The importance of triming your threads

Trimming your threads when you piece your quilt top is a big deal, a VERY big deal. I have heard it all "of its ok, a few threads are  not going to cause a problem." "what's the big deal its just a thread its inside the quilt its not going to get in your way."  Well no its not going to get in my way but they can shadow through the fabric causing it to look like a pencil mark on your quilt.  Even more important it annoys the heck out of judges at quilt shows! Take the time to trim your threads before you bring it to your quilt for quilting.  and why your trimming your threads make sure you don't have any "short seams" that are going to pull apart at the slightest tug.!

Sometimes, even for the ever persistent thread trimming quilting, sometimes a stray thread sneaks into your quilt without anyone seeing it until its "Too Late". Yap, from time to time even i don't see a thread that needs trimming until i have already quilted over it and it is now shadowing through the light color fabric standing out like a sore thumb.  But never fear, it can be fixed!

Take a look at this photo, do you see that dark brown thread shadowing a line in the creamy fabric? Go ahead, look closer, you'll see it...



Now take a look at the tools i am going to use to "fix" that stray thread. My handy dandy thread snips, and a teeny tiny size 13 crochet hook. Word to the wise, that crochet hook is easily broken if you drop it and it lands hook first on a concrete floor. Don't ask me how i know, lets just trust me on that one k?



First thing you need to do is to decide if the thread is actually attached to the quilt top and its not just a stray tread you picked up off your clothes or the floor.  If it is attached to the quilt at a seam or to some machine applique stitching here is what you need to do. #1, take the crochet hook and as close to the seam (or applique stitching line) as possible stick the hook into the fabric. I know, i know, in the photo the hook isn't that close to the seam line. I couldn't get a good photo if i got the hook right on the seam so lets just pretend that its much closer than it really is ok?



#2 CAREFULLY wiggle the hook around until you catch the thread



#3 SLOWLY pull the thread back out of the same spot that you inserted the crochet hook being VERY careful to not grab any of the woven threads of the fabrics itself. If there is quilting stitches OVER the thread it can be a bit more difficult to remove. (see the end of this post for more info it the thread has quilting over it!)



#4 give the thread a very slight tug and then cut it as close to the fabric as possible



#5 run the blunt (non hook end) of the crochet hook over the spot and any small amount of thread (& any batting that just happened to pop up!) will pop back into the fabric and disappear!



See all gone!



If the thread is lose and not attached to a seam then you don't have to worry about bring it out near a seam, just use the hook to grab it near the middle if possible.

If there is quilting stitches OVER the thread i can be a bit trickier to remove. You might have to take it out in small sections instead of one long thread. Do the same steps as above EXCEPT insert the crochet hook into the fabric of the quilt top near the row of quilting stitches and pull the thread out a bit at a time, cutting it when needed and moving towards the seam were the thread is attached. If you have lots of quilting over the thread it may, and will take a lot of work to make this work so try to do it before you do any tiny background fillers like pebbles or McTavishing!