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Thrilled with new restringing products from Pattye

NacreLover

NacreLover

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
1,941
4ranch Girl and I were talking to forum member Pattye while out for lunch a few weeks ago. I noticed Pattye was selling Beaders Secret Thread on her esty site. Size #30 similar to silk size E and power pro 20#. Its comes in the colors in the photo and is 100% polyester. I asked for a sample and a chart if she could make me one so I could see the thread with a color name. She made this chart up for me and I received it in the mail today. I am excited to have so many great colors to choose from when I work on my next project.

Right now I am using either white of black silk, and many times it's just not right for the pearls, baby blue akoya for instance. I know some of you are working at restringing or want to learn and need to find products to use.

dscf0089_edited-1.jpg
 
Cool chart. :tongue:

You will, of course, need to keep us informed when you select the thread for your next project. :naughty:

Pictures are mandatory. :bigsmile:
 
Fly Girl|1376682790|3504473 said:
Cool chart. :tongue:

You will, of course, need to keep us informed when you select the thread for your next project. :naughty:

Pictures are mandatory. :bigsmile:
Click to expand...

Definitely mandatory :ugeek:
 
how fun!!! Does it come in all the colours on that chart?

And wear wise, how does this compare to silk and power pro?
 
NacreLover -- that is so useful and thoughtful and beautiful! It must have been a pleasure to receive.
 
I agree, it was way better than I expected. I just requested a piece of paper with a one inch piece of each color with the color name.
I am a cross stitcher and picture framer. I have found that color charts on your monitor are not always as accurate as seeing the colors in real life next to the item you're making. I hope she will get more colors in her collection in the future, but with all these you should be more than happy.
 
Jencent, I received black , cream and shell. I don't have time to try it out until next week. I will let you know.
The reason I wanted to use it instead of silk? Stretching problems with my Tahitian strands. The weight of the pearls and cleaning them daily makes them need restringing every few months. It would be nice to have a longer wear time.
 
NacreLover, Jenncent and All :wavey: ,

First, thank you very much NL, for sharing your color chart, here are some answers about the thread.

Right now the colors available are where you see the pieces of thread. There are about 40 different colors and I hope to add a few more. Many of the colors are similar, so I've chosen a range of each, hoping they will work with most pearls and gemstones.

This is a commercial thread imported from Europe for me. It's used worldwide for sewing high end leather goods, airbags, upholstery in high end cars and also to knot pearls by some professionals. The break strength is 12.5# for a single thread, which is less than power pro but stronger than silk. I can't break it with my hands as a single, so used double it would be double the strength, too.

It makes a fine knot (not fuzzy) and is very stretch resistant, depending somewhat on how tightly one knots. When drill holes are too large for doubled thread, more strands can be used. Knots seem to slide in place easily and I can pull firmly on the thread without it breaking; it feels smooth and silky.

Nl, like you I love to use silk, but find with the heavier pearls, no matter how tightly one knots, stretching is an issue. NL, I know you will give your honest opinion on how this thread works for you. Finding a good product to knot Chinese Kasumi/Ripples, Golden SS and Tahitians is especially important to me; so far this is the best knotting thread I've found.

Greatly appreciate your interest and I'll be happy to answer other questions!
 
Pattye do you offer restringing services?
 
She does. That is who does mine as well as my remodeling.
 
4Ranch Girl|1376762880|3504900 said:
She does. That is who does mine as well as my remodeling.
Click to expand...

A great pleasure it is, too, delightful friend (met at Ruckus) with such amazing pearls! :D

Questions? Reach me via pm on the "other pearl forum" or through my etsy store, Patricia Saab Designs. (I hope that is ok to say; I don't want to break any rules here or post my email.)
 
Yay, I am happy to hear that you do restringing Pattye :appl: :appl: :appl:
 
Review:
Yesterday I received my Edison earring from PP. I needed to find a necklace to wear with them and thought of my fireball necklace from PP which has crazy overtone of numerous metallic colors. Unfortunately I had taken it apart and mixed the pearls with a smooth keshi strand, 14k beads and gemstones. Then I had a brainstorm to tear them up and recreate them back as they were using Pattye's shell colored polyester thread.
It only required two strands to create a knot that would not draw up into the hole when you tightened the pearl next to the knot. I was expecting to have to use three strands. The thread has a silky feel and is really slippery compared to silk. The knots are smaller and the thread doesn't get fuzzy like silk. I had no problems with twisting and this product was really fun and much easier to work with. As my review? I will order more of this product in other colors, it's cheaper than silk and if it doesn't stretch I will use it exclusively.

Test: The keshi strand is my test strand. Bracelets are always a problem since they get so much more wear than a strand in the least amount of time. I strung the keshi using Pattye's shell thread also. The length is just perfect to double on the wrist and twist a few times to make a torsade bracelet. I am planning to wear it for a month and see if the thread stretches like silk would and I will come back and review then. At this point, I give her thread a AAA rating.
 
NacreLover -- Thanks for the report and I look forward to following your experiment.
 
