Dawn: Thread and Buttons

Marji asked me to post this here too.

There is a bit of topstitching on this coat and I know that the look of the topstitching will really make or break the coat. I have used my sample to sew several lines of topstitching to see what I liked the most. ETA: I used a longer stitch length (3.5-4.0) and reduced the feed dog tension a bit. I used regular weight thread in the bobbin and it worked well after fiddling with the tension. I have found in the past it is better to have the same weight thread in the bobbin. On this sample I was using a topstitching needle that was pretty large; 100/16.

I have narrowed it down to two but can't decide which is best. From left to right:

• Gutterman topstitching thread in a medium brown (no spool shown). I like the thickness of this thread but it comes on little, tiny spools. Actually the spools aren't small but the thread is so thick there just isn't much thread on each spool. My local JoAnn's does not have a suitable purple in this style of thread. They have a grape Jell-o color and that is it in the purple arena. Totally not suitable for a dark eggplant wool. My personal motto is: either match the color perfectly or make it very different. Otherwise it looks like you just don't know what you are doing.
• Gutterman upholstery thread in grey. I wouldn't use the grey but I just wanted to see how it looked. This is thick thread and it comes in greater quantity. This type of thread comes in very limited colors. I use it for topstitching all the time.
• Gutterman Heavy-Duty thread. I have never used this type of thread but it is the perfect color for my coat. It is 100% polyester. It is thicker than the regular, all-purpose sewing thread but not as thick as the topstiching or upholstery thread. It doesn't seem to be as shiny as the upholstery thread either. I made two rows of stitches to play with my tension.
• Gutterman Upholstery thread again in a dark brown. This is the thread I used to topstitch my BWOF Alaska coat. It actually goes very nicely with the wool too.

Now I just have to decide between the purple and the brown.

Here you can see the buttons I plan to use and you can see the topstitchng in more detail. The flash makes everything much lighter than it actually is. The buttons are very dark brown, almost black. You can see in this picture how much thicker the real topstitching thread (brown on bottom) is. The purple fades into the fabric.


Here is the coat agin so you can see the amount of topstitching. All the major seams are topstitched. I love topstitching. I think it makes things looks so RTW.


I am debating whether to do bound buttonholes. I have never done them before.