An Unexpected Lesson
So I have a story to tell you. When I decided that I wanted to learn how to quilt a few years ago, my aunt was generous enough to give me some supplies to get started. She had dabbled in hand quilting but didn't stick with it so she gave me a rotary cutter, a few quilting rulers and an on-the-go quilting case meant to store quilt blocks and various notions while traveling. Since she sewed all of her quilt blocks by hand, inside the case was a lot of quilting needles, some thimbles, needle threaders, a few fabric pencils and one lone spool of thread.
Having just finished my niece's quilt the day before, I was waiting to wash it until I put a proper quilt label on it. While looking through my sewing room yesterday I happened to open up that black quilting case and took a closer look at that spool of thread. It was white and seemed a bit heavier weight that what I had. Thinking it was specifically for hand quilting, since that was what my aunt did, I decided to use it to sew my quilt label onto my quilt before washing it.
Now I'm slow at hand sewing -- I mean painfully slow. Every time I need to sew on a quilt label I need to refer to a youtube video on how to do a blind stitch. I also referred to Stephanie's tutorial on how to tie a quilter's knot over at Late Night Quilter. It took me almost an entire episode of Castle to sew on this little 3x5 quilt label. But I did it, it looked perfect, and it was very secure. I then put my quilt into the washing machine. Imagine my surprise when I pulled my quilt out of the washer and I see that there is NO LABEL ON MY QUILT. What??!!! I pull out the remaining few items in the washer and find the sad little label all wrinkled and not a single thread anywhere. How can this be? My husband thinks I'm crazy because I kept mumbling to myself "No... it can't be... they can't possibly make such a thing as dissolving thread...." He thinks I'm even crazier when I I bring a piece of the thread into the kitchen and run it under water for a few seconds AND IT DISSOLVES!!!
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| Quilt label out of the wash, with the offending thread |
I google dissolving thread and sure enough, there is such a thing. Water Soluble Basting Thread... that I used to permanently affix my quilt label with... or so I thought... I guess I'll be putting the label on that quilt again.
Oh what a bummer! I had no idea something like that existed!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are laughing so that we can all laugh along with you!! Who knew?!
ReplyDeleteI hate hand sewing and would be curled into a ball if this happened to me. But it was a good giggle for since I didn't happen to me.
ReplyDeleteI know about water-soluble thread, but if I found one lone spool of thread in an elderly relative's hand-me-downs, I would never assume it to be that. It is a newfangled thing, not something an old-fashion hand sewer would use.
ReplyDeletesorry i did have a little chuckle re your thread. I have never heard of this thread either, hope you have now got the label secure. It was good to have the items passed down to you to start you on your quilting journey, I was given a large bag of scraps recently whicjh I needed having used all mine up such fun sorting through them all
ReplyDeleteOh man!! I agree with Carla, I even have some of that thread but I never ever would have thought that it would be tucked in a hand sewers kit. . . I keep mine in its own little baggie, with the label. I have heard stories of people quilting entire quilts with it. . . and having a very unpleasant surprise when the quilt came out of the wash!
ReplyDeletePractice makes perfect :)
ReplyDeleteI keep telling myself that I am going to attach it to the back before quilting LOL But honesty, I may try to add in the corner with the binding then you only have to sew down on side :)
DeleteOh no! I have heard of the thread before (though I've never seen it) and had a sinking feeling as I read the post that the story might take that turn...yikes. It's like a quilting murder mystery. Well maybe look at is as the universe is giving you more hand stitching practice?
ReplyDeleteStop. Water soluble thread. I had no idea it even existed. Eeeek!
ReplyDeleteOh my! That's a shame after all that work. But someday you will look back on this and laugh. Or at least smile?
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness...Sorry this made me chuckle! Hopefully you will get a smile out of this too, one you have the label on nice and secure. I have never heard of water soluble thread! All that work, I know how you feel having to hand stitch the label on, always my least favorite part and it takes me forever to get it just right.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea they made such a thing! How CRAZY!
ReplyDeleteAww, how awful. Yes there is such a thing as dissolving thread, and such a thing as invisible thread. You have to be careful which one you use, and make sure you keep a warning label attached to it! The dissolving thread is for basting.
ReplyDeleteI'm still laughing. And think of it this way: you got a good blog story out of it.
ReplyDeleteOh, that's way too funny! I've heard of that type of thread before, but have never used it. Seems like a good product....for certain things!
ReplyDelete