Mara 70 vs. Mara 80

[u/Worried-You9307]

So I’ve been using Gütermann Mara 80 thread for a while now, because when starting out it was easier to get (and slightly cheaper) than Mara 70. For my purposes it worked fine, as far as I can tell, given the fact that I’m relatively novice at sewing.

But since everybody here seems to be using Mara 70, I recently ordered a spool of it and now I have questions.

1.: what’s the reason why everybody is using 70? Comparing both, 80 seems to be slightly thicker (by the looks of it, according to the Gütermann website they’re the same Tex), but 70 is smoother (maybe the reason for it looking finer).
Is it due to it being more readily available at the most popular myog online shops or does it have a specific reason?

2.: does the smoothness/roughness of one or the other make a difference in the strength of the seam? I imagine the rougher 80 to have more ‘grip’ in the stitch holes, but again: relatively novice, not really that much experience in long-term-durability of the items produced by me.

3.: which one would be better for the main seams in a (Rolltop) backpack made from Ultra 200 X or Fanny packs made from xpac vx21 (just as examples so I can better understand possible differences). Or does it make no real difference, because they’re the same Tex?

[u/Large-Heronbill]

Mara 70.is 400(3) decitex, 80 is a 400(2).  That means 70 is a 3 cord thread, and 80 is a 2 cord thread, so less round, and less uniform in appearance in a seam, ime.   

In general, a 3 cord thread is stronger than a 2 cord thread of the same size.

There is (maybe was?) a rounding done on heavier direct measurement yarns such that two yarns that weigh slightly differently can wind up with the same Tex designation.   I am far from expert on this stuff, so if the question of how a 70 tkt thread and a 80 tkt thread can both be 40 Tex, I would throw that question directly to Gutermann.

[u/DrBullwinkleMoose]

1: Yes.

[u/nbphotography87]

I have switched from Mara 70 to Tera 60 for load bearing seams, tacks, and top stitching in bags. it’s a continuous filament thread vs a spun thread like the Mara and is slightly stronger and more abrasion resistant.

[u/AdventurerGuy]

Not sure about the Mara 60 or 70, but I prefer the thicker thread Mara 50. It's much stronger & better use for my backpacks, sling packs & my pickleball packs. The Mara 50 = Tex 60.

[u/Worried-You9307 → u/AdventurerGuy]

I just found out that I can get Mara 50 for a very low price, so I ordered some. Then I saw your post. I’m really curious about it, because I really like how Mara sews without any problems compared to other threads.

[u/dextergr]

#3. I would switch to a tex 70 size thread. More specifically a bonded nylon/polyester in v69 size. A v46 size tex 45 would also work but obviously the larger thread will benefit the stronger material. The Guterman TERA series in the mentioned sizes as non-bonded continuous filament threads are also fine choices.

[u/BuckyGoshawk]

I an assure you that not everyone uses Mara 70, which is Tex 40 weight. IMO, if your machine can handle it, go with Tex 70 (V-69) poly thread and a #18 needle for a backpack or fanny pack. FWIW, for those types of projects I use Tex 90 (V-92) poly thread and a #21 needle, although few, if any, home machines can handle that.

[u/No-Abies29]

I have Mara 70 and 100 and dislike them both. I use rasant 75 and adore it.

[u/ma-matte-g → u/No-Abies29]

A follow-up question on Rasant 75: what size needle and fabric do you generally use it with? Is the machine industrial or domestic?

I use it with my domestic machine and quite like it, I run it with #12 (80) and #14 (90) needles. Powers through almost anything, even with the small needle size.

I recently got an industrial and I am struggling to properly set the tension. The domestic is more forgiving with the needle size and I assume that #14 might be a bit too small for the industrial. The thread breaks ride away. I am using SPI needles from Schmetz. I generally do projects with Ultra 200X and recently RX30.

Thanks for any inputs

[u/No-Abies29 → u/ma-matte-g]

Hi, I have a domestic machine. A juki HZL NX7 to be exact and a pretty new acquisition so am still finding my way. I’ve been sewing 210D ripstop nylon zippers by the metre, ie sewingmthrough the teeth and webbing mainly. I have found that a schmetz topstitch 100/16 handles it great and has been my go to. I have 90/14 topstitch and both plain aswell. I am also yet to test out microtex needles with it.

I learned on industrial Juki’s but don’t know which needles they took as they were supplied and just handed to me. I used the walking foot machines too and loved the super heavy threads I could use on it. The key with the domestic setup I have chosen is the topstitch needles having a bigger eye, hence, less friction, more room to pass thread, so if you couod get what I use and look at available industrial versions, maybe you can find a decent option that works? I thought thatbyhe Industrial needles were round at the top and domestic needles have the flat back, so not interchangeable. Are you definitely putting the industrial,needles in the right way aswell? Juki's eye is left to right as oppossed to the eye facingbyou in a domestic. plus the scarf, make sure that is on the correct side and thread left to right innthe case of a Juki Industrial..or whatever your machine requires.

[u/Worried-You9307 → u/No-Abies29]

What do you dislike about Mara and why do you prefer rasant over it?

[u/No-Abies29 → u/Worried-You9307]

Mara just hasn’t sewn great for me. I have not given it a whole day’s worth of testing to be fair. Rasant just worked like a dream from the get go. I like the cotton coated polyester of rasant aswell, it looks good. I can also get it in a ton of colours too, many more than I can in Mara. In some smaller items, I can use Gutterma sew all which is polyester [but less shiny than Mara] in the bobbin with Rasant as the main reel and that works very well together.