thread review - aurifil

Welcome to the Aurifil edition of my Thread Review series!  Aurifil on the orange spools is a 50 weight thread retailing for around $9.00 US for 1,422 yards.  Aurifil 50 weight is a general purpose thread, ideal for hand stitching as well as machine work.  We've all seen how hyped it's been lately, but does it live up to the raves?

Not much, right?  And because Aurifil in very fine, you can wind a lot on one bobbin.  So much, in fact, that I always end up checking my bobbin a couple of times before I run out, thinking it must be just about through by now!

Oh, baby!  That is flat.  That's 8 seams meeting there and they look like they spend their life in the gym.  If I'm starting to sound a bit like an Aurifil fan girl at this point, I am.  I love flat seams and this is the thread that gives them.

I'm testing a pattern right now for Jennifer of that girl that quilt.  I thought the 29 blocks I had left would take up one bobbin.  I was wrong though, way wrong.  I finished those blocks, sewed them into coloums, and sewed 1/3 of the columns together!  All told that was approximately 2091" of sewing from one bobbin, 500" more than with the nearest competitor, Masterpiece.

So to summarize:

Price: $9.00 / 1422 yd spool or $0.006 per yard. A on price.
Lint: barely any, the best performance so far.  A+ on lint
The flat factor:  Amazingballs.  I'd marry it based on this alone.  A+

Overall?  A+ I don't always buy the hype on things.  This one I do.

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thread review - connecting threads

Quilters use a lot of thread.  And lots of it ends up all over ourselves, our homes, our families.  That's for another post, for now, lets just talk thread.  We all have our favorites, right?  I know I do.  And it's something I decided on completely un-scientifically.  So, I figured why not make a still not scientific but somewhat more sane approach to analyzing the threads out there.  Maybe I'll find a new favorite, maybe I won't.  I will clog my vacuum's rotary head in the process, that's a promise.

First up is Connecting Threads' Essential Cotton Thread in Silver.  It's a 50/3 weight thread that retails for $2.49 US per 1200 yard spool.

Lint can make or break a thread for me.  Does anyone like to clean lint out of their sewing machines?  I secretly love pulling a fresh sheet of lint out of the lint catcher in the dryer, my sewing machine not so much.
I received this thread in a swap from Heather at Crafting... and she'd warned me that for her machine it was, well, a lint machine.  So I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was very little lint produced with mine.  There was so little that I'd actually consider going 2 or 3 bobbins before cleaning - not something I can always get away with. 

This is a fairly thick thread for a 50 weight so the seams did not lie as flat as I would prefer, but were still acceptably flat.

I managed to sew 6 and a bit On a Whim blocks using one bobbin of Connecting Threads Essential Cotton Thread, equaling approximately 1273" of sewing.

So to summarize:

Price: $2.49 / 1200 yd spool or $0.002 per yard.  A+ on price!
Lint: not much at all.  A on lint
The flat factor:  Acceptable.  C+

Overall?  B+

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ruler review... party time!

I made my first ruler purchase in about 10 years the other day, and it just arrived this morning. What did I get? A 12.5" by 12.5" cutting edge ruler from Fabric Depot. I've wanted something between my 15 by 15 and 6 by 6 omnigrids for a while now, and when I read about these I just had to have one. The selling points? A none slip surface to grip the fabric for you plus an inlaid diamond dust hone to sharpen your cutter blades as you cut.

So, you've heard the hype, what's the scoop? Overall, I think these are a sweet addition to any quilter's arsenal. I won't be ditching my omnigrids anytime soon, but I have the feeling this new ruler will get a lot of use.

The good. I love, love, love the none slip backing on these. Most of my rulers were purchased in the early 90s so this is my 1st experience of none slip even though I know it's been around for a whle. I love not having to exert so much pressure on the ruler to keep it even. It just doesn't slip! With my other rulers I often find that a day with a lot of cutting will result in sore arms and fingers (no, not because I've cut them!) and that as I get tired the ruler slips more and more. I'll keep using this one and see how things go. I may end up needing to get the 6.5 by 24.5 as well! I'm also pretty happy with the sharpening ability. I started off with a cutter that was fairly dull with one small ding in it. After cutting about a dozen 7.5" blocks it was back to normal. Definitely a good feature if like me you don't like buying new blades!


The bad. Well, let's start with the photo. I dropped my ruler on our hardwood kitchen floor as soon as I had it unwrapped. The damage? A dinged corner and the cutting edge popped out! For the price I really didn't expect that. Admittedly I shouldn't have dropped the thing, but come on. I've dropped my omnigrids before and no dings. And glue is cheap. My other complaint is more of a case of over anticipation, not really under delivery. I rolled right off my cutting matte onto our stilestone kitchen island the other day. Resulting in a really dull spot in my blade. About a 1/2" bit that won't cut at all, in fact. Of course I was expecting one pass to clear that all up. It didn't. And I shouldn't be surprised. I think most of us would throw that blade out. Through some cutting with my new ruler I did get it down to about 1/8" that doesn't cut. Not bad. I'll keep at it.

The huh. Each ruler only has one sharpening edge. I just assumed it would be on all 4 sides. I'm not sure if the company's website mentions this as it's all flash and I do most of my browsing on my ipod. Most places I've checked for buying the ruler don't mention anything, though. I'm kind of ambivalent about this. I was expecting it on all sides so I'm a little disappointed but on the other hand I realize that using the sharpening side all the time might be a little hard on your blades and actually wear them down. So, as I said I'm ambivalent on this point.

Overall, though, I'm really chuffed (that would be pleased) with my new ruler and will probably pick up a few more. Now what would most bloggers do at this point? Well, give one away, of course. I'm not sure I have any readers though, and I'm broke, so that's out. If you'd like to sponsor a giveaway, though, and can tell people to enter, let me know! Or if you're reading and think a giveaway of some sort would be awesome and promise to tell people about it, too, let me know and I'll sort something out!

cheers,
C

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