Kitchen Costuming

What type of thread works best? 

This might seem like a simple question, thread is thread, right? At least that is what a friend just asked me today.  Hey! What does he know anyway?  He specializes in visual effects!  I, on the other hand, should know something because, not only did I once work at Jo Ann’s Fabric and Crafts, but I have been sewing for a good part of my life.

Okay, just to be thorough with my son’s second question (and not to just pull this answer from my all-knowing “mind”), I thought I would take a little research trip over to the fabric store. OMG!!! Did I not pay any attention to the thread while I worked at Jo Ann’s or did the thread industry expand while I was gone?  I think the problem here is that fabric stores around me seem to be closing en mass and I am left to barely find what I need at Wal-Mart (not much selection there and it sounds like a good excuse for being ignorant). At any rate, what I found was a veritable wonderland of cottony colors and shiny, strong threads that would make a silkworm drool.

There were Dual Duty, Specialty and Decorative threads.  Spools of thread came in all purpose, fine, heavy, metallic, clear, button and craft, hand quilting, machine quilting, extra strong, silk, top stitching, elastic, fusible, jeans (heavy), jeans (regular), serger, and upholstery. Whew! I also saw variegated (different colors on one spool) with “cute” names like piñata, teddy bear, gumballs, sunny day, and bowl of cherries. And of course, for the quintessential thread collector, neon colored  and “glow in the dark” threads are a must.

Now back to the original question, for which the answer, I am now going to pull out of my butt…er…I mean my mind.  It depends on what fabric you are using, what you are making, and how much you are going to wash/wear it. For most of your general sewing, you will use an all purpose Dual Duty thread. You will most likely never use a specialty thread unless you just want to. Mostly what you will use will be polyester covered polyester or cotton (even to sew on buttons). Thread, like fabric (made of woven threads), does wear out from general use and frequent cleaning with hot water and detergents.

And finally, I’d like to give you a tip about buying the correct color thread for your fabric.  Always bring a swatch of the cloth with you.  When you find a spool that looks close to the color, unwind the thread strand and lay it across your fabric.  You will get a more accurate color match if you do this as opposed to just putting the spool up to the material.

Where to start? Part III   How do you know when to hand stitch something versus sewing with a sewing machine?  Upcoming post!

In my attempt to get more content on this blog, I decided to create a new category that barely had anything to do with costuming or props.  It is not that I don’t like sharing those things with my readers, but there is a lot that goes into some of these blogs making them of almost epic proportion. It can take days or even weeks of preparation to even write something (Why have a blog if it isn’t updated frequently?).  And of course, I know my audience (of two) is just sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see what I come up with next.

Okay, so I thought about this all day yesterday (even as I was mowing the lawn). What would be a good title for this category?  I wanted this to be like a daily journal where I could exercise my creative writing skills and basically be about nothing in particular.  The thought that I latched onto for most of the day was to call the category “Kitty Litter.” Sounds strange, I know, but when you live in a household with 8-9 cats, thoughts of kitty litter never quite leave your mind (or your feet, the bed… or anywhere else).  Anyway, my reasoning was a little skewed, but it was so perfect that this is where I could deposit all of the “crap” that didn’t quite fit into Kitchen Costuming.  The rest of the day was spent on trying to come up with a cute acronym for CRAP. As my mind worked overtime with things like “Cookster’s Ranting Against Passivity” or “Central Repository About Props,” I gave myself a massive headache (of course, that could have been from the huge dust bowl I funneled into the air mowing the lawn earlier). At one point, I considered doing a blog like the new “Daily Wag” on Martha Stewart’s website written by her two French Bulldogs.  I have lots of cats that would love to get in on the action and let their voices be heard.  But then I remembered how opinionated they all were.  I can see them fighting over who gets to write for the day, and I would get bumped to subscriber of this blog.  CRAP would now stand for “Cats Rule Amongst People” and the only content would be cats in tiny Harley Davidson garb or pirate costumes.

I decided the category should be called Blog Shorts.