It's Thursday and time for this week's Thursday Thread. Each week I highlight a thread that I use in my studio and give some information about the thread and share some pictures of my work.

Today's thread is WonderFil's DecoBob. It is an 80wt polyester thread. Now before anyone panics about quilting with a polyester thread, let me share some information about this wonderful thread.

1. It is a cottonized thread. This means that it has gone through a heat process that reduces the stretch and results in a matte finish. We don't have to worry about the thread stretching as we sew and cutting into our cotton fabrics. The matte finish blends perfectly with our fabrics and doesn't reflect any light that would shine and show.

2. It is very fine which is perfect for piecing our patchwork pieces together. Many times we talk about "scant 1/4" seams" and the need to move our needles over for a smaller 1/4" seam to give us perfect piecing. With DecoBob, the thread is so fine that we are not loosing any width. Here are some images which will explain this.

3 strips of fabric sewn with 50wt cotton thread, measure just 4 7/8" wide.

the 3 strips of fabric sewn with 80wt DecoBob, measure over 4 7/8" wide.

The two strip pieces stacked with the 80wt piecing on the bottom. You can see on the right hand edge how much bigger it is.

"So, what't the big deal" you ask? These strips were cut at 2". There are only 2 seams in this strip set and it's not that bad, but that little difference multiplied can cause a big problem later.

Let's say you have a 1/8" difference in 2 seams in a block. What happens when you have 4 or 8 seams in a block? That would be 4-8 X the 1/8" difference. Could make a 12" block 1/2" or more smaller than the pattern requires!

My advice is to save yourself some hassles and try piecing your quilt blocks with DecoBob 80wt polyester thread from WonderFil.

Next week I'll share a bit more about DecoBob and other uses for it.