Best crochet threads according to redditors

ETA: thank you for the gold!


Hello all! After 18 months of mostly continuous work (rage quitting is real yall) I got to marry my amazing husband (a month ago today!) in a super crocheted out wedding! Since there are multiple finished items I’m going to list out the information for everything by item. As I’m big on transparency, I get nothing from any of the links posted here, I just wanted to make it easy for anyone wanting the same patterns or supplies to find what I used.


My dress:

Pattern for the dress

Pattern for the train

Both patterns are by ChiKDesigns on Etsy

Lydia’s 10 white, jumbo size – I used about 3/4ths of this

Czech seed beads 10/0 – I used about 20 tubes (not sure how many ended up in my carpet and how many ended up on the dress but I used 1 bead per SC, 2 per DC, and 3 per TC)

Beading needle

Crochet hooks in 3.25, 3.5, and 3.75 mm

Horsetail braid to give the train texture

Tears


The process – So this was the first thing I ever made that wasn’t a square or rectangle. I had been crocheting about 6 months and saw the post when this dress went viral and had a moment of “hmm I want to try that” and here we are. Because I’m apparently incapable of half assing anything I decided to hand bead it (don’t do this) and decided to start it way before anything else was set for the wedding (like, we had decided to get married but I may or may not have had officially engaged or had a ring yet or set a date) because I wanted time to find something else if this really turned out badly. But yay it worked out! I found out I do much better with reading patterns via symbol than written out and that I have a slight obsession with making lace dresses.


In terms of pattern based modifications I added the extra stitch modification from my hips down and after having to redo a significant portion due to the tension being too tight, went up another hook size (3.75 mm) from the hips down as well. The nice part about this dress is I could really tailor it to my own body, which is nice because I am about 2 sizes smaller on the top than on the bottom so yay for that!


As I’m sure all of you noticed I made some changes to how the dress looks. Basically, I looked horrible with the sleeves plunging neckline version of the top of the dress that the original designer looks amazing in. After doing some thinking I decided to add sleeves – I just took the skirt pattern, did the math to see how many reps I needed to use, and did about a pattern and a half to achieve length. My MIL suggested wearing it more off shoulder, which looked amazing! I also ended up blocking the dress about 5 or 6 times. I blocked the full dress once, blocked the train 3 times – once to add more length, and twice to add width (because of how it laid out I had to block it once for width back to front and once for width side to side). I also blocked the sleeves once by themselves and the entire top a second time to get it to fit properly after having the lining made.


Tips from this experience – don’t bead anything. Seriously. And if you do, never ever thread more than one tube of beads at a time. It will tangle. You won’t be able to untangle it. You’ll have to cut and re-string and weep. Trust me, you don’t want to do this. I may have gotten my dress done in less than 9 months if I didn’t weep quit twice due to this.



Bridesmaids Dresses:

Pattern “Kelly” by DesignGalaZarubina on Etsy


Lydias 10 in navy – please note that I am 99% sure this is technically discontinued so I ended up getting mine off amazon, I was never able to find it in store.

2.75 mm hook (pattern said 2 mm but I found I needed to use the larger size to meet gauge)


I cannot recommend this pattern enough! I actually never intended to make all the bridesmaids dresses either, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. They were either too formal or too casual, or wouldn’t look good on everyone. Then I found this pattern! I had five bridesmaids and each had a slightly different body type. This looked amazing on all of them, was cute and flattering, and modest without being frumpy (not a quality that was necessarily important to me but at least 2 of my bridesmaids prefer something that is a bit more modest. Not like Duggar level rules just no boobies hanging out). I ended up going through about 28 regular sized skeins of this. All dresses were blocked once. Because of the fit I was able to get their measurements, crochet to the bottom of the waist, then do a try on without worrying too much about length. I found fit and flare dresses and navy blue petticoats on amazon for about $30 total and considered the thread and work their bridesmaid gift.


Flower girl dress:

Pattern

Patons Grace Blush – about 4 skeins

Faux pearl buttons from Michaels

Ivory ribbon

Silk flowers from Michaels (for both the accent on the dress and flower crown)

A whole lotta hot glue

3.25 mm hook


This dress may be my absolute favorite but mostly because we had the best flower girl ever! She was so excited about her dress and spent a ton of time twirling around and running around in it. Size for this dress is 4T (pattern doesn’t really give a gauge or sizing, so I had to guess a bit)



Opossum scarf – for my male attendant as he didn’t want a dress and has a major obsession with opossums.

