Monday, October 25, 2010

The Italian Face Off - Aurifil vs Curicini Tre Stelle

And so it begins . . .

I was so intrigued by my first experience with fine Italian threads that I've decided to do a head to head comparison between Aurifil and Curicini Tre Stelle.

I first learned of Aurifil at the Houston Quilt Festival back in 2005 and immediately fell in love with their 12 wt variegated thread. I like to use variegated thread for quilting and the 12 wt was a nice hefty thread that was still thin enough to run through my Bernina.

The Curicini Tre Stelle thread is new to me, but is a from a company that has been around for decades.

The first round of the Italian thread faceoff will be between 50 wt threads doing regular piecing. I use a Bernina 1260 and a 90/14 needle (because I don't like changing needles between cotton and metallic threads!)

In this corner is a grey 2-ply 50 wt Curicini Tre Stelle thread.

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I've filled 5 bobbins and cleaned the bobbin case.

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Then in this corner, anxiously waiting his turn, is a white 2-ply 50 wt Aurifil thread.

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I am piecing regular commercial 100% cotton squares with a straight stitch and will go through 5 full bobbins. I'll be counting thread breaks and checking lint build up after each bobbin finishes.

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So far, I completed 1 bobbin full of the Curicini Tre Stelle. This is what the bobbin case looked like afterwards.

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Sort of linty! Could be from the fabric, could be the thread, but won't know until the full test is finished. I'm thinking I may have to also run this test with the cheap brand of thread I was previously using just to get a data point on linty-ness.

Other than the lint, the Curicini is running smooth and beautiful through my machine and creating lovely stitches.

I have finished off one simple quilt top, but the challenge will continue on the next! Stay tuned for scintillating photos of lint build up or lack there of.

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(Sorry, no wet t-shirts or tight Italian pants in this faceoff. I'll have to leave those images to your imagination!)

4 comments:

Eileen said...

Very nice, Kim! Can't wait to see it in person. :)

Sarah Ann Smith said...

Kim: can't wait to see the results! I've been trying the Gilbreath threads, too....over on my blog the recent class sample posts show wich threads. I am really liking the wool, silk and heavy cotton and think (who me?) maybe I need to re-introduce some hand-stitching into my work!

I canNOT believe you've been at the Inn nearly 6 (or was it 7) years? It seems like you were just moving!

Cheers, Sarah

Kim Marguerite said...

Yes, those heavy weight threads are alluring! Can't wait to give them a try, too.

We count in workshop seasons around here. ;-) We are finishing up season 6 this year. The time has flown by.

Sherrie Spangler said...

That bobbin case looks REALLY linty. I'm looking forward to the comparison results.