Monopoly thread is an almost invisible thread that comes in 2 colors - white and smoke. I bought mine at Superior Threads. In the photo above it has a net cover to keep the thread from falling of - it comes with this so you don't need to purchase any.
There are lots of times when you might want to use this kind of thread If you have light and dark colored fabric in a quilt top and you don't want to see dark quilting on the light or light quilting on the dark then this thread would be perfect. You might also use this thread to SID between a dark and light fabric if you have trouble staying in the ditch like I do.
I have a blue and purple batik quilt top that I want to quilt. It also has black around the rectangles and I didn't want to cover up the batik fabric with black thread. I also didn't want to see blue or purple thread on the black fabric. So I chose the smoke monopoly to quilt with.
I was worried I would ruin my beloved quilt top so I got a little practice fabric out and loaded it on the machine.
I quilted with smoke on top and bottom. The top fabric is white and the bottom is navy. The thread seems to take on the color of the fabric. I would use the white monopoly if I was quilting on light colored fabric. I used smoke just for practice.
Looks great on the navy fabric. All you really see is the texture of the quilting.
Sneak peak of my next quilt! I put this photo in so you can see that the thread has a bit of sparkle to it. I think once the quilt gets washed and crinkly it will sink into the fabric and no be so noticeable.
Some tips to help you get started:
1. If you are winding bobbins on a longarm and you have a separate bobbin winder - use the bobbin winder on your longarm. I can wind without quilting. Set the speed for the bobbin winder to 30 (it's medium slow). Also make sure your tension on your winder is not too tight.
2. Wind your bobbin half way. This thread is so thin, there will still be lots of thread on the bobbin. (I don't know why, this was on a post somewhere when I was researching this thread).
3. Use a #14 needle for longarmers or a 70/10 for domestic machines. I used a #16 on my longarm because I didn't have a 14 and it seemed to work good.
4. Quilt slowly! This is hard for me - my brain gets excited and wants to go fast. If your tension is too tight when you wind your bobbins, your thread will break when you quilt.
5. Loosen the top thread tension. I loosened 2 full circles CCW on my longarm.
6. This thread is so thin, it is hard to see when you are threading the needle (or rethreading the machine). I used a flashlight so I could see the sparkle or reflection on the thread. This helped a lot!
7. Nap time is a good time to practice something new! No interruptions when you are learning or you will get frustrated! :)
Pictures of the finished quilt will be coming soon! Then we will be able to see what it looks like after washing. Until then...linking with Free Motion by the River
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