Often we need a small amount of colored thread in a strange shade for a jacket repair, knit repair(darning), button or zip reinforcement, or other small job.
Cotton thread is what most of us want and need and is available in many acceptable shades but finding heavy enough thread in 100% cotton and in a shade needed is exponentially more difficult. Using lightweight household thread in any shade looks bad IMO and nylon or poly thread is a sure sign someone took the easy way out or didn't know what they were doing.
CharlesZarit Co. sells retail and carries 16/4 ply button thread that is 100% cotton and is a nice weight for most jacket repairs. Arguing 3-ply vs 4 ply at this point is silly.
http://www.charleszarit.com/charles_zarit_sewing_supply_005.htm
All that said, here's a trick to dye thread on the stove top. If you dye thread loosely, you'll end up with a tangled mess. Dye it on a spool and it will not dye through and through. The key is to find a piece of open-cell foam and very loosely wrap thread around that. This foam is in all sorts of packing. The thread will shrink a bit so wrap it only tightly enough so that it won't fall off the ends. The purpose of the foam is to allow dye to the back side of the thread. Too tightly wound and, even on foam, it won't dye evenly. Hemostats on the loose thread end will give you something to hold on with and allows you to find the end later(a surprisingly troublesome thing for such a small batch). Once in the dye bath frequently compress the whole thing with a spoon to get rid of air and to keep fresh dye in the foam. You can use your hands if you can stand the heat and don't mind dye all around your nails for a few days.
Here's a small batch I did for the ELC RW B-3 project:
This process will strip the glazing and change the look of the thread a bit but that's not bad if you use a needle with a large enough eye(machine sewing). Also this is now "preshunk" so shrinking on the garment is reduced. This is controversial in my book as some of those characteristics are desirable, in theory allowing lighter sewing tensions, etc., but I'm no pro so probably shouldn't comment. Notice how the dyed thread looks relaxed and thicker. You could bees-wax it if hand sewing but that's too sticky for a machine IMO. I have to use a 22/140 machine needle while I can get away with an 18/110 with it undyed.
How to actually dye and getting the color right is a whole other topic!
Do up!
Dave
Cotton thread is what most of us want and need and is available in many acceptable shades but finding heavy enough thread in 100% cotton and in a shade needed is exponentially more difficult. Using lightweight household thread in any shade looks bad IMO and nylon or poly thread is a sure sign someone took the easy way out or didn't know what they were doing.
CharlesZarit Co. sells retail and carries 16/4 ply button thread that is 100% cotton and is a nice weight for most jacket repairs. Arguing 3-ply vs 4 ply at this point is silly.
http://www.charleszarit.com/charles_zarit_sewing_supply_005.htm
All that said, here's a trick to dye thread on the stove top. If you dye thread loosely, you'll end up with a tangled mess. Dye it on a spool and it will not dye through and through. The key is to find a piece of open-cell foam and very loosely wrap thread around that. This foam is in all sorts of packing. The thread will shrink a bit so wrap it only tightly enough so that it won't fall off the ends. The purpose of the foam is to allow dye to the back side of the thread. Too tightly wound and, even on foam, it won't dye evenly. Hemostats on the loose thread end will give you something to hold on with and allows you to find the end later(a surprisingly troublesome thing for such a small batch). Once in the dye bath frequently compress the whole thing with a spoon to get rid of air and to keep fresh dye in the foam. You can use your hands if you can stand the heat and don't mind dye all around your nails for a few days.
Here's a small batch I did for the ELC RW B-3 project:
This process will strip the glazing and change the look of the thread a bit but that's not bad if you use a needle with a large enough eye(machine sewing). Also this is now "preshunk" so shrinking on the garment is reduced. This is controversial in my book as some of those characteristics are desirable, in theory allowing lighter sewing tensions, etc., but I'm no pro so probably shouldn't comment. Notice how the dyed thread looks relaxed and thicker. You could bees-wax it if hand sewing but that's too sticky for a machine IMO. I have to use a 22/140 machine needle while I can get away with an 18/110 with it undyed.
How to actually dye and getting the color right is a whole other topic!
Do up!
Dave
