When it comes to hand quilting, there is nothing more satisfying than the moment your needle slips effortlessly through three layers of a quilt sandwich and you know each stitch will glide without snagging or knotting, and will stay secure through years of love (and sometimes tough love by darling grandchildren). Quilters choose YLI’s Hand Quilting Thread because it glides smoothly through fabric and batting, resists knots and tangles, and effortlessly blends into your quilt with a subtle, soft matte finish. Each spool of our hand quilting thread is wound with 500 yards of 100% Egyptian-grown extra-long staple cotton. The colors are dyed consistently, with no need to match dye lots or worry that the hue will shift halfway through the spool. A thin glazed (sometimes called starch or glacé) coating improves the strength and the thread's ability to glide through fabric without tangling or knotting on itself.

Hand Quilting: A Tradition Of Rich History and Creativity

Threads manufactured today aren’t the same as those you inherited from grandma’s sewing drawer. Those cute spools may have been wound on tiny wooden spools that looked great as decor, but were a headache for running stitches (or any attempt at stitching) because they easily separated with the slightest tension or were so linty that a Maine Coon cat would be jealous of all the shedding.

Our threads are made with premium raw materials and improved through highly advanced processes and techniques. When you choose our hand quilting thread, you use a thread with decades of expertise and relentless attention to quality. Your stitches will lie flat, your seams will hold firm, and you’ll spend more time enjoying the creative process and far less time fighting the knots, twists, and tangles that low-quality hand quilting thread is notoriously known for. Ready to see why generations of quilters have said “You’ll Love It”?

Every YLI hand quilting thread spool begins with cotton fibers grown in the Nile Delta. Warm sunshine and rich soil yield a cotton crop that produces individual staples up to 2” in length. Longer staples mean fewer fiber ends per twist and a silkier surface with far less lint. We then apply our proprietary glaze, which locks in strength and creates a smooth, lint-free finish. This coating helps your thread resist knots and tangles to maintain a steady rhythm from the first stitch to the last.

Because we never use dye lots, your color remains consistent whether you restock today or next year. At 500 yards per spool, you have all the length you need for lap, crib quilts, and more.

Understanding Cotton Staple Lengths

Cotton threads are classified by the length of their individual fibers, called staples, and fall into three distinct categories:

• Short staples measure under 1 1/8” and are the lowest quality. Short staple cotton threads are known to be linty and of low quality. If a label doesn’t say long or extra-long staple cotton, it’s probably made from short-staple cotton.
• Long staples range from 1 1/8” to 1 1/4” and can produce a quality cotton thread. While a healthy amount of lint is shed from long-staple cotton threads, it’s not as much as from short-staple cotton threads.
• Extra-long staples reach up to 2”, creating threads that feel soft, have greater tensile strength (are stronger), and have much less lint than short- or long-staple cotton threads.

Only a tiny 0.03% (zero point three) of the world’s cotton crop qualifies as 100% Egyptian-grown extra-long staple. That rarity is what makes YLI’s cotton hand quilting thread so special for quilters who rely on a thread that is not only beautiful and enhances their quilt but also reliable and consistent.

StitchIng with Confidence

When you settle into your quilting frame or hoop, you want thread that responds to every technique and stitch type.

From the gentle rhythm of a running stitch to the swift momentum of a rocking stitch, using a premium-quality hand quilting thread transforms each stitch into pure enjoyment. With YLI’s Hand Quilting Thread, precise running stitches easily glide through fabric and batting perfectly, blending seamlessly into your quilt design. When you lift several loops before pulling your needle, the rocking stitch is a speedy, helpful stitch without sacrificing uniformity or strength. You can rely on the back stitch for lines that need extra reinforcement to strengthen areas that see the most wear without fraying or breaking under tension. And when you reach a tight curve or a sharp angle, the stab stitch takes each stitch at a time, giving you complete control and crisp, precise shapes.