Thread from Turkey

[Jon Yusoff]

Has anyone tried the Turkish thread brand of Tulip or Camellia (http://benangkait.com/?cat=4370)?

The description says that the material is 100% microfibre. Is that synthetic? I wrote to ask if they have any cotton thread but they don't have any.

I may consider the metallic thread but they are sold in packs of six, :sad:

[carolivy]

That is some very pretty thread, but I'm not sure I'd want to be forced to purchase whole lots either. Especially if you don't know how it works up.

[Maureen L]

Microfibre is synthetic; it's usually very light to handle, and washes well, but in knitting yarns, at least, it tends to stretch - so I don't think it would be very good for tatting. Although perhaps the knotting would give it stability.

[Lynn]

Microfibre is the material your glasses cleaning cloth is made from. It has a bit of a nap to it - short, fuzzy or tufty bits that tend to cling to stuff. That's what makes it so great for cleaning your glasses. But I think it would make closing rings a total nightmare. I can see knitting or crocheting with it, but for tatting, I'd give it a miss.

[tatting margaret]

I have not heard of either of these threads, I can recomend Altin Basak and the person to ask is Lyn Morton, she has just joined intatters she knows everything about turkish thread and also sells it, may I suggest you send you an e-mail she would be willing to help you.
Tatting Margaret

[northern robin]

On EBay there is also a thread from turkey..said to be for tatting that is 100% polyester..one is a shiny white..would be great for snowflakes..any know if this actually is useful?..and Jan..visit your blog often love it! robin, N ME

[Jon Yusoff]

I have not heard of either of these threads, I can recomend Altin Basak and the person to ask is Lyn Morton,
Tatting Margaret
Thank you Margaret and everyone who has responded to this thread.
I have used the Altin Basak for tatting but it is a 3-ply thread and I much prefer 6-ply thread for tatting. I am not really looking into purchasing any thread at the moment. I just saw the thread in the website and I wondered what kind it is and if it suitable for tatting.

[GalinaSol]

I have never tatted microfiber thread myself, but know the girl, who loves it. But she says, she has to use glue for making knots.

[northern robin]

GalinaSol...that sounds tedious! robin

[GalinaSol]

It sounds the same for me :) But tastes differ and she refuses to use cotton thread anymore. Says, she likes the glitter of things, tatted in microfiber thread.

[RandaGray]

Makes me wonder how it would hold up over time if you have to use glue to hold the knots together.... hmm.... like if the glue would make the thread deteriorate over a long period of time, where cotton would last longer. Maybe I'm just being stubborn because I prefer cotton :)

[Maureen L]

I spent today at the Craft Show in Brisbane, and there happened to be a stall selling these brands! If you hadn't posted about them, Jon, I never would have paid attention, but as they were there in proliferation, I had a good look - and I can confidently report that they are definitely NOT for tatting!
They were actually being sold at a knitting stand, and both are really quite thick yarns. Very shiny, and the thicker one - which I can't remember now, but I think it was the Tulip - is almost flat, like a ribbon yarn. It's not a ribbon yarn, it's a loose perle fibre, but it looked like ribbon yarn on the spool.
The metallics were also on display so I examined those closely. The metallic strand is twined around the polyester core of the thread, and in my experience, those are terribly difficult to tat with, as the filament invariably snaps.
They'd make wonderful scarves, crocheted or knitted loosely; I don't think you could embroider with them, and you certainly could not use them for tatting.

At another stand I "almost" bought a cute little spool of Japanese thread, because it was nicely packaged in a box!! - but then I heard another customer talking about the same product, and apparently it is "shrinking" thread........so I put it back again. I didn't ask.......

[northern robin]

another thought about using glue...depending on what it is...inhaling the vapors might be bad for her health to do it for hours on end..day after day...might be a poor idea. Robin N ME

[lynmorton]

Re the post about the Turkish Thread. This thread is definitely not the Oren Bayan Metallic thread which I used in my book "Tatting Jewellery" I know that there are a lot of different threads on the market but I only recomend on our website at Tatting & Design threads that are suitable for Tatting and I know that the Oren Bayan thread is really good - very strong and smooth. Turkish threads in general are of a very high quality as we have found over the years but the buyer has to be aware that there are threads available which are not genuine Turkish threads and some which are not suitable for Tatting. We have a special offer of the Turkish metallic with purchases of my books - for details see the website at http://www.tattingco.uk Lyn Morton .