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Tips for Stitching with Blending Filament
and Metallic Thread

1. Stitch more slowly and more attentively, and use a needle large enough to ‘open’ the hole in the fabric sufficiently to allow the thread to go through easily.
2. Use short lengths of thread - 46cm (18in) or less - to avoid excessive abrasion of the thread when pulling it through the fabric.
3. Hold your work upside down and let the needle hang so the thread can untwist. Do this frequently (after one or two stitches).
4. Stitch using the ‘stab’ method rather than the ‘hand sewing’ method, working your stitches in two movements: up vertically then down vertically through the fabric.
5. To vary the amount of shine, change the number of strands of metallic thread - more strands give a greater sheen, and vice versa.
6. When combining blending filament with stranded cotton (floss) in one needle, you must first knot the metallic thread onto the needle, as follows. Loop the thread and pass the loop through the eye of the needle, leaving a short tail. Pull the loop over the point of the needle. Tighten the loop at the end of the eye by pulling the two ends of the thread. Gently stroke the knotted thread to ‘lock’ it in place. Add the stranded cotton by threading onto the needle in the usual way, and you are ready to stitch.