Help me quilt my quilt.

January 5, 2015 4:07 PM

I made a quilt, my second ever. I have no idea what colour thread to quilt it with.

Photo here. My plan is to do some variety of straight-line quilting, but I need a colour that works on both the light and dark coloured pieces. I have a feeling that white thread will look too busy and contrast-y on the darker blocks. I tried clear monofilament thread and it was a disaster to work with, so I'm ruling that out for now.

Cream? Beige? Taupe? I have no idea. Help me pick my thread, AskMe.

posted by makonan to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (16 answers total)

I vote for a khaki color.
posted by cacao at 4:10 PM on January 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

It's a little hard to tell the colors in that picture, particularly what is white and what is offwhite/cream/beige -- what color is the background? Is it an off-white? Does it match the color of the little birds and/or the snowflake-like things and/or the moose/deer/fox?

It looks like those are all a similar taupe color -- if that's true, I'd probably match or go slightly (but not hugely) darker than that color. I think I'd do that even if some of the images on the patches are white. If the background color is actually a brighter white than it looks in the picture then my answer might change somewhat, but on reflection probably not too much -- I'd still go for a beige/brownish color slightly darker than that main color.
posted by brainmouse at 4:13 PM on January 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

When you're auditioning thread colors, make sure to unspool a bit and lay it across the quilt top so you're only seeing one thread (like this) -- it makes a big difference from seeing the spooled-up thread, and you can get a better sense of how it will blend in to the fabrics. That said, I think cacao's suggestion of a khaki color is good. How white is the background fabric? If it's an off-white, then a similar tone but a few shades darker will likely blend well with it and the darker fabrics.
posted by katemonster at 4:15 PM on January 5, 2015 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: Most of the accents in the blocks and the borders around them are white, I forgot to include that in my post. My living room lights make it appear a bit more off-white than it truly is.
posted by makonan at 4:18 PM on January 5, 2015

I think you should go with a medium pink. It will show up on both (if you choose a middling pink), but won't be enough to make the quilt read as pink.
posted by janell at 4:22 PM on January 5, 2015 [3 favorites]

An off-white.
posted by pibeandres at 4:25 PM on January 5, 2015

Gray blends into the background well for quilts. Nice job!
posted by cecic at 4:29 PM on January 5, 2015

Gutermann thread color 506, a khaki color, is my favorite. It works well on brightly colored fabric too because it someone magically just *blends* -- buy lots if there's a discount going at Jo-Ann's. (Their app is great for coupons!)
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:20 PM on January 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd do white if the background's white. I've either done white or off white on all of the quilts I've made and it shows a lot less that you'd think. I can send you pictures if you want. I only do free motion quilting though because I'm not great at getting lines perfectly straight and even. Crooked white on hot pink looked pretty bad on the back side of the quilt so adjust for your own accuracy. On my six year old's quilt, I sewed a million different patterns so I could learn and on the front you can barely tell except for on the black or really dark purple sections. I did hamsters, hedgehogs, bicycles, fish, some of her drawings...
I like the quilting to show.
posted by artychoke at 5:52 PM on January 5, 2015

A warm grey, a couple of shades darker than the background on the center deer-in-woods fabric.
posted by notquitemaryann at 5:57 PM on January 5, 2015

What a pretty quilt!

I like the khaki idea and I'd probably follow the lead of bitter-girl.com because she says the Gutermann shade "blends" nicely with so many things. This is good to know because I'm doing some crazy quilting - just playing around - but if I ever do come up with something I like I'll want a nice "blending" color myself.

I learn so much here.

Again - beautiful quilt!
posted by aryma at 6:27 PM on January 5, 2015

I vote for khaki as well. It should blend nicely with your fabrics.

Gorgeous quilt!
posted by christinetheslp at 7:27 PM on January 5, 2015

A gray, beige, or khaki (or other neutral) will be lovely if you don't want it to stand out much.

But if you're willing to have the quilting show up a bit more, I think it would be very nice to use a muted navy or dark green. Something dark and cool, and complementary to the yellow-green accents in your fabric.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:39 PM on January 5, 2015

Many of your fabrics have what looks like a bright golden-green accent. I would go with that tone, intending for it to show. Caveat: I've never quilted a thing.
posted by daisyace at 4:35 AM on January 6, 2015

Yeah monofilament sucks and it breaks later so you end up with a quilt full of shaggy plastic hairs. Yuk.
My vote would be for something that does show like an electric green color.. it would enhance the coolness of your groovy off-center design :)
posted by sexyrobot at 2:58 PM on January 6, 2015

(Also I would do the straight lines at an angle, so it makes diamonds, or in a grid with less lines horizontally so it makes rectangles instead of squares)
posted by sexyrobot at 3:07 PM on January 6, 2015