Tips for Using Invisible Thread

If you've ever tried working with invisible thread you may have found it to be rather frustrating. And that's probably because you're using a nylon invisible thread. Invisible thread is a clear thread and it can come in either nylon or polyester. The nylon tends to be more brittle like fishing line and it tends to break a lot faster and a lot easier in your sewing machine. It also may yellow over time and it is very heat sensitive so, if you put a hot iron on it, it may melt. I much prefer MonoPoly and my brand of choice I'm not sponsored with them but one of the brands that I really like is Superior MonoPoly. It comes in two different threads which obviously since it's invisible you're gonna have a hard time seeing it on the video here. But this is a clear one and it does stitch clear I'll show you a sample in a minute. It also comes in a smoke color which I love when I'm working on darker fabrics. So, I use the clear on my white and light colored fabrics. I use the smoke on anything that's dark dark blue, dark red, black, charcoal you name it, it's wonderful. There are some tips though for working with either the nylon or the polyester thread. The very first thing is you're going to want to use a knot larger needle. You wanna bigger eye so that the thread isn't having a lot of tension on it when it passes through the needle which will make it that it won't break as easily. I highly recommend a 9014 needle in your domestic machine and the equivalent in your long arm machine. Typically, that would be a size 18 for a long arm needle. It will make a little bit bigger hole in your fabric but it's worth it to not have to put up with thread breakage. If you're using it in the bobbin, wind the bobbin slowly and wind it literally as slow as I'm speaking. You almost can't wind it slow enough. The reason is the thread itself is extremely stretchy. I don't know if you can see that but it stretches before it breaks. So, if you're winding fast it's being stretched as it goes onto the bobbin and then when you sew it's relaxing it's coming back and then it's being pulled again and it's just under too much tension and it will break. So, wind it very slowly. I tend to try and avoid it in the bobbin because it sometimes can get wrapped around parts in your machine especially if you have a rotary bobbin and it can cause a mess. And it's hard to see to get out of the bobbin if you have a bird's nest story or it gets trapped in there. So, again wind slowly, be judicious with it, if you use it. I typically will use a very fine thread maybe a silk thread. Superior has a wonderful thread called Bottom Line that is a very lightweight thread. Anything 40 or below is what I would, 40 or above rather I would look for because you want the very, very thin thread so that you don't see the thread on the top but it will eliminate some of your problems. The other thing on the top thread is to use what we call a thread net. They come in a little pack like this. It's just a little net and the way you use it is you put it over your spool and pull the thread up through the top and what it does is it keeps the thread from winding back over itself on the spool or from falling under the spool and getting wrapped around it. It's a nice little piece of insurance that will save you a lot of frustration. I have found I have less frustration with the MonoPoly. I can run fairly close to not all the way full speed on my long arm but at a fairly good rate. I don't have to slow down too much with this. And then in my domestic machine I haven't had as many problems as I did with the nylon thread. I love it for applique when you stitch along the edges of your applique you won't even see the stitches. It will literally look like hand stitched especially if you just do a blind hem stitch along your applique. You'll just see that little teeny prick of a stitch and it just looks beautiful. I also like to use it for quilting and I like it particularly when I'm doing a pantograph pattern which is where I use one pattern and it goes from edge to edge top to bottom repeating the whole pattern over the quilt. If I have a busy quilt if I've got fabric that I wanna showcase if I've got a lot of prints if I've got a lot of design with the piecing sometimes I wanna keep the quilting very toned down so that the piecing take center stage and that's what I did on this particular one. In this case, I did use the clear thread even though I've got dark blue in here because of the white. And what it does is it gives the quilt texture. It gives the quilt interest without overpowering the design. And then on the back, I used a variegated thread. That's a very lightweight one that this is called rainbow thread by superior threads. Again, a very thin trilobel polyester variegated thread and on the back my design just pops. So, don't be afraid of invisible thread put it in your toolbox. It's a good tool to have just be aware of the tips and you'll be just fine use to get.