Since I think we all know I take my job as a quilting heretic seriously I am going to go ahead and just lay it out there… if you find this too offensive you won’t have to waste your time with the rest of the post. Here goes……
For the love of all that is holy stop “matching” your quilting thread to your fabric, it is deadly boring and isn’t doing your quilt any favors lot of the time. There, I said it.
Are there exceptions?.. sure but 95% of the time I am not going to even try to match my quilting thread to my fabric if I want to add dimension, sparkle or interest to my quilt top. Now if I want my quilting to just “go away” sure I might but if I can’t find an exact match there are a MILLION other colors out there and lots of ways to use a wide array of them on a quilt top, even one that is begging to be put out of its misery with a matching thread.
The fact is that many of us own a lot of thread, almost criminal amounts truth be told. Now don’t get me wrong I LOVE thread… give me a bouquet of thread anytime instead of flowers and I will be a happy quilter. And yet for all the colors I might have there are a lot of times I don’t have a perfect match and yet I just don’t worry since there is a secret… my biggest secret is TONE. The tone not so much the color of the thread makes the difference in how it will look on your quilt top when push comes to shove.
What is Tone?
Simply put tone is a pure pigment color with the addition of neutral grey. The more grey the darker the tone – From the Good people at Color Wheel Artist
This tonal profile is what helps a the right tone of green thread look good or even totally “blend in” on a blue quilt. Or why a pale pink might be the right choice on that white baby quilt while still not calling attention to the quilting in a way that feels overpowering.
Even more and BETTER! Since the backs of our quilts are often large over all swaths of fabric but different than the front we often need or want a different color thread for the back but this can be problematic since it is the rare sewing/quilting machine (or quilter) with perfect tension so at times and in certain places thread can pull to the front or front to back of a quilt resulting in “pokies” that are visually unappealing. Now this issue of pokies is often fixed just by using the same color thread on the back and the front and is a great way to hide when a machine is being a problem but sometimes this is not the right choice for the quilt and this is again where tone comes to the rescue!
By picking two threads of similar tonal value you can rest easy knowing that they will not “pull the eye” in that they will not call out a mistake in the way two threads with vastly different tones would (think black and white).
How to check for tone compatibility
Easy.. take the two threads in question and twist them together snuggly but not so tight that the thread wants to rebound on it self. Does the resulting two ply create a new visual color experience (do a red and a blue look like a purple?) or does it look more like a mini barber’s poll or candy cane? The better the colors ( tones) blend the more of a success that combination will be on your quilt. Once you know this handy hint you can play with all sorts a unconventional color combinations and even start using up some of that puce color thread that you won and have never known what to do with it!
The Giveaway
The good people at Hab+Dash have over 200 colors of my very favorite quilting thread GLIDE for you to choose from so not having the right color for any quilt you might want to do is not an issue when you combine the over 200 colors and the ability to look past the colors of fabric on your quilt and to the colors that bring about the truest beauty and dynamic play for your quilt. I am excited to be partnering with Hab+Dash on 6 sessions of thread school so that you can earn your very own MOT degree ( Masters of Thread of course!) and approach ANY project with the confidence that you have the skills, the right product as well as the knowledge to be the best quilter you can be.
This week I am giving away a GORGEOUS November Thread Kit from our friends at Hab +Dash and if you would like to be in the running to win it you will need to pop over to the BAQS public Facebook page a look for the Monday morning LIVE Thread School Re-broadcast and sign up to win!
Need some Glide of your very own and need it NOW?… check out my friends at Vector Quilts and Sewing Center.. they carry ALL the colors and all the MagnaGlide bobbins as well!!
Vector Quilts is a BAQS Approved store and holds to progressive ethics and integrity that align just right to ours here at BAQS
BadAss Quilters Society is support and social connection for politically and socially progressive quilters with attitude!
