Sewing with kevlar thread

I wanted to make a custom quilt for camping I bought hi tec light weight cloth and supper warm batting... Then I thought ya need STRONG thread.... So here goes eBay.... And I found a spool of Kevlar thread from the MATRESS INDUSTRY... They use it becus it is fire resistant!!! But this stuff feels like thin cotton thread. HOWEVER I made the mistake of trying to break it w my hand rather than using the scissor... It cut me... It is that strong and it runs through the sewing machine like cotton... It is amazing...any way I now have a lifetime supply of Kevlar thread for about 15 dollars...

When i think of a tuff thread i think about the new braided fishing lines. Spider wire, etc. It is easy to get locally. I haven't tried it yet but i think it would work well.

wayne fajkus wrote:When i think of a tuff thread i think about the new braided fishing lines. Spider wire, etc. It is easy to get locally. I haven't tried it yet but i think it would work well.

the Kevlar WORKS like regular thread where I couldnt get the spiderwire to feed correctly. However it works fine in hand sewing. And isn't YELLOW

Thanks for the info. The brand I use for fishing is a dark green. Monofilament gets cut on the oyster beds so I have to use it. When I change the line I end up with a decent amount of new line left over on the spool. Not enough to spool another reel.

Was it too slippery when you tried it? I wonder if i used the used line if it would work better. It would be softer and more pliable but still have plenty of strength left.

I think the used would be a lot more likely to work!!!

My personal preference is to use a thread made of the same material as the thing I'm sewing.  It's sort of a way of planning the breakage.  

Broken thread in a seam is much easier to repair than torn fabric, especially if one is far from the sewing machine.  

Maybe sew some scraps and then try to break them.  Find out which breaks first, the thread or the fabric?

That makes so much sense ranson. I have a machine where the gear wears out and needs changing. I griped at the mfgr and he explained that the gear was softer than the gear track it runs on. The gear takes 30 minutes to swap out and costs $50. The track it runs on takes a full day to swap, needs specialized equipment to do it, and costs $1,000.

One of the reasons why Kevlar is used in the mattress industry is becuse it is flame resistance... Also I was making a quilt and sewing threw MANY folded edges with the batting.... Many layers are stronger than a single thread. So I chose a strong FIRE RESISTANT thread for my CAMPING quilt... I hope this clarifies my process... The thread was yellow and I bought a $59 wall Mart sewing machine becuse I wanted a 3-4 hundred dollar quilt and was too dam cheep to pay for it.  It was one of the few things I have ever sewn. It turned out ugly and WARM....LOL very WARM. by its self it is good down to about 30 degrees. On a mat. In a tent. It is water resistant and still warm when wet... But not as warm...lol

Interesting! I have used spider wire, but never Kevlar thread.  I often need thread that I can't break easily, spider wire is excellent that way, but it is buggy to sew with. I'll look for some, thank you for the idea!

:D

I bet it would be nice to use for leather gloves working around wood and rocket stoves.  I always get a couple threads melted and then the fingers unzip.  I think it will hold up better on the knife holsters too. I am going to try to get some.  Thank you for the idea.

Kevlar is pretty UV sensitive, so keep that in mind when deciding what to use it for. Maybe they've fixed that it in the thread by now, though.

My husband used to do sewing for a company that made bulletproof vests.