Thread of a different color

Would you use this thread to quilt this fabric?

The tan is far too light even thought it is the same color as the tan in the blue print.  I used the blue on both of these fabrics.  I used the rust for background stippling on the rust fabric.  But I wouldn't always have done that.

Flashback to November 17, 2000.  (The date has been changed to protect innocent dates.  It was sometime that year...or the year after.)  I'm standing in a quilt shop with my quilt top trying to decide which thread matches the border fabric best.  I was a fairly new quilter then.  I thought the thread had to match exactly.  And if the border was a multi-color print, I might just need to use monofiliment so it would match all the time.  End of flashback.

Is there a flaw in that thinking?  I don't know, but it isn't what I now do.  Now I use thread with some degree of contrast.  There is an advantage and a disadvantage to using contrasting thread.  The advantage is that you can see it better.  The disadvantage is that you can see it better.  (Hmmm...I could probably go into politics.) 

I can explain.  Free motion quilting is done in every direction.  When doing free motion quilting, you must keep track of where you have already quilted as well as where you will quilt next.  To keep track of where you have already quilted, you look at the thread quilted into the fabric.  It could be in plain sight or could be hidden somewhere behind the sewing machine foot.  I don't know about you, but I need all the help I can get to see the thread.  It is a definite advantage if the thread color does not match exactly.

The fact that the thread shows after quilting is only a disadvantage if you are disappointed with how it looks.  This is what I think.  If you can see it better while you are quilting, you may just do a better job of the quilting.  And even if you don't...please...cut yourself some slack.  You don't have to be perfect.  (Needing to be perfect only applies to me, a typical Virgo from the get-go.  It doesn't pertain to anyone else, including other Virgos.)  So quell your disappointment.  Accept that you did the best you could on that quilt on that particular day.  You will improve if you keep trying.

Does this mean that I quilt white fabric with black thread for ultimate visibility?  Certainly not.  The thread can be a little darker or lighter or a slightly different shade of the color.  It can be an entirely different color as long as the color of the thread and the fabric are the same value. 

Here is a closeup.  The blue looks better than you probably imagined.

The spool of tan looks too dark for the background stippling on the light, but the end result looks fine.

The key is to take a little of the spool and look at one strand against the fabric to be quilted. 

This is the finished quilt.