Is that 2-ply or 3-ply?

I used to have trouble with 3-ply silk cord -- could never find just the right size to double the thread for my pearls' drill holes-- and often wondered if I would do better with 2 ply thread.
 
Thanks NL for giving us your experience with this thread. Looking forward to following your experiment. Please give us updates along the way :ugeek:
 
NacreLover|1377004703|3506476 said:
Review:
Yesterday I received my Edison earring from PP. I needed to find a necklace to wear with them and thought of my fireball necklace from PP which has crazy overtone of numerous metallic colors. Unfortunately I had taken it apart and mixed the pearls with a smooth keshi strand, 14k beads and gemstones. Then I had a brainstorm to tear them up and recreate them back as they were using Pattye's shell colored polyester thread.
It only required two strands to create a knot that would not draw up into the hole when you tightened the pearl next to the knot. I was expecting to have to use three strands. The thread has a silky feel and is really slippery compared to silk. The knots are smaller and the thread doesn't get fuzzy like silk. I had no problems with twisting and this product was really fun and much easier to work with. As my review? I will order more of this product in other colors, it's cheaper than silk and if it doesn't stretch I will use it exclusively.

Test: The keshi strand is my test strand. Bracelets are always a problem since they get so much more wear than a strand in the least amount of time. I strung the keshi using Pattye's shell thread also. The length is just perfect to double on the wrist and twist a few times to make a torsade bracelet. I am planning to wear it for a month and see if the thread stretches like silk would and I will come back and review then. At this point, I give her thread a AAA rating.
Click to expand...


Thank you so much, NacreLover, for putting Beaders Secret to the test! Your fireball necklace is just out of this world! And even more so with the Edison earrings! What a combo!!! :love: :love: :love:
 
Pearls and gems, I usually use two strands of either D or E silk. (one long strand put though the needle and then knotted at the ends)
You can go though the pearls then around the clasp and into the same pearls again to end the strands (4 strands of silk) which I did on these strands.

These spools come in a large range of sizes of silk.

http://www.riogrande.com/Product/Silk-Bead-Cords-White/635212?Pos=1
 
pearlsngems|1377018012|3506659 said:
Is that 2-ply or 3-ply?

I used to have trouble with 3-ply silk cord -- could never find just the right size to double the thread for my pearls' drill holes-- and often wondered if I would do better with 2 ply thread.
Click to expand...

Thank you for asking about ply, Pearlsngems!

This is a 3 ply thread. Each ply is made up of extremely fine continuous threads, not short pieces. That's why it doesn't get fuzzy like silk sometimes does. I'll see if I can add a photo. (I'm taking a lunch break while working in the yard so took this in a bit of a rush.)

p1010268.jpg
 
Thank you ladies. I wore them to the dentist today and had to stop and retake a look in the mirror at Target shopping later. :lol: :lickout: :appl: :love: :naughty:
 
Thanks, ladies! I used to use Griffin silk cord (3 ply) but even the size 0 (.3mm) was too thick, doubled, for some of my pearls. This seems to correlate in size to Size D silk thread. I think I needed to drill out the end pearls and that would have solved the problem.
 
I'm a big fan of Pattye's Beader's Secret. I have half a dozen colours and use it for all my projects. Nice and strong and you can get the knots undone if you make a mistake! It's great!
 
periwinklegirl|1377484658|3509768 said:
I'm a big fan of Pattye's Beader's Secret. I have half a dozen colours and use it for all my projects. Nice and strong and you can get the knots undone if you make a mistake! It's great!
Click to expand...


Periwinklegirl,

Great to hear the thread is working so well for you!! :appl: :appl: :appl: Thank you very much for sharing your experience!
 
Thanks for posting about this! I've been using Power Pro but have been interested in something with better drape but more strength than silk.
 
I just ordered two colours for two things I am working on. I say I, but I am more like the overseer, I am not actually stringing and knotting. So excited to try this though!!!
 
I was so happy with my test drive of beaders secret I placed an order. A few days later spools of black, white, cream , baby, shell, sky and gold were in my mail box. I used shell on my copper/pink color shift metallic strand and baby on my baby blue baroque akoya rope and black on my heavy large Tahitian strand. I was having trouble keeping silk from stretching in a short period of time. I was so excited how beautiful the outcome was when beaders secret was used on these colored pearls I ordered more. Now I have Olive, Wine and Evergreen are in the mail for my next restringing projects.

beaders_secret.jpg
 
It's good stuff for sure. Its knots are similar in size to 20# Power Pro. It is more slippery and the knots slip into place more easily.

Note that Beaders Secret is only 12# test (that is, the thread breaks with 12# of tug, so you can't pull the threads apart quite as hard as you can with Power Pro when seating the knot.) I actually broke it once when I tugged too hard. For anyone using it for the first time, I recommend doing a test (knot a couple of pearls with it) to determine for yourself how hard you can tug, before stringing an actual strand.
 
I use a double strand just like I do with silk and knot. This would cut my hands before it would break.
 
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