Sulky Filaine Thread: Fantastic Possibilities with Hand Stitching

Shortly after Sulky of America debuted the "Intro to Cross-Stitch" video series, I saw that a new "fluffy" and "fuzzy" 12 weight thread featured on the front page of the Sulky website. I immediately wanted to learn about this thread. Full disclosure, I have been a huge fan of the 12 weight cotton petites since the 2019 Nashville Needlework Market. Thanks to Flosstube video makers and Hands on Design, I learned about the fantastic possibilities of stitching with 12 weight thread rather than traditional skeins of DMC. If the 12 weight cotton thread is a winner, I had to know if the 12 weight acrylic thread stood up to the hand stitching test. I scoured Pinterest to learn more about the Filaine thread. I saw several photos in regards to machine embroidery and free-motion machine embroidery, but there was a distinct lack of hand stitching examples of Filaine thread. That got me thinking, would this thread work for counted cross stitch, punch needle, and other types of hand stitching?

The first thing I did was to stitch a sample of stitches with my Gentle Art Simply Wool Cranberry red thread and then with the Sulky Filaine Carmine Red. 

​After stitching both lines on a scrap of linen, I truly could not tell a difference between the two types of threads in terms of appearance. I denoted the wool with a "W" and the Filaine with an "F." 

I grabbed a piece of 18 count Aida cloth and started cross stitching an American flag motif. I then tested out different stitches: long stitch, Rhodes heart stitch, eyelets, colonial knots, and backstitching. My cross stitches were very bulky on an 18 count fabric. My suggestion is to use a 14 count Aida or a 28 count linen. I will also say that doing knots is very difficult with the acrylic thread. Leave your french knots and colonial knots for your cotton thread. 

A circa 1840s Berlin work stitched sampler in my collection and my adaptation stitches in Filaine thread. The original sampler is stitched on linen with wool thread.

I think I am the most excited about the faux wool stitching I did with the Filaine thread. I took one of my historic wool samplers I am going to reproduce and I chose two of the motifs to replicate with the acrylic thread. I am just blown away with the acrylic's mimicry of wool thread. This has significant implications for me as a needleworker with a sensitivity to wool. Yes, I have a wool sensitivity. I was lamenting how I could thoughtfully reproduce wool samplers when I have a hard time stitching with wool. Now I can model stitch them my adaptations of historic wool samplers with Filaine thread! 

I integrated the acrylic thread in my personal stitching of Birds of a Feather "Remember Me" halloween pattern. I am so happy with the coverage of the acrylic thread on 14 count aida. 

This photo shows the witch's arms stitched with one strand of 12 wt cotton next to the 12 wt acrylic thread. You can see how fluffy the cat looks!

I grabbed an teeny tiny piece of scrap linen and started free hand stitching a bearded face. Next I used a brand new toothbrush to brush the white thread to have it mimic the look of hair. I think it turned out well. You can see me doing this on camera on my Flosstube video review of Filaine thread. 

My final test of the acrylic thread was punch needle. I am so pleased with the results. I created the pattern and I have it available if you are interested in doing punch needle with Filaine thread.

I am super happy with this new thread and I look forward to integrating it into future designs. I hope other designers, artists, and stitchers consider using this thread for their hand stitching. It is a viable replacement for wool thread and it adds an extra fuzzy dimension to the stitching. You can watch my YouTube video where I show these projects here.   

Here are some of the awesome Sulky threads I have stitched and designed with:

Sulky 12 Wt. Cotton Petites Thread

Sulky Cotton Blendables Thread

Filaine Acrylic Thread at Shop Sulky.com

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Sulky of America, Inc. did not compensate me for this blog post.

All of the opinions in this blog post are my own and I am not a representative of Sulky of America. Sulky did send me the Filaine spools to test and review after I formally requested a sample of the threads. This post does contain affiliate links. If you click on one of my links and make a purchase, I do receive a commission.