Pattern

Caron simply soft solid in grey, soft pink, and white

Random black buttons I had in my sewing kit


This was so much fun to make! I recommend it for anyone you have in your life that likes weird but awesome things.


Rehearsal Dress:

Pattern “Jasmine” by DesignGalaZarubina on Etsy


Lydia’s 10 in white

2.75 mm hook

Lining from Amazon


So I just wanted something I made that I could wear after the wedding so this was made. Super comfortable, easy pattern, and comfy!

Frivole has videos that work well for me. If videos really aren't working, it may be worth asking around in any local craft/yarn stores to see if you can find someone willing to show you the basics? Or google your location and "lace guild" and see what you come up with?

I've actually had an easier time showing people how to start on chains than on loops. You can wind a shuttle with one color, tie it to a ball of another color and then follow a tutorial like this. If you're doing it right, the knots will be in the color of the ball thread, not the color of the thread on the shuttle. Being able to see if you're doing it right at a glance might help.

While everyone else is right that the kind of size 10 crochet thread you find at places like Michaels is perfectly fine, if you see something like Lizbeth or DMC tatting thread in the store (or if you end up ordering thread online anyway) it might be worth trying. It's often firmer than crochet thread, which means it doesn't come apart so easily if you have to pick out stitches over and over and the stitches slide a tiny bit easier. The kind of cord in that video I linked earlier might work too. If it's too big for your shuttles, just cut a notch in each end of a smallish piece of cardboard and use that instead. (Some of my great grandmother's shuttles are just H shaped pieces of wood.)

Say you start with Amazon's #1 seller the Brother CS-6000i - comes with the basic feet and features and even a seam ripper.

I'd recommend Guttermen Sew-All for thread - black and white/neutral should cover most basic projects.

This is my favorite thread cutter - http://www.amazon.com/Clover-Kuroha-Inch-Thread-Clipper/dp/B0019KFR5I/ref=sr_1_3?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1453931142&sr=1-3&keywords=clover+thread+cutter

You might want a pin set

These are the best fabric shears (don't use them on anything but fabric!) - http://www.amazon.com/Gingher-8-Inch-Knife-Dressmakers-Shears/dp/B000UU6SR4/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1453931252&sr=1-1&keywords=fabric+shears


Edit: For books, I really don't know. We started sewing without books but for more advance techniques and patterns we picked up a bunch. Here are few we have (note - these are all japanese authored books so the patterns can be a bit small or meant for less curvy people:

http://www.amazon.com/Draping-Complete-Course-Karolyn-Kiisel/dp/1780670931/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453931653&sr=8-1&keywords=draping+the+complete+course

http://www.amazon.com/Drape-Hisako-Sato/dp/1856698416/ref=pd_sim_14_8?ie=UTF8&dpID=41uA6owXofL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR120%2C160_&refRID=0D1XNBB3SPYRR8JA23DZ

http://www.amazon.com/Shape-Sewing-Clothing-Patterns-Multiple/dp/1596683554/ref=pd_sim_14_8?ie=UTF8&dpID=416R%2BlL1cpL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR124%2C160_&refRID=0QVYFTFXGCFFN2PXEQJJ

http://www.amazon.com/Interweave-Press-Simple-Modern-Sewing/dp/159668352X/ref=pd_sim_14_8?ie=UTF8&dpID=411UEqxuuRL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR120%2C160_&refRID=15HXCGBQFSSDWWB3YNA2

Amazon india link https://www.amazon.in/20-Meter-Cotton-Protection-Religious/dp/B07H5Q75MC

Amazon US link Handmade Mauli, Kalawa, Sacred Moli, Religious Cotton Thread, Pooja Dhaaga, Wrist Roll, Laccha, Pure Raksha Sutra, Rakhi, Organic Mouli Dhaga for Pujan, Havan, Worship, Diwali, Festival, Premium Quali https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HDQ7CWF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_c.vCDb2QES1HB

Is this what you are looking for?https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kautuka