.
And it happens a lot.
My job is to fix that.
And I guarantee today, in one hour,
we're going to solve 98% of any problem
you will ever have with sewing.
Is it the thread, is it the needle,
is it the machine?
We're gonna talk about that.
And we can solve 98% of your problems.
So, really, you're gonna feel really good when you leave,
'cause I guarantee if you apply what you learn,
you're gonna be really happy.
How many have been frustrated?
What's the most finicky--
We don't talk brands, but what's the most finicky,
difficult-to-use, frustrating thread out there?
Metallic?
Monofilament?
Those are the two I hear: metallic and monofilament.
I guarantee you can go home tonight
and metallic will work on your machine
with three simple steps.
Here's an example.
I'm in southern Utah,
a beautiful place called St. George, Utah,
and we have a fabric shop.
We got our thread place.
And about two months ago, a customer came into the shop
and held up a thread and said, "Your thread is breaking."
And I-- It was our thread, I knew she had good thread.
And I said, "What needle are you using?"
"The needle," she said, "was the recommended needle."
So, A, it's good, the thread quality's good.
B, it's the right needle, so I go to part C.
I said, "I think I can fix this.
"It's probably it has to do
with the tension setting on your machine."
Her hand goes up.
"No.
"Don't tell me to touch my tension.
I won't do that." [audience laughs]
And I'm stuck.
I felt like saying, "Well, I can commiserate with you,
or I can fix it, but I can't do both."
And she walked out.
I couldn't fix it.
I can't fix that.
And we're gonna tell you really, really simply how to do it.
First step is going to be on the thread quality,
because if you use good thread,
you're really going to have a huge advantage.
In fact, 50% of all problems with thread breaking,
fraying, shredding, linting too much,
is the quality of the thread.
There is like a Rolls-Royce.
You got the Rolls-Royce.
Remember years ago, in the 1980s,
this car called the Yugo came out?
They're not on the road, they lasted a year or two.
The Yugo?
Well, that's the range of threads.
You have the Yugo and you have the Rolls-Royce.
Yes, you will pay more for a Rolls-Royce.
However, it's going to run forever,
and it's gonna be nice and fun.
There's a big range in quality.
As quilters,
what is your favorite fiber type of thread to use?
- Attendee 1: Cotton.
- Why do quilters love cotton? - Attendee 1: I don't know.
- You don't know?
Why? - Woman: Tradition.
- Bob: Tradition, yeah, tradition.
Mom taught me.
Grandma taught Mom.
What did they have in Grandma's day?
- All: Cotton. - That's all they had.
So Grandma taught Mom, "We use cotton."
Mom teaches me.
We teach our, and we teach our kids.
It's tradition.
I started in this industry in 1998.
My wife and I started a thread company, Superior Threads.
Okay, that was our company.
For 18 years we had that company.
We sold it in 2016, so it's been nine years now,
and we built that company
chasing the king of the thread at that time.
Now, as we started in 1998, I knew very little about thread.
I learned day to day, and we learned,
but what I did learn is there's a company out there
that people were saying, "That's the high quality.
"That's the colors.
They have the type of threads I like."
Well, guess what the company was back then.
Y.L.I. Threads.
They were our big competitor when we started,
and we chased them for the first few years.
I think, over time, I think we overtook
and kind of went toward the top,
and they were kind of coasting for a while.
Well, after selling the company nine years ago,
I was bored.
I have no hobbies.
I just like to work.
And so, I wanted to jump back in 'cause I like doing shows.
I like writing newsletters, I like meeting customers.
I don't like packing up for shows.
I don't like setting up for shows.
That's tough work.
But I like working the shows.
And I thought, "Should I start a new thread company,
or shall I buy an existing thread company?"
And I remembered Y.L.I. was the former king up there,
really, really good, and I called the owner,
and I said, "Jim, I want to get back in the industry.
Have you ever thought of selling?"
And he said, "Strange that you would call.
Yes, I'm interested."
I flew out to South Carolina.
Thirty minutes, we had a handshake deal.
So, in early 2023, I bought it
and took about a year to move the products to our house,
to our place, moved them from South Carolina to Utah,
and then took a lot more time.
We added a lot more products.
So, now we're up and running.
Been going strong for now, about a year.
Having a lot of fun.
And I'm back on the road doing what I love.
It's been about eight years since I've been in Wisconsin,
and this show is as strong as ever.
It's a fun place.
Okay, back to cotton thread.
Why they love cotton thread is mostly tradition.
Did you know anyone who pieces with polyester thread today?
Look.
They don't wanna, "Hey!"
No, no, no, 'cause they're gonna get pounded down
by the quilt police.
Years ago, when I started in 1998,
Paducah, the first year
that a machine-quilted thread took first place.
Boy, that didn't go happy in the industry.
That wasn't really good news, and it took years.
Well, now everything's machine-quilted, almost.
Well, so it is with piecing.
If you piece a quilt with poly,
what do they say?
"Don't quilt, don't piece with poly because it will," what?
- Attendee 2: It'll cut the fabric.
- It'll cut the fabric, right?
Okay, the biggest myth in the quilt world
is that polyester will cut your fabric.
We're gonna get to that in a few minutes.
But first, we're gonna go back to cotton thread.
I love cotton thread.
There's nothing wrong with cotton.
There's high grade, low grade.
Stick to high grade, you're gonna have a great, great time.
Have you heard of Egyptian cotton?
- Audience: Yes.
- Wanna hear a little secret?
There is 10 times more Egyptian cotton sold every year
than is grown.
[audience laughs]
That is a fact.
In fact, the Egyptian Cotton Council,
in their audit report, put out,
"We estimate that 85% of Egyptian cotton on the market
is counterfeit."
It's not Egyptian cotton.
So, your bedsheets, your towels, your clothing, your thread,
guess what?
Chances are it isn't.
But does it really matter?
Is anyone here from Idaho?
Has anyone been to Idaho?
You know where Idaho is?
Okay. [audience laughs]
What is Idaho famous for?
- Audience: Potatoes.
