Aurifil Thread – A Review of Aurifil Quilting Thread Why It’s The Quilter’s Choice

I recently realized that I have talked a lot about using Aurifil thread but never said WHY I use it or why numerous other quilters use it. Choosing thread for your quilt is a pretty big deal. The right thread when piecing and when quilting can affect the longevity of your quilt and the overall looks of your quilt. You’ve spent a lot of money on the fabric, a lot of time cutting the fabric, and you are going to spend a good bit of time sewing the fabric back together, you want a good quality thread and Aurifil is a great quilty thread.

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Now a little housekeeping before we get started with my review of Aurifil. I’m in no way being compensated by Aurifil for this post. Links for purchasing Aurifil thread are affiliate links from other companies. I also want to dispel any myths about the thread choice, so please take a moment to read the FAQs that Superior Threads have put together. I have nothing against poly thread, blended threads, or any of the other high-quality threads on the market today. They have their place but that’s not what we are covering today, maybe in a future article.

Aurifil Thread History

I looked into the background of Aurifil thread and felt confident that Fat Quarter Shop had their information wrong. 1983 wasn’t 40 years ago, it was 30 at most and then I did the math and realized I was wrong. When did that happen?!?!?!

Aurifil started in 1957 when Angelo Gregotti, founded Studio Auriga to produce designs for a multi-head mechanical embroidery machine. It was the first and only company to undertake this type of work in Italy. Angelo kept a diary and they have published it on the website. If you are a sewing history buff check it out. It’s so interesting to see how instrumental Angelo was in the early years of embroidery machines.

In 1983, Angelo and his childhood friend Adolfo Veronelli started Aurifil. When their kids, Elena and Alex finished college they joined. Originally Aurifil was going to focus on high-quality cotton thread for the machine embroidery world. Angelo was looking to be a one-stop shop in the commercial embroidery world.

In 1995 Elena took an interest in quilting and in 2000 Aurifil exhibited at the European Quilt Show.

Aurifil Comes To The US

In 2007 Aurifil USA was born before that they used an importer to sell in the states. In 2016 they were producing 5 million spools of thread a year. I couldn’t find any updated numbers.

What Does Thread Weight Mean?

The number is how thick the thread is, 12 is going to be thicker than 50, and 50 is thicker than 100. Typically in quilting, we use 40 or 50 for piecing and quilting. If you are doing handwork you are working with 12 or 28 and if you want your stitching to disappear you’ll use 100.

Currently, Aurifil makes 5 different weights of cotton thread, two for long-arm quilting machines, wool thread, embroidery floss, and monofilament invisible.

Cotton Thread

The bigger the number the thinner the thread. The following recommendations are from Aurifil themselves. There may be some users who have different recommendations. You can use some hand-work threads in a machine.

Hand-Work

• 12 wt – this is a 2-ply thread on a red spool that is best suited for Hand Appliqué, Hand Embroidery, Hand Quilting, Cross Stitch, Embellishment and Lace, Machine Appliqué, Blanket Stitch, Buttonhole Stitch, Machine Embroidery, Machine Art Quilting, Sashiko, Redwork, Lower Looper Serging, Longarm Quilting. Aurifil recommends a 100/16 or 90/14 Topstitch Needle (40wt in the bobbin) or 4.5 Longarm Needle (28wt in the bobbin).
• 28 wt – this is a 2-ply thread on a grey spool. It is best suited for Double Strand Cross Stitch, Blanket Stitch, Hand Appliqué, Hand Piecing, Hand Quilting, Bobbin and Machine Lace, Machine Quilting, Machine Embroidery, Lower Looper Serging, Textured Longarm Quilting. Aurifil recommends a 90/14 Topstitch, Quilting, or Denim needle (50wt in the bobbin) or a 4.0 Longarm Needle (40wt in the bobbin).

