On Aurifil

Hint: there's a giveaway if you make it to the end! Giveaway is now closed.

As the industry liaison for the Greater Western Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, one of my duties is to seek out fun, clever and interesting things for our members to try via giveaways. Last month, our theme was my favourite thread, so I reached out to Aurifil to see if they would be interested in offering a prize.

They weren't just on-board, they went overboard.

In addition to sending along a mountain of thread for the guild, they sent a bit extra for me to try out and some for me to giveaway.  It's taken me a bit to write it up - not because I'm lazy, but because I really want to try things out and give them a fair shake before I review them here.

I've given Aurifil a good shake, and I give it a big thumbs up for patchwork and quilting.

Before I get to into the review, I thought a bit of my thread history may come in handy. Long before I quilted; I sewed toys, homewares and children's clothing. I sewed things that take a lot of abuse and need to be quite durable. When I started sewing, I used Gutermann poly thread. It's rigid and didn't break for sewing toys. For the types of things that I used to sew, it was the right choice at the time.

When I bought my Bernina, they asked what types of things I sewed and they recommended the same. I hadn't found a reason to switch. When I started quilting, I just stuck with it despite others urging me to move onto a different kind of thread. It didn't cause me any problems that I noticed, so I stuck with it. So I've primarily sewn with Gutermann poly, but have tried other brands including cotton threads to some extent. Usually I'm motivated by finding the right colour or by whatever happens to be in stock at the time.

I was skeptical that I'd want or need Aurifil thread. After a month of trying out different weights, I've no problem admitting that I was wrong.  I love doing my piecing and quilting with Aurifil and will definitely buy more.  (Australian buyers can get it locally online from Kate at KateQuilts. When I'm ready to buy more, that's where I'll go.)

If you read blogs, you've seen Aurifil spruiked for the better part of the year. You've read about the colour choices, heard that it makes for lint-free sewing and seen microscopic comparisons of thread brands. Most of the other blog posts describe that Aurifil comes in several weights including cotton and a wool/poly blend.

This review comes as a test of Aurifil for my quilting uses. I tried piecing, home machine quilting, applique, attaching binding by hand and machine, crochet and even braved the new-to-me skill of free motion quilting.  I tried several different weights of Aurifil in the process.

I'm not sure how much I'll add to the conversation, but here's my take on Aurifil:

new to me skill!  I'm learning to FMQ. Not great, but we all start somewhere.

How Does It Break?
My friend, Carmel, gave me a funny look. Actually, I have no idea if she did or not. We were using Facebook chat. For all I know, she was simply grinning at her kids.

Let me start over. I think my friend, Carmel, gave me a funny look when I told her my favourite feature of Aurifil thread was that it broke easily and cleanly with a seam ripper. I imagine her saying, "Why would that be a good feature?  I don't want my thread to break."  She may well have said something exactly like that, in fact.

But the thing is... it's a great feature. I am not a perfect patchworker or quilter. My points don't always line up. I inadvertently catch the back of another block in the middle of the two that I'm trying to sew. I misjudge the middle of my curve and find the entire block is out by 1/4". I putz things up. I putz things up often. I am good friends with my seam ripper. I can take out the tiniest of stitches bound to foundation paper because I added a piece of fabric that was too small. It happens to all of us. We don't always get things right the first time.

Inevitably, seam ripping and resewing can cause problems for your fabrics. The biggest problem I've had when doing this is fabric stretch. No matter how slowly or carefully, I find that pulling stitches out can pull the fabric. This is much more noticeable when I'm trying to break polyester or cheaply spun uneven threads. I noticed straight away that the Aurifil cotton threads broke cleanly and evenly when I took a seam ripper to it. It didn't cause the stitches to pull or pucker.When I put the pieces back together correctly, they lined up without awkward stretch or pull.

That said it's been incredibly strong for hand sewing. I've tested it out for both hand applique and binding, but it held up just fine to my brute force pulling method that makes other people shudder.

The verdict: Aurifil is strong when it needs to be, but also responsive when you command it to break. Big thumbs up!


Can I Use it for Foundation Piecing?
I tried using Aurifil 40wt and 50wt for paper foundation piecing an with my Thangles. I wanted to see how the thread held up when pulling paper away from it. It's a bit of an extension on the seam ripper and break test.

The verdict: Yes, I found that paper tore away quite easily from the threads without ripping or stretching them. It worked really well, better than other threads that I've used in the past.

What Does It Cost?
My favourite weight of Aurifil is the fine 50wt. For piecing, it makes for nice flat seams. It glides well through my Bernina easily and the quilting detail is very subtle. Generally I prefer for the patchwork to be the star, and quilting to be secondary. The 40wt is billed as the all-purpose thread, but I'm partial to the finer one.

Before I played with Aurifil, I had managed to dismiss it in my head as exceptionally expensive and a luxury that could be better spent. Like many Australian, I've been collecting Spotlight vouchers and using them as a way to get my thread cheaper. It hadn't dawned on me that Aurifil was actually cost effective. When a friend ask me how much came on a spool, I did a bit of math.