- Does it really matter?
[audience laughs] Yes or no?
- Audience: No. - No?
Who knows potatoes more than anyone else?
McDonald's, McDonald's.
McDonald's sells 9 million pounds of potatoes
in French fries every day around the world.
Every day around the world, 9 million pounds!
And guess what potato they want.
Yeah, they want Idaho potatoes.
They like the Idaho Russet.
For some reason, the composition of the potato is perfect.
The soil it grows in, the minerals, the water,
the climate is perfect to grow a good potato.
Maybe it's a cold season.
The longer growing-- Shorter growing season?
Longer, I don't know.
Shorter, I guess.
Anyway, the growing season is perfect,
and McDonald's wants the Idaho potato as the first choice.
It makes a difference.
So it is with Egyptian cotton.
That's why so many companies will falsify their labels
and say it's Egyptian cotton when it isn't,
because they know, somewhere between the cotton field,
the cotton grower
that passes it down to somebody who buys the cotton bale--
Oh, by the way, a bale of cotton,
you've heard of a bale, right?
That's not industry word.
You know what they call a bale of cotton?
L-I-N-T, lint. [audience laughs]
That's true, they sell it by the lint.
Lint's a bad word to us, but lint is their word,
is the industry word, for a bale of cotton.
So they'll sell it by the--
Somebody will sell it, buy it from the farmer,
and it goes to the first processors.
They'll clean out the cotton, get the seeds out,
get the debris out, and clean up the cotton thread.
Next step, they spin it.
The real-- They take these short fibers
and spin it together into these fine threads.
Then they'll twist the threads
into the size of thread they want.
Then they go to a process called "mercerizing,"
a good thing.
That's when they, they put it,
they put the twisted thread in the solution.
The fibers swell.
So when it goes to the next stage, the dye stage,
the dye penetrates it better.
So it makes it, it's a better dye,
and it actually strengthens the fibers.
The mercerizing is a good thing.
If the label does not say, "mercerized cotton," it is.
It's automatic, they mercerize everything.
Then it goes to the winding stage.
So, that cotton just changed hands five or six times.
And everybody knows in the industry,
if you flip a tag from a regular cotton
and say, "Ah, this is Egyptian cotton,"
your price doubled.
Your profit doubled.
The greed is strong in business, any business.
It happens.
Think of used car salesmen.
They say things that aren't true.
Well, so it is in the cotton world.
90, 85-plus percent of cotton grown
is counterfeit.
Does it matter?
Just like the Idaho potato, yes, it matters.
The best cotton is grown on the Nile Delta.
The sediment there, the climate's great,
the water is heavy--
is fortified with minerals naturally.
Everything's so perfect to grow a really nice cotton thread.
That's why the Egyptian cotton really does matter.
Can you tell by looking at it?
No.
Can you tell under a microscope?
No.
The only way to tell is do an expensive DNA test
on the fibers.
They can test the DNA back to the origin.
That's the only way.
So, how do you tell?
You really, really can't.
But if you find a cotton thread
that is strong, low lint, you love it,
yeah, it's good.
Have you heard of staples?
Long staple?
Long-staple cotton?
What's a staple?
- Attendee 3: Steel. - Steel, yep, that's a man.
A staple is the fiber in the cotton plant.
You got this fluffy boll,
and there's like 100,000 fibers in it.
They have to take the fibers out,
and they take these inch-long fibers,
and they spin 'em together
to make this long strand of thread.
The longer the staple,
the more frequent connections you're going to have.
The standard thread in the world, probably,
I don't know, 80% maybe, is short-staple cotton.
Have you ever seen a label that says short-staple?
No, they won't say that, nothing to brag about.
If the label says 100% cotton, it's short-staple.
They'll find something else to brag about,
like the fancy word "mercerized" that nobody knows.
But it's automatic, everything's mercerized.
So, the short-staple,
what they found out in Egypt, they can take it, and somehow,
I don't know how they turn it into a long-staple,
but now they have a long-staple cotton,
actually developed in the U.S. in the 1800s.
The U.S. developed a Sea Island cotton,
like Georgia, down southeast,
and it came, it had a long-staple.
Short is an inch.
Long-staple, inch and a quarter.
Now, that doesn't sound like much,
but it's a 25% jump.
That means many fewer connections,
less bumps in the thread, smoother, less lint.
It's gonna be good.
So, the Sea Island cotton, in the late 1800s
became so popular,
they started trading the seeds around the world.
Somebody took a batch of seeds to Egypt,
they planted them in Egypt,
and, wow, they even grew better in Egypt.
That's why Egyptian cotton from the late 1800s
is the cream of the crop.
Over the years, they developed an extra-long staple cotton.
Now, we go from inch being short,
extra-long, as long as two inches.
That's a long extra-long staple.
So now, when you make the connections,
you have maybe half as many connections
as you spin it together.
Smoother, less lint, fewer problems,
stronger, and better absorption.
Good in every way.
But every time you jump from a short to a long,
50% price up.
Long to an extra-long, 50% price up.
If it matters and if you can afford it
and if you really like quality, that's the way to go.
The only way you can really tell
is if you have a company that you trust.
We know because we buy it directly from Egypt.
Our factory will put the order in from Egypt.
It is certified Egyptian cotton.
It ships to the most expensive place in the world
to manufacture.
Guess where.
Not here.
- Attendee 4: Italy. - Nope.
- Attendee 5: Japan? - Japan.
Japan has the highest rent.
They pay their people well.
It's just the most expensive place in the world.
But Japan-- Here's why.
Over the years, people would say,
"Why don't you do 'Made in the USA'?
Why don't you do your thread here?"
There's two factories in the USA back in the '80s
that were actually doing thread,
and they're both in the east or the southeast,
and we talked to 'em.
I said, "Would you make our cotton thread for us?"
"We would love to."
"Okay, here's what I want.
I want Egyptian-grown cotton."
"We don't do that."
"Would you do that?"
"No, we don't do that."
"I want extra-long staple."
"We don't do that."
So, I can't.
