Sparkle Braid

When I want an unusual color with a metallic finish, I often turn to Rainbow Gallery’s Sparkle Braid. It’s about the same size as their Treasure Braid Petite, between a Kreinik #4 and blending filament. A doubled strand works perfectly on 18-mesh canvas.

Construction & Details

Although this thread, like many other metallics, is a braid made of metallic and non-metallic threads, quite often the two threads are different colors.

This gives the thread a similar quality to damask fabrics, where the color can change slightly and has a richer effect than many other metallics.

I have some colors in my stash that combine a color with gold. Others combine one color in the llic with asecond color in the base thread.

This combination makes many of the almost 50colors very interesting. With many colors there are also enough colors in this thread to do shading, although I have not tried that yet.

The thread is made in Japan and comes on 20-yard cards.

Using Sparkle Braid

In the Mindy piece pictured above, the green metallic was Treasure Braid Petite while the other colors were Sparkle Braid. The Treasure Braid is more metallic. Even so Sparkle Braid colors have lots of life and shine. It’s not as in-your-face as threads, such as Treasure Braid, with more metallic content, but it is a lovely effect.

Because of its dual-thread construction it works very well for accents and focal points with an assortment of other threads. It’s best used on the focal point and places where you want emphasis.

Rainbow Gallery’s site says that it can easily be combined with silk or cotton. I can easily see how this would work. With the two-color shades, you could match your floss to either color for a great effect.

Did you like this Mindy mini? It’s also a sneak peek at a free stitch guides series using these charming small designs that will run monthly on the blog in 2017.