Gutermann and Aurifil large spools costs approximately the same amount in Australia, $13.95 Australian dollars. (Note: that is substantially more than the $8.95USD that a 1000m spool of Gutermann sells for in the US. If you live over there, this price comparison might be irrelevant.)

For about $13.95 here, you can get 1000m of Gutermann poly or 800m Gutermann cotton. You can also get 1000m of Aurifil 40wt from Kate.  Same price. Same amount of thread.

The Aurifil 50wt has 1300m of thread on a large spool. Wait... did you say 1300m?! Yes. I did. And they still cost $13.95.

That's 30% more Aurifil fine thread for the same price as standard brands. That's 30% more money in your pocket. Save your Spotlight vouchers and use them on something fun instead like new Clover gadgets.

Obviously more miles to spool means that you buy thread less often. An added bonus aside from cost to the 50wt is that more fits on a bobbin and you have to change those less often. Win!

The verdict: Aurifil 40wt is as cost-effective as buying the standard brand in Australia. Buying Aurifil 50wt will keep more money in your pocket. It's not a luxury, it's value!

How Do I Use It?
Thread really shouldn't need a video for use, but I went ahead and watched Pat Sloan's video about threading Aurifil on a Bernina because frankly, I had a problem. It's a little embarrassing to admit that I was confused about threading my machine.  I find the Aurifil spools rattle a bit when I sew. They have a larger center opening than most spools on the market. The rattle is particularly bad, if I put them on the vertical spool holder on my machine. I haven't found a solution for that. I think I might be missing something.

I now keep the large spools on the horizontal holder simply because they don't rattle much that way. I'm wondering if I need some sort of plastic spool adapter to make them fit better. It is such as simple concept, that it probably already exists. I'd welcome advice on this. Does anyone else have this problem?  It might just be that I sew very, very fast.

The verdict: Aurifil spools rattle a little or I'm an idiot and doing something wrong.

Does it make less lint?
There are all sorts of websites about thread lint. Several friends asked me this question. This isn't an issue for me because I clean my machine regularly. I haven't noticed a difference myself. If you aren't in the habit of cleaning your machine though, I could see that it would make a difference. I don't know if it's better or worse. I'll just remind you that your machine might need a little clean inside today!

What Colors Does it Come In?
Aurifil comes in a substantial number of colors. Kate sells color cards, if you'd like to get one. You'd probably get the most use out of the cotton color card. There is a separate color card for the LANA wool/poly blend.

Aurifil has plenty of choice in color. Importantly for me, there are lots of neutrals and greys available. If you look through the photos on this post, you'll see a great range from stark white to butter cream. There are both warm and cool greys. If you like variegates, there have a whole page of the color card dedicated to both stark and subtle gradients.

If I were ordering a neutral starter set for myself, I'd consider 2021 for a soft-not-stark white, 2311 for a slight pale cream, 2692 for black, 2600 for a faint cool grey and 2615 for a faint warm grey.  In terms of sheer color, I tend towards the same tones as I always do. I've given them names to go with the number code. I love 5015 a bright sour mustard, 5002 intense red melon, 5018 happy green and 1125 teal cadet blue.

Craig has declared 4648 to his favourite. It's a variegate of purple, orange, yellow and white. He's peeved that I'm giving away the packs that contain that color. Sorry Craig. We can buy more.

In my opinion, the color card looks slightly darker than the thread does on spools. It's an optical illusion, but worth considering if you are a card shopper.

The verdict: With 200+ colors of cotton thread in four sizes, Aurifil will probably have something to match your project. 

Can I Use it for Something Else?
Sure, why not?!  Many people use the thicker weight Aurifil for hand quilting as you would normally use perle. They also use it for embroidery in place of six strand floss or fleur thread. In addition to 12wt cotton, you can get a 12wt wool/poly blend. Here, I've crocheted both the cotton and wool/poly in tandem to make a tiny granny square ala Sophie Digard. With some patience and more intricate crochet design, you could make some amazing teeny gems using Aurifil. Instead of looking at my poor example made with limited colors, why not check out some at Always Quilting.

The verdict: Aurifil has many purposes beyond patchwork and quilting. You're only limited by your imagination.

So How do I Rate it? 
For my piecing and quilting needs, Aurifil has been great. I was skeptical, but pleasantly surprised. As always, I encourage you to try things for yourself and see how it works for you!

How Do I Win?
How many of you just skipped down here to win some thread?  That's okay! I'm sure you've read the reviews of Aurifil and want to try it yourself. I have some of the Aurifil five packs for my readers to win. (The other five packs went to GWSMQG.)  Each pack has a random assortment of colors including four weights of cotton with one variegate and one pack of LANA wool.

To win, leave a comment on this post about thread. Let me know what works for you or what has let you down. Let me know about your extra special thread or about something you'd like to try. Or let me know how to reduce the rattle! Anything about thread will do.

Please make sure your email address is properly registered when you comment. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get a hold of you if you are a no-reply commenter.  I'll leave this open two weeks until October 22nd, noon Sydney time when I will randomly draw. thanks in advance for all your thread tips!  (PS: you'll want to come back Oct 22nd for the kickoff on a great education QAL anyway!)