We can't have it made in the U.S.
because the only factories that have the ability
to manufacture and process and everything,
they won't do it for us.
So we had to go to Japan.
And here's Japan's answer.
"I want Egyptian-grown cotton."
"Okay, but you know it's gonna cost you."
"I want extra-long staple."
"You know, that's gonna cost you more."
"I want a really nice, tight twist on it."
"Okay."
"I want you to do a lint-reduction process to it."
"That's really gonna cost you."
And I said, "That's okay because I want the cream of the crop,"
and that's what they do.
The lint reduction process is the final step
before they wind it onto the spool.
They take this big--
It's been dyed on a big jumbo cone,
and they're going to pass it from a jumbo cone
down to the winding spool, from A to B, at high speed.
So it's gonna pass along from here to here.
And right in the middle, they have a gas burner with a flame.
So, this thread is passing over this way,
and that flame is close enough to burn off the longest hairs.
So, as it goes in here, it does reduce your lint a lot.
That is the expensive one,
because if they make a mistake on that,
they just ruin the batch.
The industry calls that "gassing the thread."
Doesn't that sound exotic? [audience laughs]
Who wants some gassed cotton?
We don't put that on our label, but it is gassed,
so if you see a cotton thread that is very low lint,
it's probably been gassed.
Now, here's what some other companies do.
They call it "silk finish."
Well, I got an e-mail just this week.
"Do you still have that silk-wrapped cotton thread?"
"No, it never was silk-wrapped."
But she heard "silk finish," that's what she thought.
No, "silk finish" is a fancy word.
It sounds really good.
It's probably maybe gassed.
Put a nice little finish on it.
So, our label is this long.
It will say something like,
"100% Egyptian-grown extra-long staple cotton."
I'll leave off "mercerized," we leave off "gassed."
No room for that.
But it is the finest cotton in the world.
Now, if you're making bedsheets or pillowcases
or clothing or towels, it doesn't really matter,
'cause you can take a short-staple cotton
and put a nice weave on it
and end up with a nice, thick cloth, towel, whatever.
Thread's different.
We got a little fine strand
that we want to go high-speed through a machine,
up and down and this way and all around at the same time.
That's where it matters.
So, in the thread world, yes, it really matters.
In the non-thread world, you're fine with the short
or long-staple cotton.
"Do you recommend cotton only for piecing?"
Well, this is what I've heard in recent years
since I've been back in the industry.
People are now piecing with poly,
and I'm surprised because they probably may have done that
a few years ago, but nobody would dare talk about it
because of that "polyester will tear the fabric" myth.
Biggest myth in the quilting world.
Here's proof.
I thought, "What things get a lot of wear and tear in life?"
A t-shirt.
Boys fight in them, they struggle.
They get dirty, they play football.
They wrestle, we work in them, we paint in 'em.
We wash 'em all the time.
They get wear and tear to the extreme,
more than any other article of clothing,
and Hanes' t-shirt says, "100% cotton."
So, one day, I was thinking,
"I wonder if they use cotton thread in their t-shirt.
"The label says 100% cotton.
Can they use non-cotton thread?"
So I called 'em.
And I said, "Hello. My name is Bob.
"I just wanna know, what kind of thread do you use
when you sew your t-shirts together?"
"Why do you wanna know?" [audience laughs]
"Well, I'm with the FBI." [audience laughs]
"I talk about thread, I teach thread seminars.
I love thread, I just wanna know."
And the person on the phone said, "Wait a minute."
Moved me up to level two customer support.
I felt really important.
Same question.
"I just wanna know, what thread do you use?"
"Why do you wanna know?"
"Well, I teach thread seminars, I'm just curious.
I think it's probably poly."
And they said, "We use polyester thread
to sew our t-shirts together."
So, that was proof to me
that a t-shirt that gets the most extreme wear and tear,
multiple washings, dirty, filthy, just abuse,
I have never seen a t-shirt come apart at the seam
or I've never seen a thread in the seam
tear through the fabric.
It doesn't happen, and it's not going to happen.
It is perfectly fine, if you like poly, to piece with poly.
The only caution is, if you try, you can melt polyester.
Polyester melts at 482 degrees.
So I have this friend I call "Al."
I think it's spelled A-I,
but it looks like "Al" when you see "AI."
So I call, I talk to Al a lot.
I asked Al, "What temperatures do irons hit on high heat?"
And Al said, across the board, most brands of home irons
go from a range of 430 to 460 degrees on high.
Okay, 460.
It melts at 482, so we've got a lot of gap there.
So, it should not melt.
But I've had people tell me,
"I have melted my thread with my iron."
Okay, maybe the iron was middle-aged.
Maybe your iron has a hot flash, we don't know.
It is possible that the iron does put out a surge
and can get higher, so I know that.
Therefore, the caution is, if you piece with poly,
'cause we iron our seams,
put your iron down to medium heat.
It can be just perfectly fine and safe.
So, I have no favor toward cotton.
I have no favor toward poly.
It's just, if it's a good thread, you can use it.
Part two is polyester threads.
Polyester is great
because we can make polyester threads look like silk
or we can make polyester threads look like cotton.
Melanie, will you hand this one out, please?
This is going to be a really nice, silky-like thread,
but it's polyester.
Strengthwise, much stronger than cotton.
We're gonna pass this down.
Just, like, if you're in the aisle, just grab it.
Give it to two or three friends.
She's gonna walk up and down.
Don't break it.
Just hand it to the first one.
Unravel all the way down.
- Melanie: You said, "Don't break it."
- Yeah, no, you can break it.
No, yeah, just unwind it.
Yeah, just unravel it all the way down the aisle, Melanie.
Just go fast. - Melanie: Oh, okay.
- So, this is polyester thread.
Traditionally, there's two types of poly.
A spun poly, it looks like cotton.
Anyone have a serger?
The cheapest thread on the market is a spun poly,
fuzzy but really low-priced polyester thread.
That is, it's great for serging
because serging, you take two or three or four--
I think some sergers have eight cones on 'em now.
