product review

Superior Threads – Treasure Hand Quilting Thread

In March I attended the Puyallup Sew Expo and I stopped by the Superior Threads booth. I had asked them if I could review their hand quilting thread on the project I was making for Mother’s Day. The nice thing about going to the booth was I got to meet Bob Purcell. If you have never met Bob, I highly suggest taking one of his Threadology Seminars. They are worth every penny of your money and every second of your time! The other reason it was nice to be in the booth was that I got to bring my current project with me to color match Treasure to my quilt. I love doing that! It is perhaps one of my favorite steps in the quilting process.

Here’s my wall hanging before I quilted it.

As you can see, with the exception of the prints, it is a bit Plain Jane and I wanted my quilting to not only brighten it up, but to be the standout feature. I got two different spools of Treasure Thread and started quilting. I used #560 Knick Knacks (tone on tone med. and dark teals) and #568 Legacy (med. and dark purples).  Let me pause here to tell you that the pictures you are looking at on the Superior Threads website (GO LOOK!!!) are exactly how the threads look in real life – which is a relief when you cannot see and feel something in person!  I did some straight line quilting and then I decided to try my hand at some curves and added four butterflies.

What do you think?

Here’s a close up of the stitching:

This is only my second time hand quilting and I have to tell you, I am hooked! It took me literally two months to finish this project, mostly because life happened and kept getting in the way.  My last project was done with Perle Cotton, so all my review will be based on that experience.  I should also mention that I used John James Quilting/Betweens – JJEG120 Size 9/10 needles by Colonial Needles.

Things I liked:

• Virtually no kinking or knotting while I quilted. Perle Cotton, I have found, has a tendency to knot up if you are working with a really long length.
• No thread breaks.
• The stitches look like they were sewn by a machine!
• Treasure comes in 300 yard spools and is available in 25 different colors, including VARIEGATED! There are no variegated Perle Cottons (at least not that I have seen)!
• Want to practice your hand quilting, you can buy the Treasure Try Me Special – you will get a spool of thread for only $5.00. You won’t get to pick the color, but you will get to test out the thread at almost 40% off.  Believe me, you won’t be sorry!
• There was no shedding or lint with Treasure, I had a lot of lint with Perle Cotton.
• It is 100% machine washable – the colors will not fade or change unless you use bleach.

Recommendations:

• Do your research on needles – some needles bend, some needles snap, and some needles are really great. Superior Threads does not carry hand quilting needles yet, so you will need to research the right needle. My personal recommendation is using a Between size 9 or 10. This size worked great for me.
• Do not be thrown off by the “memory” of the thread – watch this video on Hand Quilting Thread by Bob Purcell – it is a great explanation.
• For hand quilting I recommend getting a good thimble.

I would love to see Superior Threads either carry needles or have a recommended brand or two listed on their site. I would also love to see even more color choices available, although the fact that there are variegated choices already puts them miles ahead other brands!

Have you done any hand quilting? Would you or have you tried Superior Threads Treasure?

Here’s one last picture for Mother’s Day:

When Superior Threads asked me back in November what threads I was interested in testing out, So Fine was one of my top three – you have already seen reviews for King Tut and Bottom Line – and now it is time for So Fine.  I can’t begin to tell you how much I loved quilting with this particular line of thread. It comes in three different weights 30, 40, and 50.

As always when I prepare to do any type of review I gave my machine a thorough cleaning and checked the Home Machines Thread Reference Guide to make sure that I had the correct needle and tension settings on my machine. I was using So Fine #50 which recommended a 80/12 needle and 4.0 – 5.0 tension setting.  Remember that when trying out any new product you should always make sure that you have checked the recommended settings for your machine – this will help you avoid frustration caused by tension problems!

I tested it out on the Mystery Quilt for my hubs.

I did straight line quilting in the ditch here is a look at the back – I used So Fine as my top thread and I also used it as my bobbin thread.

Throughout all the quilting I didn’t have a single break. It is also the first quilt that I have done in one sitting. I was only going to do the large diamonds, but then I read the packaging on the batting that I used and realized that I had to quilt at least every 6-8 inches. That led me to quilt squares inside the diamonds. In the end I really love how it turned out with the additional quilting.

I also decided to use the So Fine to sew down the binding. In order to add a little extra pizzazz (not that my hubs actually noticed) I did a decorative stitch

The decorative stitch that I selected is one of the most complicated as far as needle movement is concerned on my machine. Throughout the entire quilting and machine sewing of the binding I did not have a single thread break. Any time that I don’t have to rethread my machine does so much for my frame of mind. Sewing/quilting is supposed to be relaxing and any time I have to deal with a break it does nothing but raise my blood pressure. My blood pressure stayed nice and low with this quilt!

Things I Liked:

• My number 1 favorite feature of this thread is that there were no thread breaks.
• I used it as a bobbin thread and a top thread – it worked seamlessly
• My machine was clean when I started and clean when I finished quilting – ZERO LINT. Any time I don’t have to clean my machine I am a happy happy camper.
• So Fine comes in three different weights with over 200 color choices. Talk about selection!
• So Fine comes in cones, spools AND pre-wound bobbins.
• As always – I am a fan of the Superior Threads Education portion of their website – I have yet to come across a thread manufacturer with this much information available on their products.  Including two videos focusing solely on So Fine.

Recommendations:

• Start with the Home Machines Thread Reference Guide and a clean machine. You will get your best results when following the recommendations of the experts.
• If you want to try out the thread but are not really sure if you will like it – try out the “Try Me Specials” that Superior offers – it is a great way to try out a new thread and see if it is something that you will want to use in the future.

I have no improvements to offer Superior Threads at this time on So Fine. It is a fabulous product. The only thing I did not try was piecing with it, this is on my list, but after quilting and sewing down the binding on this quilt I was virtually out of thread!

Have you used So Fine? If so which version of it do you like best and why?

PS: I have a great giveaway this week from Sondra over at Contemporary Cloth – go enter!