Now that I've looked into MYOG, I've realized that everyone talks about the plans and the materials, but what about the thread? What type of thread are you supposed to use. I'm completely foreign to sewing and haven't the slightest clue, also, is there commercially available seam tape, or is sealer a better idea?

I am fairly knew to MYOG and sewing. So far I have used gutermann thread purchased from quest outfitters. I have made lots of stuff sacks, a quilt, a pair of mittens, and 2 hammocks. It seems to work well. The key is getting something that is 100% polyester.

I originally purchased a 274 yard spool for about $3 and I just ran out of the stuff so I ordered a 6,000 yard cone of tex 40 thread from thru-hiker.com for $13. speer hammocks sells a similar cone for $10.

Edited by sdwhitey on 08/01/2007 20:03:07 MDT.

From what I have heard, it is best to use a 100% polyester thread like the one Guterman sells for sewing silnylon (which is what most of us seem to have questions about). This can be bought at any of the reputable online sellers or local stores like JoAnn fabrics.
I dont know about seam tape, but I am under the impression that it is not cost effective for a MYOG'er to use this, it is too expensive to use small scale.

I am also new to MYOG but have tried to read up on things as much as possible, and was happy to add my two cents to this "thread" thread.

The Multi Filament Poly wrapped Poly -Tex 40- (a size spec) thread at thru-hiker.com is much stronger (less breakage and messed up stitches) for the same thickness vs the kind from the sewing store.

The cone will last for a lot of DYI projects.

The local sewing store would have a cone stand for reg home machines for about $5 if needed.

With the Tex 40, Use a #80 needle for most all thin materials and a 90 or 100 with that same thread if the material is thicker/tieouts, etc.

All the benifits of Pro thread for home machines!

Edited by mountainlaureldesigns on 07/19/2007 17:36:29 MDT.

The seam tape you see in commercially available gear is applied by a specialized machine and isn't really something that the hobby-ist sewer could do. I thought I heard about an iron on version, but I would be a little leery of how well it would work or the possibility of scorching your freshly sewn piece of gear.

I've seen that Kenyon makes a repair tape that is roughly the width of most seam tapes. At $3 for an 18" length, that would get expensive real quick.

Ron, Thanks for yet another very helpful post. I've learned quite a bit from them to apply to my own projects. Very generous of you to help the rest of us out - since we're competitors of a sort.

I've use the McNett Seam tape available from a number of sources with good success. Its the iron on kind, I was using it to seam seal flat seams on gore-tex fabric. Not sure how it would do with really light fabrics. Never burnt the fabric or anything.

It also adds a bit of weight to the finished piece, but is defientally waterproof.

gutterman sells their thread at my Joann's in two sizes on spools. the larger of the two is the one to avoid for machine use. yes, it;s stronger, but it renders the sewing much more difficult. you need bigger needle and this makes bigger holes. it's just gross to use on silnylon, while on the other hand, it manually sews very nicely. of all the problems silnylon has, weak threads breaking ain't one of them.
cheers.
peter v.