You overlock, they interlock all these threads.
No problem for a lower-end spun poly thread.
If you're quilting with it,
I'd go to a little stronger, thicker spun poly,
or the higher grade of poly is not spun poly,
so it's not pieces spun together like cotton.
It is a multifilament.
It's these fine strands of spaghetti,
ultra-thin spaghetti, twisted together.
So, this one in your hand,
you are touching 72 microstrands twisted together.
How awesome is that?
So, hold that one up to the light.
See how thin it is.
But what you're seeing is 72 microstrands,
so imagine how thin those spaghetti-like strands are,
if you can see those 72.
What happened is, under a microscope,
one day a scientist was looking at the silk,
what the silkworm produces in the cocoon where they unwind it,
so the strands of silk.
Under a microphone, silk is not round.
The silk fibers are triangular,
three-sided, like a Toblerone candy bar.
Side, side, side.
And because they're flat, flat, flat, that's why silk
is so shiny.
The light hits the silk fiber,
and it reflects that light that gives it the sheen.
So, a scientist said, "How can I do that in polyester?
'Cause polyester is dull."
So, they did the same thing.
When they made the microfibers,
they put 'em through holes, not round holes,
but through triangular, three-sided holes,
so these ultrafine microfibers came out three-sided
under a microscope.
Then we twist 'em together into a nice round thread,
into 72 strands together,
and under a microscope, it's the same thing.
And guess what, light hits it, it shines.
That's why this is such a high-sheen,
beautiful poly thread.
And it's about 1/20 the cost of silk.
Anyone, any silk lovers here?
Raise your hands high, look around.
These are the rich ladies. [audience laughs]
Silk is fantastic.
You can't go wrong with it.
It's just expensive.
That's the only problem with it.
You can get the same look, if you like the same look,
in a poly.
You can have poly that looks like cotton,
you can have it look like silk.
But we love polyester threads.
Some people piece with either.
Some people piece with silk.
As long as you have the fiber type that works for you,
there are no rules.
And if the quilt police jump on you, tell 'em.
Have 'em call me, I'll take care of it.
[audience laughs]
How many use rayon threads?
Rayon was really big in the '80s into the '90s,
and then it kind of went south because I think 1986,
the Environmental Protection Agency
or some in the U.S. kind of really put a damper on it
and really discouraged rayon production in the U.S.
because it's a horrible pollutant.
So, there's different types of rayon,
but the type that makes thread is a horrible pollutant,
so they don't come from the U.S. anymore.
There's other countries that still make them.
Let them pollute the world, I guess.
But rayon really isn't a good fiber.
It's weak, it's not as strong, not as colorfast,
but it's really low cost.
And it's on the way out, which is good,
because now they have polyester like this that's a high sheen.
So, if you have that one, if you got a sample,
break it, look at it, taste it.
It's a good thread. [audience laughs]
So, we did silk.
We did rayon.
Oh, monofilament.
Monofilament comes in nylon and it comes in polyester.
Is one better than the other?
Should we take a vote?
Who uses nylon monofilament?
Who uses polyester monofilament?
Nylon is a few more.
Nylon's been around longer.
Nylon's been around 40, 50, 60.
As long as they've been fishing, they've had nylon monofilament.
It's fishing line.
Poly came about pretty big about 20 years ago.
Here's a difference.
Over time, nylon will yellow.
We're talking maybe 10 years.
It just isn't that clear.
It will yellow.
Over a longer time, nylon can go brittle and break.
Nylon also has a lower heat tolerance,
so if you do steam your quilt or iron it,
it has a lower heat tolerance.
I prefer poly because...
It is not quite as strong,
but we can make it slightly thicker and make it as strong.
It doesn't yellow over time and it doesn't go brittle,
so a poly monofilament is the preferred.
Yes?
- Attendee 6: How long can you keep thread,
I mean, like, my mom's thread?
- How long can you keep thread, like my mom's thread?
Okay, that's a great question.
If I had Grandma's thread on the shelf,
it's probably going to be cotton,
I'm gonna break it.
And when I break it, I'm not going to yank it like this,
'cause anyone can do that.
I'm going to pull it real gently until it breaks,
real gentle,
and if I hear a snap, it's probably good.
If it kind of separates, no, it's not good.
[snaps] That's good.
So, my bet is Grandma's thread is still good.
It's not gonna be the quality it is today,
but it's going to be good.
The spools are really cool, too.
- Attendee 6: Yeah. [audience laughs]
- Polyester, how long?
I don't know, a couple hundred years?
It's plastic.
If I had a spool
of Egyptian-grown, extra-long staple,
gassed, mercerized cotton,
I'm gonna tell my great- great-great-great grandkids,
"Use it, it'll be good."
Some people worry about,
"Oh, I don't want a poly thread in my quilt
"because it will disintegrate
"or the cotton or the fabrics will disintegrate
faster than the poly."
Well, after 200 or 300 years, who's gonna care?
[audience laughs]
I'd rather have at least something left.
So, shelf life is good.
Storage?
You don't need it in a plastic container.
You don't need it behind a glass.
One lady keeps her metallic thread in a freezer.
Really?
No, we don't need to do that.
We've had thread in dry climates for 20 or 30 years.
We've had thread in humid climates 20 or 30 years.
They are still good.
The only thing is avoid direct sunlight.
That will fade pretty much anything.
And don't put it under a heat vent.
So, if you've got your thread wall
and you've got heat vent on top, you're gonna get dust on it.
That'll just end up in your machine.
Other than that, no problem.
It will last a long time.
Okay.
Now, we go to step two.
We have solved 50% of your problems.
Step two is really easy.
It's the least expensive problem-solving tip.
It has to do with the needle.
Twenty-seven years I've been in the industry.
I've talked to thousands of quilters,
thousands of embroiderers, thousands of hobby crafters,
thousands of award-winning-- just all types,
and I started, early years, asking them a question:
"What needle do you use?"
Longarms weren't really popular back then,
so we're talking home machine.
And I found out quilters do not use the quilting needle.
