Sewing Sewing thread

Some thread actually labels itself as intended for hand sewing, it's usually a little thicker and is much nicer to use. As for machine thread, I rather like Gutermann. I have noticed that old cotton thread can be especially annoying to work with, since the fibers are natural I suppose they do degrade over time.

 

For my production sewing machine sewing I've switched from Coates & Clark Dual Duty to Gutermans. I thought my singer 401s were wearing down but it turned out the thread was the problem after trips to the repair shop plus trying new needles & alternative types of needles.
@Teddy : any tips on sewing thread?

 

I mostly use an all purpose thread or coats & clark dual duty, for both hand and machine sewing. I've found I actually have more problems with Gutermann thread breaking on me than the all purpose or dual duty. If you're having issues with hand sewing, you might want to try waxing your thread to help keep it from getting frayed while sewing and help with tangles. For machine sewing, it can also depend on the fabric you're working with, your tension, stitch length, and if you're using the right needle for the material

 

I'm in the UK too and do a lot of sewing - BUT I'm a thread and fabric snow so bear that in mind with any of my reccommedation....{grin!}

I tend to stick to natural fibres in my fabrics and use Gutterman or Auriful 100 cotton thread.

Lot of my sewing friends reccommend Gutterman Sew-all thread as a good choice for those who don't exhibit my snobbish leanings

If you have trouble with your thread tangling and snappi ng - try running it over a block of beeswax - it smooths the surface fibres on the thread and helps prevent it from getting worn from the friction where it goes through the eye of the needle.
https://www.silksandcrystals.com/user/products/large/prym-beeswax-dressmakers-wax-611250.jpg

Teddy

 

All thread tends to age and turn frail and get tangled and snap easier. Sometimes there are also bad batches or a machine problem. All purpose and polyester threads are good for most sewing, when using a machine remember to use the right needles and feet (?). There's a nice forum thread on Jersey-fabric sewing here that can be helpful.
There are different strength thread as well, and funnily 30 is stronger than 100. If there's a crafts store or a place that sells fabrics or yarn and stuff close by, the people working there can help in most more specific questions.

 

In that case I guess this could help Sewing Threads & Uses - Made to Sew
Or this one Sew fashion doll clothes (sew-fashion-doll-clothes.com), I found the tiny versus human sized odd at first

 

If you really get into the sewing side of things and need to stock up on sewing supplies like thread, it can pay to keep an eye on the sewing TV channel, Sewing Street, and their website (Jewellery Search | Jewellery Maker | SewingStreet.com) where they have daily offers, which sometimes bring the prices down to a more affordable level. They frequently do offers on packs of Gutterman sew-all (synthetic) thread and Aurifil (cotton) in a variety of colours. They lqargely seel patchworking supplies (as well as some home dressmaking stuff) which means they have half- yards and fat quarters of quilting cotton with a large selection of prints (many suitable for doll scale sewing).

Teddy

 

I tend to watch on the website because you can order things as soon as they come up that way instead of watchign on their TV chanel and then haivng to look it up on the computer. Their show is live from 8am to 1pm each day. Some/most of their reduced prices revert to full price at midnihgt of they day they're offered on the show.

You don't have to watch 5 hours of show to see th offers, however, if you go to the watch-live webpage and look underneath the video box there's a heading for "Today's show-deals" and a heading for "Pre Order". The first heding lists the stuff they've already featured in that day's show, the second, lists the stuff they are going to feature in the rest of the show. BUT not always the price they will be offering it at that day if they're offering reductions and clearance (I think you just missed their most recent clearance days, but they come up every so often). Any stuff that;s;listed on thw website in general can also be ordered, if it's still in stock. You aren't restricted to just the offerings of the day.

Teddy

 

You're welcome - Good Hunting and happy sewing

Teddy

 

Lots of good advice allready. I use Gütermann polyester thread myself as a standard option when I don't need anything special. I do want to add that Gütermann have several other fiber options too, even if not all stores carry them. I highly recommend their silk sewing thread for fine sewing as it is strong, thin, extremely even and very pliable.
They also have wool thread that is not often found in stores, but it does exist.

Even if you can't go to stores yourself, it's worth finding out what is available in your area. Maybe you have a friend who can shop for you when you need something special?

 

It's worth a try but, honestly, a bit of an over-expensive investment for someone just looking to do some occasional hand-sewing for dolls. Reasonable quality cotton or polyester thread would do the job adequately and not cost as much.

I do a lot of sewing (full sized as well as for dolls) and only use silk thread when I'm sewing silk fabrics. The rest of the time I stick to cotton thread (and, more recently, linen thread for handsewing historical garments).

Teddy

 

Sounds nice though.

Will you be scaling down on needle size and yarn thickness to knit for your doll(s) at some point...? We have quite an active knitting community here on DoA.

My smallest is a sock knitted on 0.35 mm needles in thinner than laceweight yarn but moslty I'm knitting on aroun 1.5mm thought to 2.5mm needles for my dolls, using sock yarn down through laceweight yarn for my dolls (when the carpal tunnel allows me to knit).

Good luck meeting the April 29th deadline

Teddy

 

I find that sock weight works reasonably well for Yo-SD size upward.

The self patterning yarns are nice because you get all the colours without having to think about changing yarns and working in ends. Obviously, it's a chunkier effect the smaller the doll is, but it's not like using double-knit for Barbie or anything like that:


Teddy

 

They're actually very simple simple top-down jumpers knit with a fake sleeve seam so the stripes lining up is just continuous knitting around the whole thing until you get down to armpit level, then continue down the body alone (with the stitches for each sleeve on a holder) before going back to knit each sleeve down to the wrist. Literally the only sewing-up is the very bottom of eqch armpit and weaving in the ends of the yarn (which is great because I hate the sewing-up part of knitting).

It looks like your doll(s) wil be doing OK for knitwear, then. Those blues of the sock yean in the second picture came out looking very nice in small scale.

Teddy

 

Have you tried going down a needle size or two for the collar? I found that really helped with how neat the finished neckline looks.

Hmm... Since I've been sewing since I was a small child (which makes it 40-something years of sewing experience) I don't really take much notice of how good the instructions are, so I don't know if any of my recommendations for BJD patterns would work for you.

I really like Gracefaerie patterns (jonijewelry | Etsy), Adams-Harris Patterns (Adams Harris Pattern Company), and Designs By Jude patterns (designsbyjude | Etsy), but as I say, I can't vouch for how good the instructions are for beginners.

Teddy

 

Hi, may I jump into this conversation with a short comment? I got tired of recalculating knitting patterns so I made a code for this. You can find it on kerstinjenny.com It is a hobby project I started after my retirement. I use it all the time for topdown raglan sleeved cardigan and sweaters for my dolls.

 

Wow! Thank you!

Teddy

 

I mostly use Gutterman cotton thread or Aurifil if I don't have any old Silko thrread in the right colour.

Teddy

 

Rolling back to silk thread. I've picked it up from here Shop by: The full range of Pure silk threads and I have to say, it's really well priced and there's a huge variety of colour and thread thickness which I find particularly handy for doll-scale sewing.

 

It tendsto bemore expensice, and I'd be leary of using silk thread on non-silk fabrics as silk is so much stronger than other fibres, wo it might cut through the fabric along the seam lines. I default to cotton thread for most sewing, silk for silk fabric, linen for line fabric (if I can find machine-thread in linen, otherwise cotton).

Teddy