
If you’ve read any of my books or posts about my second-favorite passion (writing sweet historical romance is #1), you know I’m a quilter.
It is easy to sit at my machine and reach for a spool of thread that coordinates with the fabric I’m sewing into quilt squares. However, I usually use a medium grey thread when constructing the squares as it is easy to see when I make mistakes (lots of them!) and need to use my modification tool (a.k.a. seam ripper)! And when I run out of thread, a quick trip to my local quilt shop, Jo-Ann’s, or Michaels solves my dilemma.
While writing Noelle and Hope (Christmas Quilt Brides series), it got me thinking. How did my heroines get thread? Where did they get it? And when was it available to the average housewife, seamstress, or milliner?

And thus, the research began…
Forms of very early sewing thread were made of thin strips of animal hide. This was used to sew together larger pieces of hide and fur for clothing, blankets, and shelter. There is proof throughout history of some form of threading used even when cavemen oversaw the planet. As civilizations moved forward, the thread did also, and eventually, it evolved to include the spinning and dyeing of thread.
There are three basic types of thread, and they are based on their origin, Thread is animal, plant, or synthetic depending on its makeup. Silk thread is touted as the best because it is strong, very elastic, and fine in diameter. Silk is interwoven into a lot of regular threads for added strength. Pure silk thread use is used in finer clothing.
However, since the heroines in my story reside in a small Kansas town in 1870s, I imagined they’d only use cotton thread, the least expensive in her quilting.
Thread is made of a series of plies–or cords, twisted together. The plying and twisting create a stronger unit than the original strands alone. A ply is two or more strands of cotton twisted together. A cord is two or more plies twisted together. The earliest form of cotton thread was three-ply thread–three single strands of fiber twisted together.
Manufactured cotton thread was available to hand sewers in the U.S. and Europe in 1800. At
first, they were sold in hanks as some yarns still are. The thread came on wooden spools beginning in 1820. Like the soda bottles of today, the spools could be returned for a deposit, to be refilled. Mass production put an end to the deposits since the spools could be produced so cheaply.
Historians credit James and Patrick Clark, mill owners in Paisley, Scotland, with developing the first cotton thread. When silk and flax became scarce during the Napoleonic wars, they were forced to find a suitable replacement with which to create their famous (and profitable) Paisley shawls.
Historians credit James and Patrick Clark, mill owners in Paisley, Scotland, with developing the first cotton thread. When silk and flax became scarce during the Napoleonic wars, they were forced to find a suitable replacement with which to create their famous (and profitable) Paisley shawls.

Eventually, some Clark family members moved to the U.S. and began their own thread companies, including George Clark and William Clark, grandsons of James who opened a cotton thread mill in New Jersey.
George Clark perfected six-cord thread for use on sewing machines. He called it “O.N.T.” for “Our New Thread,” combining fineness with strength as well as being inexpensive.


In 1815, another prominent Scottish manufacturer, James Coats, began making thread. His sons, James and Peter formed J&P Coats, Co., introducing thread to the U.S. around 1820. By 1869, they began manufacturing sewing thread in Pawtucket Rhode Island. It was here where they developed a unique spool shape with smooth curves.

The emergence of the sewing machine in the 1840s further escalated the need for a better-quality thread. Three-ply was too uneven, and six-ply was too thick. Silk and linen threads were either too thick or too weak for use with the machine. Three-ply silk was too expensive.
Improved cotton seemed the only option.
At the beginning of the 20th century, mercerization was developed to make a stronger, smoother cotton thread. It is a process of immersing cotton thread in a solution of caustic soda, resulting in a stronger, more lustrous that also accepts dye more readily.
Polyester thread became available in 1942, and cotton-wrapped polyester in the late 1960s.
Other Thread Manufacturers
Belding & Corticelli, a silk thread manufacturing enterprise was started by the Belding brothers in Michigan. From their home, they produced spools of silk thread which traveling salesmen marketed door to door. Sales of silk thread dwindled during the Great Depression, forcing the company to close its doors the next year.
Lucky for us quilters, sewers, seamstresses, and those whose talent with needle and thread, thread–cotton thread, in particular–has evolved over the last 250 years and has been supplanted by other fibers.
So, whenever Noelle Prentiss and Hope Brody (my heroines) threaded a needle and joined fabrics together to make a quilt, they continued the tradition of those who came before and after them by carrying on the thread of the story.

***A Giveaway***
I’m giving away an ebook edition of both Noelle Christmas Quilt Brides and Hope Christmas Quilt Brides. For a chance to win, leave a comment to the question below:
***Do you or does anyone in your family enjoy creating fabric art works? (Sewing, quilting, embroidery, crochet, crewel, macrame, etc.?)***