New Vineyard Silks Shimmer

Vineyard Silks recently changed the structure of Shimmer (silk mixed with metallic) and introduced new colors and names consistent with Vineyard Silks Classic & Merino.

When threads change construction I am always concerned that you cannot mix the two. It was time for a side-by-side comparison of both old & new.

Construction

Both threads have three strands of very thin metallic (about half the size of blending filament). But the silk has changed. The old thread had one, fairly thick, two-ply silk, making it about twice as thick as the three metallics. The new version has two thin two-ply strands of silk. They are each about twice as thick as each metallic strand.

That makes the proportion of silk to metal in the new version more even. In the old version, metal was about 1/3 of the stitches. In the new version, the proportions are about 50/50.

This is noticeable but not obvious in stitching. As long as the two versions are not in the same color in the same area, it is not a problem. In my test I had two different colors in adjacent areas and it looks great.

The new Shimmer also feels different. Because the proportion of metallic is higher, it feels rougher. Because the twist of this new thread is tighter, it feels thinner, although I could see no difference when I stitched.

Performance

I find hybrids of metallic and non-metallic threads hard to use, as do many other stitchers. The fibers don’t thread easily, they get uneven as I stitch, and they bunch up and tangle along the stitching length. In general they are not well-behaved threads.

The older version of Shimmer was every bit of this. I found it almost impossible to get through a needle without a threader. Even the process of threading gave me uneven ends I had to cut off.

Stitching was a nightmare. Strands of metallic would leave the needle and end up bunched somewhere random along the stitching length.

Usually when this happens with other threads I move the needle down the length to beyond the lump and then pull the threads even, cut off the end and move back the needle. I could not do that with the older Shimmer because often the lump was knotted beyond repair.

The publicity on the new Shimmer says these problems have been minimized and my testing bears this out. The hybrid construction still makes it somewhat hard to thread, so use a needle threader.

But the other problems were minimized.

Because of the tighter construction, the strands stayed more even and behaved similarly to other stranded threads. If the thread became uneven along the stitching length, it was only small bumps that could easily be corrected by moving the needle back (described above).

Conclusion

The new construction of Vineyard Silks Shimmer is a great improvement over the older version. It’s easier to use and minimizes the problems of many metallic-hybrid threads.

While there is more metallic in the newer version, it is compatible with the old and they can be combined in one piece. If they are different colors, there are no problems. If they are the same color, treat it as you would different dye lots.

This new formula is one you should try, especially if you gave up on this thread in the past because it was difficult to use.