Embroiderers were not using the embroidery needle.
The crafters were not using the universal needle.
Say, "Well, what else is there?
What are they using?"
Who knows? [audience murmurs]
Topstitch.
They use the topstitch.
And this goes back 27 years, they were using topstitch.
Well, because of that, it spread,
and now topstitch is the kind of, like, preferred needle
by those who quilt or sew a lot,
and every company that makes needles
makes the topstitch style.
I am really convinced that the topstitch is the hybrid needle.
They took the best features of all these needle types,
put it into one, and...
If the whole world knew that, the sales would go down
'cause you wouldn't buy 20 types of needles in five sizes each.
You'd buy one needle in five sizes.
Here is why the topstitch is so, so good.
The groove that runs up the shaft of a needle,
that's where the thread lies in
as it goes into the needle through the eye.
It is deeper and wider, so if you have a finicky thread
or maybe a flat ribbon thread
or maybe a heavier thread or maybe a superdelicate thread,
it lies in the shaft and goes in that groove
and it protects it better.
That's minor, but it's big.
The main point is the eye of a topstitch needle.
It's hard to see there, but this eye,
compared to a universal
or quilting or embroidery needle,
is at least twice as long.
Enlarged needle,
that's not good just only for our eyes that are aging.
It's good because as thread runs through that needle
at high speed, it will not be stressed by the needle.
You will not be getting lint at your needle
unless you have a really low-quality, linty thread.
That is a game-changer.
The next feature that is really good on the topstitch
is the point.
It is not a razor-sharp.
That is meant to cut whatever it goes through,
like leather, vinyl.
It is not ballpoint.
That's meant for knit fabrics.
This is what we call a light sharp--
slightly blunted, but still sharp.
It is meant to separate the fibers before it goes through,
not to cut, cut, cut.
The point, the eye, and the groove
make this the perfect needle.
That's why, for all these years,
the embroiderers tell me this is what they use,
the quilters tell me this is what they use,
the crafters tell me this is what they use,
and it is really, really nice.
This will change immediately about 25% of your problems,
that needle.
We choose a needle size not based on the fabric,
not based on the stitch, but on the thread size,
because a bigger thread will need a bigger needle,
a finer thread, a smaller needle.
That's really all that matters.
It is better to go larger than too small.
If you don't know, should I go a 70 or an 80, go 80.
You can always go down.
But don't go too small
because it might not be what your thread needs.
And it gets even better.
Back about 20 or 30 years ago,
industrial companies were using a long-life industrial needle.
They had a really hard coating on the needle
because these factories around the world
that made everything we're wearing today,
their warehouse probably has 1,000 sewing machines.
They're going around the clock in three work shifts.
How often do we change our needle?
What are we told?
- Audience: Eight hours. - Eight hours.
So, imagine you've got a factory with 1,000 machines,
and every eight hours, three times a day,
they got to go in and change 1,000 needles.
So, they talked to the needle company and said,
"Don't you have something better?"
And the needle companies developed one that--
with a really hard surface called titanium nitride.
Now, they're called titanium-coated needles.
Titanium is a ultra-thin ceramic.
It's like paint,
but it is so hard, it reduced wear and tear,
and they last up to eight times as long as a standard needle.
That's a laboratory test.
The place you're gonna get wear and tear is in the eye
and about the first inch up to here.
Eight times longer.
So we went to the second-largest needle manufacturer
in the world, called Organ, like organ, church organ.
And we said, "We would like you to make needles for us."
They brought out the catalog.
"Okay, which of our 1,000 needle styles would you like?"
"No, I don't want those.
"I don't even want quilting, embroidery.
"I don't even want universal.
I want topstitch."
"We don't make a topstitch needle."
I said, "Would you?
Here's the specs."
So, they did.
And I said,
"I know that you make titanium-coated needles
"for your industrial needles.
I want that on the home needle."
And they said, "No, I don't think anyone would buy those."
And I said, "Our customers will."
So, they did.
So, they made titanium-coated topstitch needles,
and they're wonderful.
No more eight hours, just put the alarm clock away.
Put the timer away.
One day, you're gonna be sewing, and you're gonna hear
a "clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk."
You'll say, "What's that?
Oh, I haven't changed my needle for months."
Well, time to change your needle.
It will really last a long time.
The good news is it'll cost you about 20 cents more
for a titanium-coated than a standard.
Standard needles are silver.
The cheaper ones are nickel.
The good ones are chrome.
Titanium, or the base-- The needle is chrome,
coated with titanium coating on it.
Twenty cents more.
And you will get eight needles' worth for that 20 cents.
That is a no-brainer.
That's not even a sales tactic.
That's just the absolute truth on that one.
Sizewise, based on the thread we use is the needle we use,
and the two most popular, by far ,
a fine weight is a 50-weight.
A medium weight is a 40-weight.
Those are the only two needle sizes.
50-weight, size 80/12 needle--
This is in your back of the book, by the way,
and a medium thread, 40-weight thread,
size 90/14 needle, those two.
There's bigger and smaller out there titanium-coated,
but those are the two that most people need.
You don't need all four in most cases.
Now, as we've talked about thread weight real briefly,
why is it that the bigger the number--
We go from a 30-weight, 40-weight, 50-weight, 60-weight.
What's happening to the size of the thread?
- Audience: Getting thinner.
- Bob: It's getting thinner.
Why did they do that to us?
Because a man's brain was as small as the size of a pea,
and he did that. [audience laughs]
It is totally confusing.
But there really is science behind it.
This isn't perfect science,
and this isn't an accurate, exact word-for-word how it is,
but, ballpark, this is how it works.
I want to know how many miles of thread it takes
to weigh a pound.
So, I get out a thread, and I took 50 miles.
So, now, I get another thread, and this other thread,
wow, this thread only took 30 miles to weigh a pound.
Which one's heavier?
The 30.
That's where it came from.
Other measures are a tex, T-E-X.
They are scientific and they are accurate.
Weight is an American made-up system.
It is ballpark and it's a range.
