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  1. #1
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    HELP: Thread for Tarp and Quilt out of Silnylon.

    I am confused, I guess I have read too much, heaven forbid, I do not read everything I can find.

    I do not know what thread to use, I have had fights with Guterman Thread in the past. However, I bought some Polyester spools, that match my silnylon, I do not want to buy black thread.

    I do not understand about Coats & Clark Thread, it is Polyester core wrapped in Polyester, I do not understand why Polyester would be wraped with Pollyester.

    On the weight of the thread, do I really need the heavier weight thread, will it work in my machine, without tangling or breaking unexpectedly? I am near the end of my life, I do not need equipment to last 10 years.

    I am making a tarp, I am probably going to end up with something like a Monsoon/Typhoon for my HH Explorer. I dislike the Monsoon I have it is too heavy and dark for my taste, so I am going to make something I like a little better. I seem to be bogged down on the thread issue. I will be using the gear in storms on the coast, and sometimes in the snow (we have snow in our part of Canada 10 months out of the year).

    Oh, I almost forgot, my vintage Brother Sewing Machine is from Japan, it was designed for the Japanese Market. I can not get a decent stitch length out of the machine.

    What thread and what size needle, help please. I know several of you can answer my questions.

    Thank you in advance.
    Hurtheart

  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnSawyer's Avatar
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    Silnylon is pretty flimsy stuff. You don't need heavyweight thread at all. Any 100% polyester thread that works with your machine should be fine.

    Standard weight thread is fine... My crummy machine works well with a Singer Red/Orange (Sharp point, #11) Thicker thread (Like I get from DIY Gear Supply) I use a #14 needle...

    Hope this helps...

    John
    "Do or do not, there is no try." -- Yoda


  3. #3
    Senior Member Ramblinrev's Avatar
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    What JohnSawyer said. Just make sure you get regular spools of thread. My wife has a serger and on occasion I have glommed some near empty cones of serger thread. They can be a bit fussy for a regular sewing machine. I think it is something about the way the machines are threaded. Those cones can look awfully inviting when you want a high quantity of thread. But they don't really work well.
    I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.

    "Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
    Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn

    We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series

    Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies

    Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint

  4. #4
    Senior Member raiffnuke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ramblinrev View Post
    What JohnSawyer said. Just make sure you get regular spools of thread. My wife has a serger and on occasion I have glommed some near empty cones of serger thread. They can be a bit fussy for a regular sewing machine. I think it is something about the way the machines are threaded. Those cones can look awfully inviting when you want a high quantity of thread. But they don't really work well.
    Serger thread is also different. It is 2 strand vs 3 strand, so it is weaker. It also has shorter fibers in it so it is not as strong. Which is why it has much more lint than regular sewing thread (it looks fuzzy). It is made this way because a serged seam is not intended to hold the material together, it is meant to bind the edges to prevent fraying and have a nice finished edge. The thinner thread keeps the bulk of the seam down.

  5. #5
    Senior Member nacra533's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HURTHEART View Post

    Oh, I almost forgot, my vintage Brother Sewing Machine is from Japan, it was designed for the Japanese Market. I can not get a decent stitch length out of the machine.

    Thank you in advance.
    Hurtheart
    Vintage Brother is a good thing usually. Japanese machines are the good ones usually vs. Taiwan and worse China. In order of quality of vintage machines, Swiss and German are at the top, very closely followed by Japan and America (when we manufactured things)

    Seiko in Japan made the good Singers, Consews, and Seiko machines back in the day, and maybe Brother.

    Thread size, you don't need heavy thread for sil nylon. In fact, smaller works better. Something along the weight of a V30, textile size 30 and a 9 needle. Thread sizes can be misleading and many manufacturers don't give thread size on packaging and it takes a little research. "Normal" Guttermans poly thread is about a V46, so larger than needed for sil.

    Poly over poly is fine. Bonded poly is good, but not necessary in the smaller sizes.

  6. #6
    Senior Member nacra533's Avatar
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    And the poly wrapped poly....

    Polyester does not flow though the tension disks as smoothly as cotton thread. This causes sewing problms and you cant just set tension and forget it as you move between different fabric types and weights like with cotton thread.

    Sewing with poly thread is the reason we have so many members frustrated with sewing and tension, and needle sizes, etc...

    One way manufacturers help it flow through the tension disks is to coat it, called bonded thread. This thread is not fuzzy at all. You see this usually on larger cones 16 oz. the bonding helps with the heat generated from sewing at industrial machine speeds. A home machine max is usually about 800spm, where an industrial straight stitch can run 5500spm or greater. My industrials run at 2600spm.

    Another way is to make it fuzzy, like cotton thread. Fuzzy polyester isnt easy so it takes some effort. You see this as spun poly or poly covered poly. The poly cover is the fuzzy part. In my experience, Poly fuzz causes it's own problems. It generates heat at moderate speed, it dirtys up the machine more than cotton, requiring more attention to cleaning, and occassionally, it just shreds at the needle under moderate speed, using proper needle size.

    The last Walmart type Coats and Clark outdoor poly thread i purchased was bonded and too heavy for nylon and way too heavy for sil nylon.

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