9 March 2012

After HDT comes HWT

Have you ever tried HWT.  No, no, no, not HDT but HWT?  Hand Wound Threads.

It's one of my favourite threads.  You take two or three sewing weight threads and wind them on to a shuttle together.  Needs a bit of concentration so that they go on equally but well worth it.

So this is what happens when you use the three spools shown below.  The plain blue is a machine quilting thread which I bought in a tiny store in Cincinnati.  The one in the middle is Perfect Quilter (which, incidentally, Gina gave me many years ago on one of our outings) and the one on the right is Valdani which I bought from a UK supplier.

Now not even I would think normally of putting three such different variagated threads together but I think it WORKS!!!  See the bottom picture.

I find that three sewing weight threads HWT work out to a size 20.

This is another tshirt edging.  I've started sewing the last one onto the shirt so should be able to show you soon.

Oh, another goat arrived yesterday - 105.  Thanks Brigitte.







21 comments:

Margarets designer cards said...

Not tired this, but your thread looks lovely with the three of them, gorgeous edging
Margaret

Sharren - Tatting in Greenwood, South Carolina said...

Beautiful!

Frivole said...

What a great idea Jane!! Opens up SO many possibilities... I'm off to try it! Thanks.

** jess! ** said...

Fun! When I started tatting, it was with embroidery floss mainly. From there I tried splitting the strands, but found that was too small. So I started mixing them. I found that leaving them on the shuttle for a day or so before trying to tat with them worked out better. I guess that gives them a chance to get comfortable together.
Your way sounds a lot better though since you don't have to pick apart the floss first!

Carol Schockling Lawecki said...

Wow, the color combination is awesome Jane and totally unexpected. I would never have thought to combine the threads, let along those three together. You always have such great ideas!

Carol said...

They look great together! I never would have thought of that, I'll have to try it!

JB said...

The colors turned out lovely together. I've only added a metallic thread with a solid one. Is three threads together fiddly to tat with?

Jane Eborall said...

Well, JB, I find it's just the same as tatting with one thread. Sometimes you have to watch when joining to picots as there are 3 threads in the picot but that's all.

Elizabeth said...

Who would think the colors would turn out so nice. It is really pretty. I have some that I might just give a try.
Elizabeth
USA

Unknown said...

Yo, hace tiempo que utilizo el hilo de coser para hacer frivolite....Ya que a veces no consigo el color deseado,y como la variedad de color en hilos de coser es mayor, pue lo hago con el de coser y tambien con madejas MOULINÉ.EL Hilo de coser Gutterman,ya que es un hilo muy resistente. El problema se presenta en los picot de adorno, pero si se ponen abalorios, se evita ese problema.........

I have long used sewing thread for tatting .... Because sometimes I do not get the desired color and the variety of color sewing thread is greater, can I do with sewing and also with MOULINÉ.EL skeins Gutterman sewing thread as it is a very resistant thread . The problem comes in the picot trim , but if you put beads, avoids this problem .........

Suztats said...

The resulting colours are fabulous! I love doing this, and I've found that a button/rug thread is quite strong and firm and works well with softer threads, too. It's great fun making up one's own colours, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

This sounds very much like what I do. When I couldn't find Christmas variegated thread in the weight I liked, I went to three strands of sewing thread. Lining up the color changes like I wanted was a pain! But it worked perfectly, and matched the size 20 green thread I was using to coordinate pretty closely. I think my picots end up with a little twist in them, just enough to hold the strands together. Beads are a great solution too!

Sally Kerson said...

I love the effects you get from HWT and often use this method myself, yours particularly worked well.

God's Kid said...

What a wonderful color combination! :)

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

Great idea! I shall have to try some HWT!

Karen said...

Ingenuity with a great outcome. Karen in OR

Eliz Davis aka Tatknot said...

The first time I ever used his technique I got the effect of denim in a pair of earrings. There are so many wonderful colors available in sewing thread, too!

LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter said...

I like HWT!

Jessica said...

Cool idea! I'm going to try it. Does it help to give them a twist as you wind?

Jane Eborall said...

No, Jessica - quite the opposite. The only thing that's really important is to keep the tension the same on both threads as you wind them on.

Olga Tatiana Rostkowska said...

oh, i just died a little inside. of joy!
in poland, it's kinda hard to get all the wonderful colours of tatting-ready threads you have on your side of the pond - but we do have hundreds of colours of sewing thread available :D

>evil grin<

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