Playing with Tutti and Konfetti Threads

The threads have arrived

I’m so excited about the new threads I got from WonderFil – Tutti and Konfetti. I love their zany names, do you? The colors remind me of ice cream and candy of all sorts of flavors!

I can’t wait to play with these on my sewing machine, but first, it’s important to learn more about these threads for optimum performance and achieving the results I want in my quilting and sewing needs.

Let’s find out more about Tutti and Konfetti

Both of these threads are 50wt, so they are a bit finer than the threads I was using last month and they are both double gassed which means they produce less lint than other cotton threads. The WonderFil website says they’re great for quilting, longarming, thread painting, embroidery, general sewing, and piecing.

Double gassed and mercerized – what does THAT mean???

Both of these threads are double gassed and mercerized and I’m assuming that it’s a good thing but I wasn’t really sure what that means so I Googled it! Wikipedia says the following:

“Mercerisation alters the chemical structure of the cotton fibre. The structure of the fibre inter-converts from alpha-cellulose to a thermodynamically more favourable beta-cellulose polymorph. Mercerising results in the swelling of the cell wall of the cotton fibre. This causes increase in the surface area and reflectance, and gives the fibre a softer feel.^[3] An optional last step in the process is passing the thread over an open flame; this incinerates stray fibers, improving the fabric’s appearance. This is known as “gassing the thread” due to the gas burner that is typically used.”

This means that the thread is stronger and has a nice sheen. Since the gassing process removes stray fibers, the thread is less likely to produce lint – and since the Tutti and Konfetti are “double gassed”, they produce even less lint than other threads. There’s your science lesson for today!

Hmmm….thread painting…this gives me an idea!

Since the WonderFil website says these threads are fantastic for thread painting, I think I’d like to give that a try!! The last time I did any thread painting was before my kids were born – over 16 years ago – in the ’90s!!! So, I guess I better do some research before I jump in!

When I Google “thread painting” lots of information comes up, and the name “Nancy Prince” is on many of them, so I checked out YouTube and found this video “What is Thread Painting?”. Her website www.nancyprince.com has tons of info and instructional videos as well.

Zig-zag vs straight stitch

When I did thread painting before, we used a zig-zag stitch and a darning foot, but many of the videos that I found online only showed people using a straight stitch. Nancy Prince also has this video which shows the difference between the two stitches:

Selecting a fabric

Apparently you can do thread painting on paper too, but I’m going to use fabric. And, since I’m new to this technique, I want to have a design to follow instead of going at it free-hand. So, what I’m going to do is pick a fabric with a fairly large design to stitch over with my sample threads. Here’s what I found looking through my “stash”….more candy…

Narrowing it down – let’s preview the Tutti and Konfetti

Usually I would first pick a fabric and then pick threads to match, but since I have the sample packs to use, I need to work backwards. Obviously, my Christmas and dog print fabrics will not work with the threads I have, but I think there are a couple that would be suitable. I think the best way to decide on a fabric is to lay the threads on top of the fabrics as I’ve done in the picture below and see which one works best.

We have a winner!

I decided which fabric I’m going to use, but sadly I’ve run out of “play time” for today. Tomorrow I’ll show you which fabric I decided to use with my Tutti and Konfetti threads and we’ll get organized with all of the other supplies we need to start painting with thread.