That's why we don't have a 31-weight or a 42-weight
or a 58-weight.
They're ranges.
30, 40, 50, 60 are the main ones.
They're ballpark.
That's why you can have three brands
of 50-weight thread side by side.
They're all different.
But that's okay.
You can have three brands of a 40-weight thread,
way different.
If you have a 40-weight poly next to a 40-weight cotton,
they're gonna be way different.
So, it's not science,
but just know it's a ballpark range,
and that's good enough for most of us.
Okay, you're 75% perfect now.
50% on the quality and 25% on the needle.
You ready for the next one?
This next one is really another 25%, but I can't say I do 100%.
I got to leave a little gap
in case your machine is out of whack,
so we're gonna go up to 98% correction here,
so I'm gonna say 23% on this next one.
And yet, it's the most important thing
that I can teach you today.
Forget everything else.
If you do this next one,
it's the final step in troubleshooting and correcting,
and is the biggest game-changer you will ever have.
It has to do with the tension.
This goes back to the lady who walked in the room,
put her hand up, and said, "No.
Don't talk to me about tension because I won't do that."
How many were taught in earlier days,
"Don't touch your tension?"
Oh, these new machines now have automatic tension.
How many were taught by your dealer, "Automatic tension,
you don't have to worry about tension"?
Okay, does anyone know what automatic tension does
on your machine?
Most people don't.
I really don't.
But what I hear it does is if you engage a decorative stitch
or maybe a little more difficult stitch,
maybe a satin stitch,
or if you engage the embroidery unit,
it lowers the tension a bit because it knows that thread
is going faster or in multi directions.
I think that's what it does.
But does your machine know
if it's a fine or medium or heavy thread?
Not a clue.
Does it know if it's a metallic or cotton or poly?
Not a clue.
So don't rely on your automatic tension.
I need a volunteer.
It pays really well. [audience laughs]
I need a-- I really do, okay, come up.
Will you come up the stairs here, please?
We're going to demonstrate how your machine--
Oh, you need two hands, so I'm gonna--
Have a brace?
- Volunteer: Oh, no, I'm okay. - Okay, good.
How your machine tension works.
Most machines out of the box--
Here, hold my variegated thread for a minute.
Most machines out of the box
are preset between a zero and a nine or a ten.
They're set at a five.
A reason for that,
your machines are sewing machines.
They're made for the world.
The world sews, we quilt.
But it's a world made for the world machine.
So, it comes out of the box at a five.
Five is perfect if you're sewing clothing.
Guess what you use when you sew clothing?
Fifty-weight.
Guess what type of thread?
Poly.
So, machines are pretty much factory-preset
to sew a 50-weight poly.
If you are sewing with anything else,
you need to adjust the tension.
We have dozens of different types of threads,
fine, medium, heavy in different fibers.
The most common setting that we set on our machines
when we're using our threads
is about a three and a half to a four.
We lower it down.
If you don't lower it down, here's what happens.
This is your tension disk, and zero is no tension.
Ten is really tight tension.
Five is gonna be nice and snug.
So, she has-- What's your name?
- Mary Ann. - Mary Ann.
I should've known that, thank you.
This is a 50-weight poly.
So, Mary Ann's gonna sew up and down this way,
through the tension disk, and watch what happens.
Oh, look at the stitch!
It's not breaking, not fraying, not shredding.
Look at the speed.
You're good, thank you. [audience chuckles]
Now, we're gonna put a 40-weight medium thread in here,
so double that one up. - Okay.
- Does the machine know what we just did?
No.
Automatic tension, it doesn't have a brain.
It doesn't know what to do.
But now we put a 40-weight.
Not quite double the diameter, but a bit heavier.
Now, watch what happens.
[audience laughs]
You broke the thread, you hurt your hand.
You're really mad.
And who do you call?
[audience laughs]
Who do you blame? - Mary Ann: Our husbands.
- You blame me!
I get your e-mails.
- Mary Ann: You and our husbands.
- Yeah, I get the blame.
So, I told you it pays really well.
After the event here, after the seminar,
go into the hall.
Go to your favorite longarm company
and say, "I'm here to get my free machine."
[all laugh]
And tell them-- - Bob sent me?
- No, no, no, no, "Jack sent me."
- Okay, do you have your credit card?
- "Jack sent me," no, they got it covered.
Go choose a machine you like. [audience laughs]
If you will adjust your tension,
that's the last step to opening up the whole windows of success.
Remember in the beginning,
I said we're gonna talk about metallic thread
and I said you'd go home tonight and sew on a metallic thread?
You can, but, as far as I know,
there's only three brands of metallic thread in the world
that are really, really what I would say acceptable.
Wanna know?
One is called Yenmet.
Nobody's heard of it.
It's not over here.
It's in Japan.
One is called Superior.
Boy, I wonder who made that one.
That's a good one.
And one is called Y.L.I.: "You'll Love It."
They all come from Japan
'cause Japan has its beautiful kimonos
that are heavily embroidered with metallic thread.
They love it, so guess what?
They make the best metallic thread.
So, if you have a good-quality metallic thread,
the next step is your needle.
Use a topstitch size 90.
A lot of metallic needles on the market are--
Okay, if you have a metallic needle, that's okay.
Time-out, here's another secret.
Under a microscope, the SCHMETZ metallic
and the SCHMETZ topstitch really look identical.
I e-mailed them.
I e-mailed headquarters in Europe
and headquarters in Asia.
I said, "Are your topstitch
and your metallic needles the same needle?"
One wrote back, "Yes, they are identical."
They put 'em in two packs.
Why would they do that to us?
'Cause you buy 'em, yep.
So if you have metallic needles at home,
get out a marker and write, "Topstitch."
They're not titanium-coated, but they're still good.
Topstitch.
Size 80 is for piecing, it is not for metallic.
Unfortunately, most stores sell size-80 metallic
for metallic thread 'cause they don't know.
You need a 90.
So, get a good metallic thread, get your 90 topstitch needle,
and here's what you do to your tension.
We are not gonna put it on a five.
