Which came first: Filament or Braid?
Stitcher Roberta recently asked us about the story behind the
development of Blending Filament. "Did they come first, or did the
Braids?" she asked, and "Were they meant to be used with other threads
or as 'stand alone' fibers?"
Great questions, Roberta! Actually, the filaments and Braids came out
at the same time. The filament was meant to be used as a blending
thread, to add subtle highlights to whatever cotton or wool you use. The
Braids were designed to be used as "stand alone" fibers, and were
developed to be in different sizes to match (or provide perfect
coverage) on common needlepoint and cross stitch fabrics or to be used
in surface embroidery. Here's more detail on where Kreinik metallic
threads come from, courtesy of Doug Kreinik:
In 1979, my parents, Jerry and Estelle Kreinik, loved visiting
museums. My dad spotted a 17th century sampler featuring gold work
combined with silk threads and came up with an idea. In the early
1950s, my dad worked for Naval Research. He helped establish sizes used
today for woman's clothing (during WWII it was mainly a generic
categorization of small, medium and large), invented the D ring and even
created rain cap covering for officers' hats. He also came up with the
idea of using plastic metallic coated filaments to create military
regalia for uniforms (the idea was nixed by the Navy at the time). Go
forward almost 30 years. He felt that the material he had seen when
working for the Navy could be used for embroidery to take the place of
real metal threads, which were expensive, hard to find, and could
tarnish easily.
Kreinik Blending Filaments and Braids, first known as Balger (because
my parents liked French sounding words) came about at the same time. My
parents realized that there was a use for the filaments to give a bit
of light to a blended thread, and the same material could be made into a
braid to used as a separate thread or yarn. In the beginning they had
Blending Filament, #8, #16 and #32 Braids in seven colors. At the time,
my mom felt that seven colors would probably be enough shades as a
product line. Today there are 14+ sizes/weights and 220+ colors in the
Kreinik metallic thread line.
When they began, they had a manufacturer make the Braids for them.
After a while, my dad, who loved machinery, began purchasing his own
equipment. Today we have many machines that run and run and run. We
make all of our flat and round braids at our factory in Parkersburg,
West Virginia.
For more information about Kreinik Manufacturing, visit www.kreinik.com and connect with us on www.Facebook.com/Kreinik.
