Food for thought. Recently I read a post on a Long Arm Facebook group that started me thinking about my backing choices and the bobbin threads that are going to appear. A customer of the person posting had wanted this long armer to match the bobbin thread with her backing fabric not with the top thread. I have long been a proponent of matching top to bobbin thread because who wants to see “pokies” (those little thread loops drawn up by your tighter top thread or down by your bobbin thread being tighter)?
Well, it just so happened that I had a medium mauve backing fabric on a quilt that I used white thread in a portion with some heavy quilting. The white thread stands out while the other threads blend in better. You can see all my stitching and it’s not always pretty. Looks great from the top though. So this is my conclusion, but maybe you have a better idea. Perhaps, I could have used the lighter mauve color of thread from the top for my bobbin with the white top thread. Because it’s a light thread color maybe the pokies would not show up much. But a better solution is one that was mentioned in the post, when choosing your backing fabric choose one that will hide or blend with your thread.
If I had a redo on this quilt knowing I was going to use white thread I would choose a non contrasting backing fabric so the white blend with the fabric. I will still match my bobbin to my top thread, no pokies or the frustration to get the bobbin tension perfect, but I will now consider the colors of the threads I will be using to quilt when choosing my backing. Not something I have really thought of before. How about you? What’s your solution?
Gail Renna 