We're gonna go down to a one.
Wide open.
And I guarantee it's going to work.
And you're gonna be singing and dancing, so happy it works.
What happens if your top tension is too loose?
Loops on the back, right?
I tell you, if that happens to you, go up to a one and a half.
Go up to a two.
Maybe your machine's sweet spot is a two.
Maybe your machine's sweet spot is a one and a half.
But I guarantee, on a metallic thread,
it will work with those.
The right needle and the right tension.
Now, if you can do that with metallic,
you can do it with monofilament.
Monofilament's a strange one because it's so fine,
you would think tighter tension is what it needs.
Well, it is so delicate, if you put too much tension on it,
it's gonna break it.
So, actually, we need to ease up on that one, too.
Oh, maybe a four, maybe a three and a half.
Whatever works on your machine.
You should be able to run any good thread in your machine.
I get really frustrated when I get e-mails saying,
"My dealer told me I can only run poly in this thread--
in this machine."
Another person says, "My dealer said I can only run cotton
in this thread."
One says, "I can only use a 90-weight brand J
in this thread."
Well, guess what they sell? [audience murmurs]
If somebody told you,
and you bought a $29,000 top-end machine,
that you must use brand or type X thread,
I would walk away before I charge that card
because who would buy a car if the machine,
if the car salesman said, "Oh, by the way,
the warranty is void if you don't use Shell gasoline."
How crazy is that?
But on machines, "Oh, okay, okay.
You say I have to use that thread, I'll use that thread."
No, you can use any good-quality thread.
Choose the fiber type you like, choose the thickness you like.
Usually, the finer thread we want to blend.
The medium and heavy, we want to show.
A lot of people say, "You know, I'm really not good enough yet
"on my longarm to free-motion,
and I really don't want the thread to show."
Then choose a blending color.
Others say, "Hey, you know,
"I'm getting to the point where I'm confident.
I want to show off the thread as well as the quilting."
Then they go medium or heavy or variegated.
I'm gonna show you one variegated thread.
Melanie, will you hand this one out?
This is what I call a game-changer
for those who come to me and say, "You know what?
Just gimme one thread."
But don't break it, just pass it,
'cause that one's too hard to break.
"I just want one thread that I can run all the time,
"and I'll tell my customers, 'This is the thread I use,
"choose your color,'
"but I'm not gonna switch from thread A, B, C, D,
"and I just wanna run it, run it, run it,
and I don't want any problems."
Well, this is it.
This is it in variegated.
It's coming in solid.
But what we did, we went to our factory and said,
"We have a lot of customers who are quilting.
"A lot are longarms,
"and they want a thread that doesn't break,
"so I want your extra strong, tensile-strength fibers,
"and I want it in a filament polyester,
and I want it in the 72 microstrands twisted together."
And this is what we have, so if you have that--
Do you have a big enough piece to break?
Try to break it, but I'm warning you,
don't cut your hands.
Break it, who can break it?
Did anyone break it?
[audience murmurs]
This color, it's probably on the spool.
But this is, the line of this thread
is called "variations" because it's all variegated,
and we like it because, hey,
this is the thread that is never gonna break
in my machine.
If this breaks in your machine, it's not the thread.
It's something to do in the machine.
So, it is so popular
among those who want to run a thread and have no trouble,
but they don't want to have,
they don't want variegated all the time.
So it's coming in solids in about two months.
I haven't decided the name of it.
They're making a thread for us. I just haven't decided.
I want a name that means-- Help me, please.
I want a name that means "fast and strong."
- Attendee 7: Hercules.
- Hercules, I thought of that one.
That's good.
It needs a name like that because that's this thread
that just will not break.
So, the next question is, "Yeah, but can you get a thread
too strong for quilting?"
So, guess who I asked: Al!
AI.
And Al said, "Oh, yeah.
"If your thread is too strong and it starts to really,
"the fabric starts to get wear and tear
and stretch here and there, yeah, it might tear through."
And I said, "Al, really?"
And Al says, "Oh, I guess not."
I question Al. [audience laughs]
I've had Al apologize twice in the last week
for giving me false info.
So I used to think Al was the authority.
Ah, no.
If you are using an upholstery-weight thread rope
in your cotton fabric, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
That's not wise.
That could tear through.
But if it's a sewing-weight thread,
a 40-weight that is super strong fiber type,
no, it's not gonna tear through.
If it starts to tear, tear, tear,
either you got a really flimsy fabric or, hey,
it's not gonna tear through.
So, that's why we like this one.
This is like a problem-free Hercules, whatever it is.
It's a good thread.
Other questions we get often are pre-wound bobbins.
In the early days, people were afraid of pre-wound bobbins.
Well, now we're all used to 'em.
Every machine company makes pre-wound bobbins.
The convenience is a pre-wound bobbin is professionally wound,
and you can get about 50% more wind, more yardage,
on a pre-wound.
So, there's two ways of thinking.
One is, "How lazy can you get?" [audience laughs]
The other is, "I never want to wind another bobbin
as long as I live."
And either of those are okay.
If you like it, pre-wounds are fantastic,
but, again, don't buy 'em on Alibaba or Temu,
where you're gonna get a super flimsy thread.
Make sure you're choosing the thread on the pre-wound,
not the other way around.
- Attendee 8: I've heard that if you're gonna use
the monofilament thread... - Bob: Yes.
- Attendee 8: ...you should use a pre-round--
pre-wound if you wanna use it with your bobbin.
- Okay, so, if you wanna use monofilament thread
in the bobbin, you should get a pre-wound monofilament.
The reason why is 'cause winding your monofilament is a headache.
If you can figure out how to wind it, you're okay.
And with monofilament, you can use it on top.
If you want it to hide on top
'cause you got a really busy fabric on top
or if you wanna use it in the back
'cause you got a busy back,
but don't use monofilament together.
It's such a slick thread, it won't form a good knot.
It just kind of doesn't grab each other.
So, top is good or bottom is good, but monofilament?
No, not at the same time, so mix it with another fiber.