Machine Sewing

• 40 wt – this is a 2-ply thread on a green spool. It is best suited for Single, Double, or Triple Strand Cross Stitch, Hand Piecing, Bobbin and Machine Lace, Machine Applique, Machine Embroidery, Edge-toEdge, Pantographs, and Custom Longarm Quilting. Aurifil recommends an 80/12 Microtex/Sharp, Universal, or Denim Needle (40wt or 50wt in the bobbin), 90/14 or 75/11 Quilting Needle (40wt or 50wt in the bobbin), or 3.5 or 4.0 Longarm Quilting Needle (50wt in the bobbin).
• 50 wt – this 2-ply thread is on an orange spool and this is their most popular thread. It is best suited for Needle Turn Applique, English Paper Piecing, Hand Piecing, Bobbin and Machine Lace, Machine Applique (Straight Stitch, Zig Zag, Blind Hem, and Blanket Stitch), Machine Embroidery, Dense Machine Quilting, Subtle Machine and Longarm Quilting, Basting, Whole Cloth and Micro Quilting, Dense Background Designs. Aurifil recommends an 80/12 Microtex/Sharp, Universal, Quilting, or Denim Needles (50wt in the bobbin) or a 4.0 Longarm Needle (50wt in the bobbin)
• 80 wt – this 2-ply thread was first introduced in 2016 and is on a wooden spool. It is best suited for English Paper Piecing, Hand Appliqué, Machine Embroidery, Machine Appliqué, Free Motion Quilting, and Free Motion Couching. Aurifil recommends a 70/10 or 80/12 Microtex/Sharp or Embroidery Needle (80wt in the bobbin) or a #10 hand sewing needle.
• Cotton Forty3 – this is a 3-ply thread and it was introduced in the fall of 2017 for long-arm quilting machines. Besides long-arm quilting, Aurifil recommends it for Machine Embroidery, Thread Painting, Decorative Stitching, Satin Stitching, Decorative Appliqué, Garment Sewing and they suggest using a 90/14 or 100/16 Topstitching Needle (50wt or 40wt in the bobbin) or 4.0 or 4.5 Longarm Needle (50wt or 40wt in the bobbin).

Non-Cotton Thread

Aurifil makes two threads that aren’t cotton thread. They make a monofilament thread in clear and smoke designed to hide your stitching.

They also make a wool thread. It’s a blend of 50% Acrylic and 50% Wool and comes on a red spool. It can be used in the same applications as their 12 wt cotton thread.

Where To Buy Aurifil Thread?

Aurifil has a store locator to purchase thread locally. If you are unable to purchase locally you can buy online.

Our friends at Fat Quarter Shop carry a wide range of single spools and collections. They have most of the sizes of Aurifil thread including the embroidery floss if you are a cross-stitcher.

SewingMachinesPlus.com also carries 50-wt spools and cones.

Our friends at Sewing Parts Online also have a good selection of spools. They are where I get my monofilament thread from because they sell the smaller spools.

Amazon

You can purchase Aurifil thread on Amazon. When purchasing any quilt-related items on Amazon be sure to check who it is sold by. There are a lot of counterfeit items out there and a few years ago counterfeit Organ needles were a huge problem.

I don’t know Uanna so I wouldn’t purchase from here and sadly I couldn’t find a sold by a company that I did recognize or from Amazon itself. Just be careful if you are shopping on Amazon.

Why Is Aurifil Thread So Expensive?

I’ve used Aurifil for so long the price is just what I’m used to paying so I went looking at other 100% cotton thread. Yes, it’s more expensive than Coats & Clark all-purpose thread but that’s not a fair comparison.

Gutterman is a penny a yard, Maderia (35 wt) is five cents a yard, Quilters Select is a penny a yard, Coats & Clark (35 wt) is also five cents a yard, Wonderfil (50 wt) is 0.0095 per yard, Superior (Prima) is a penny a yard.

So except for the two 35 wt threads, 40 or 50 wt thread is typically a penny a yard. Aurifil is 0.0094 a yard so it’s a little cheaper than the others.

This makes me think the question isn’t why Aurifil thread is expensive but why cotton thread is more expensive. The reason is the same as cotton fabric. Cotton is a crop and is subject to so many factors that can make a good crop or a bad crop. There are also so many more steps in turning cotton boils into thread than there are in producing polyester.

Why Use Aurifil Thread?

One of the main reasons I use Aurifil is it doesn’t lint up my machines like other brands. I have used Quilters Select, Gutterman, and Superior Threads and it feels like I have to stop and clean the bobbin area a lot more often than I do with Aurifil.

I also love all of the colors it comes in, they just make me happy. It is a silly reason, I know but why not use the one that makes you happy?