Embroidery Thread Basics

May 11, 2009

By Steven Batts, Contributing Writer

I once was working with a fellow who told me he would like embroidery if it weren’t for the thread. Obviously that person didn’t last long in the embroidery industry. After all, what is embroidery all about? Decorating a piece of fabric with thread. Sometimes we get so focused on stabilizers, digitizing and other things that the thread gets taken for granted.

Technology has changed a lot of things in our industry. Advances in machinery and technology have been tremendous over the past 15 to 20 years. Yet with all this advancement, the most basic element — thread — has stayed relatively consistent. When I started in the industry, nearly all embroiderers used one of two types of thread: polyester or rayon. Now, nearly 20 years later, we see that these are still the top two thread types.

That doesn’t mean nothing has changed. The majority of embroiderers in the United States used rayon thread 20 years ago. Today, I find that as I teach seminars and classes, the majority of embroiderers report that they use polyester. 

While the materials used in the threads have not changed over time, the processes for making the threads have. The top sewing speeds of embroidery machines have increased significantly in two decades, and embroiderers have found that rayon thread doesn’t always perform well under those conditions.

Rayon
Rayon continues to be the choice of many older, established shops — particularly contract houses. There are two reasons rayon thread was more popular in the ’80s and ’90s. First, it was easier to control the tension with rayon than with polyester. Rayon is still a smoother-running thread today. It tensions nicely and is easier on the trimmer system. The second reason was its finish. Rayon has more luster and a softer hand than polyester. This makes the embroidery brighter and more pliable.

The downside of rayon is that it is more delicate. It will break more easily and thus requires more care for it to sew without problems. It should be stored and used at room temperature, and its shelf life is generally one to two years. Also, it is not colorfast, so care must be used when laundering garments embroidered with rayon thread.

Over time, the difficulties of using rayon have begun to outweigh the advantages, so it’s easy to see why polyester has become the most common embroidery thread.

Polyester
Polyester is strong and colorfast, which makes you wonder why it wasn’t the dominant choice all along.

One reason polyester thread didn’t become more popular until the late 1990’s is that it was just so hard to use. Tensioning polyester thread was (and is) far more difficult than tensioning rayon. Polyester thread won’t break, but it does stretch a great deal. That made tensioning very tricky 15 years ago. And these tension problems with polyester thread usually showed up in the form of random looping in the design.

Over the years, thread manufacturers have minimized many of the problems that made polyester less popular than rayon. The tensioning capabilities were improved by changing the composite of the material and the twist of the plies of thread. Dyes have improved that give polyester a sheen approaching that of rayon thread.

Keep in mind, however, that while polyester products have been improved to perform like rayon, they will never have the exact same properties as rayon. Rayon is still slightly easier to tension and still has a little better sheen. Additionally, thread manufacturers have improved the colorfastness and strength of rayon. 

So each type of thread continues to have strong and weak points. Rayon is shiny and smooth running but is more delicate, less colorfast and has a shorter shelf life. Polyester is strong and colorfast, but is less shiny, more difficult to tension and can make stiffer embroidery.

As thread manufacturing technology continues to improve, so will the properties of each of these threads. One day we may have an uber thread that has all of the good qualities and none of the bad. Until then, test several brands of both polyester and rayon to find the thread or threads that will work the best for you.

Steven Batts, a consultant with 17 years experience in the embroidery industry, owns Righteous Threads, Greensboro, N.C., which offers digitizing, embroidery and machine maintenance services. Steven regularly leads seminars at ISS shows and is an industry speaker and consultant. For more information or to comment on Steven’s article, e-mail righteousthreads@gmail.com.

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