- Attendee 9: I've been looking
at your thread-mastery guide here, and I'm also a bagmaker,
and what thread would you recommend for bags?
I've always been taught that you use polyester only on bags.
- Okay, bagmaker, who's the biggest bagmaker--
- Attendee 9: Annie. - Annie, right?
Annie, okay, ByAnnie.com.
She's probably the most famous bag designer, bagmaker.
Do you know where ByAnnie lives?
She lives two miles from my house.
We're like this. [audience laughs]
So, Annie told me now for her bagmaking,
she needs a thread that is not too fine, not too thick,
not too slick, not too rough, not too linty, all this.
Well, it's called Perfection.
And if you were to call Annie and say,
"Annie, what thread do you recommend for any of your bags?"
she will say, "Y.L.I.'s Perfection."
It is this one.
It was made and developed in Japan
for the high-end clothing industry.
So, probably, if you're wearing Armani or Gucci--
I don't know, that's the only brands I know.
Rolex, that's not clothing.
If you're wearing high-end clothing,
chances are, it's this thread.
It's poly.
It's multifilament poly, but it's not smooth.
They put a slight texture into it,
but it doesn't throw off lint 'cause it's multifilament.
It's not linty, it's not spun.
Puts a tight, a slight texture into it
so as it goes into fabric, it grabs it.
That's what they want in clothing.
Well, that's what we want in quilting.
So, this is--
Those who are piecing with poly, that's it.
I call it the Goldilocks of thread.
It's perfect, it's Perfection.
It's perfect for clothing, construction, bagmaking,
top-threaded, bobbin thread, dental floss, you name it.
That's the thread to go to.
And it really is perfect.
And it blends.
All the 64 colors of perfection are all kind of blending tones.
If you quilt with it, it's gonna blend into the top.
Binding, it's great for binding.
Bobbin-- This is, I think, in the longarm world,
probably the favorite.
It's a really good thread.
We have color cards that are made for each thread line,
and there are swatches, so they wind swatch of color of threads
so they're not printed color like a--
You know it's a perfect match.
And they cost a bit.
We sell them at our cost of only $5,
but they're all wound,
so you get a color card that has all 50 or 80 colors
or whatever on it,
and you get the actual thread there,
so it's a perfect color match.
Those are pretty smart.
- Attendee 10: What needle and thread would you recommend
for sewing with batiks?
- Sewing with batiks, okay.
My wife made a quilt every--
two quilts a month forever and ever and ever,
and her favorite fabric was batik.
She always used a topstitch.
She would, like, you're talking piecing it together,
she'd use a topstitch 80.
She used a cotton thread.
Our cotton thread is called Dream Seam.
That's the extra-long staple Egyptian-grown,
gassed, mercerized cotton thread,
Dream Seam, and that's, she loves that.
Now, if you're quilting on it, then it depends.
Do you want your thread to shine?
Do you want your thread to blend?
Do you want it to be--
So, you can quilt with anything as you're doing the quilting,
but for piecing, it's--
My wife's favorite was Dream Seam on batiks.
She loves batiks.
Yes? - Attendee 11: I've never known
what to do with the screw on the bobbin
in terms of tension,
so I've left it alone for 50 years.
- Oh, good for you, okay.
We talked top tension.
Very rarely do we talk bobbin tension in the machine.
And, in fact, there's only like two cases in 35--
or about 20, 25, 27 years I've been doing this--
where it was the bobbin.
Want to hear a good story?
Okay, you know Alex Anderson?
Okay, we talked thread over the years,
and she calls me her thread guy.
So I get a call one day and says, "Bob, I'm in a class.
"I got all these new BERNINA machines, great machines.
Your thread is breaking!"
And it was our bobbin thread.
And I said, "Well, if it breaks in the bobbin,
"it sounds like your bobbin tension's too tight.
"This is really rare, Alex,
but I need you to loosen the bobbin tension."
She says, "Oh, no, I've never done that before!"
I said, "Alex, trust me.
"Get out your screwdriver and get out that screw,
and I only want you to turn it a quarter-turn."
She says, "My hands are shaking. [audience laughs]
Are you sure I can do this?"
I mean, this is the pro of quilters, right?
I said, "Yes, I'm listening, and I'm waiting, go."
So she did it, put it back in, and it worked.
It worked itself tight or it came out of the factory tight.
Rare, but, yes, it does occur sometimes.
- Attendee 9: I'm going back to bagmaking,
and you made a statement right before that
about when you have monofilament,
don't use both the top thread and in the bobbin.
So, if I'm bagmaking and I have it in the top,
what do you recommend in the bobbin?
- For bagmaking, I recommend either Perfection
or go to a 60-weight.
So, a 60-weight poly or a 50-weight poly.
I'm making this up as I go, by the way.
[all laugh]
Just don't come back next year when I say something different.
[all laugh]
Other questions?
Can you mix your fibers on top--
poly in the top, cotton in the bobbin?
Absolutely, yes, reverse it, yes.
Metallic on top, poly in the bobbin?
Yes, no rules.
All the rules that you hear by the Quilt Guild Police,
just throw 'em out the window.
Use what works for you.
Okay, now, we have an award for you.
I lived in Japan for nine years.
I had all my kids do karate.
That was part of the family rule.
You will do karate and you can't quit
until you have your black belt plus one year.
Then you can quit if you want.
Well, you have earned a black belt in thread today.
Okay, Melanie.
You get a black belt.
Wear it with pride.
If your children or grandchildren
or your husband's acting up, put on your black belt,
and you can tell them that you are now the thread master.
You have a black belt in thread.
You know thread.
You are the Thread Master Institute graduate.
And wear it with pride.
Go show it off at the quilt show.
You walk down the aisle, you'll part the path
as you walk down the aisle. [audience laughs]
Thank you for being here today.
- Attendee 12: Thank you.
[audience applauds]
- Announcer: Proceeds from The Great Wisconsin Quilt Show
support PBS Wisconsin programming.
Your financial gift helps make this event possible.
Thank you.
[bright music]