How to Stop your thread from breaking while quilting

Top five ways to stop your thread from breaking while quilting.

There are very few things more frustrating in quilting than your thread breaking while quilting.  Truly, you just got done basting your quilt, you are ready to sit down and make major progress and every few minutes your thread breaks.  This is enough to turn your quilt into a UFO, we have all put our projects in time out until they can behave. But what if I told you that it’s not your quilts fault, and there are 5 simple tricks you should try before putting your quilt in timeout.  If you do all five of these tips before you sit down to free motion quilt, your thread will not break (that much) and you will reduce the time and frustration on finishing your quilt.

Is your machine clean?

Before you put your free motion foot on, clean your machine.  I am not saying have it serviced, I am saying make sure you get all of the lint out from the bobbin case and dust the whole machine.  Piecing a quilt equals lint, and lint will cause several issues that will drive you crazy. I know this sounds like a throwaway tip, but we are all guilty of allowing so much lint to gather under our bobbin case it becomes felt.

Thread Quality is Everything!

Cotton Thread is your friend.  Make sure you use a quality thread made from 100% cotton.  Every quilter will tell you Aurifil or Superior is the way to go, and they are not wrong.  Aurifil is an amazing product, but it’s not the only option out there. I have spoken to quilters that claim their machine is a thread snob and will only allow a certain brand or cotton vs. Egyptian cotton. You should start with 100% cotton, I have used Aurifil, Star, and Coats to great success but the key is the 100% cotton.  This is not the time to save money and go with a mixed blend or the store brand you find at Joann or Hobby Lobby. You have too many hours into your quilt to use poor quality thread.

Thread Stands are a Must

Use a thread stand, you will find them at Amazon for 10-15 bucks and they will last you a quilting lifetime.  I have had mine for over 10 years, once in a while I will clean it with a wet rag, but I will never need to replace it.  The thread stand will allow proper thread tension resulting in the thread not fraying. This is a must if you are using a larger than a normal size spool of thread.

Really How Old Is Your Needle?  AKA Size Does Matter

This is the number one reason your thread breaks.  You are using the wrong needle or a dull needle. First, the eye of the needle needs to be big enough for the thread to flow through without the thread touching the sides. When the thread touches the eye hole of the needle it will create friction resulting in fraying.  Fraying is the number #1 reason your thread will break. Next, the needle needs to be sharp. Most quilters suggest a Quilting needle size 90, however, I have found if your quilt top has a ton of seams or was paper pieced a denim/jeans needle very well. I know some people might think this is overkill, but you need the extra strength to make it through all the seams or paper piecing.  Personally, once I did steps 4 and 5 my thread breakage dropped by 90%. I put a new needle in every time I start a new free motion quilting project. In fact this weekend I was able to meander/free motion quilt a whole top with ZERO thread breakage. It’s truly amazing how fast you can quilt a top with zero breakage.

What Bobbin Case are you using?

This tip is for Janome MC11000, 6600 and 6500 owners.  You must own a Janome Low Tension Bobbin Case MC11000, 6600, and 6500, you can pick one up at Amazon for around 25 dollars.  Without this bobbin case, you will never be able to quilt a top without breakage. This is a game changer.  I have three friends who all purchased their 6600 in the same year, these quilters had tons of experience and skills but they could not use the machine for free motion quilting.  My Janome would bring me to tears, with how often by thread broke. I got to the point where I would not finish my quilts because the thread breaking would wreck me. Once I got this bobbin case, everything got better.  My friends have all had great results as well, and are back to quilting their own projects. Really once I got this case and started each project with a new needle my thread breakage became a thing of the past.

After I learned these five tricks I spent the next month quilting all of my UFO’s,  I was able to get through so many tops that I was able to donate three lap size quilts to charity and get my quilting area ( I don’t have a quilting room….yet) cleaned out.  

Now tell me, what did I miss?  What did you do to stop your thread from breaking while quilting breaking?  Or if any of these tips helped you please let me know!  I love hearing from other quilters.