Thread Brand Reviews

Bijoux and Accentuate – Metallic thread brands for Cross Stitch

Time for another obscure thread brand review~! Today, I’ll be taking a look at Bijoux and Accentuate brand threads. I picked a spool of both up when I was last at my local needlework shop… 2 years ago. Whoops. Time to finally put them to use!

I’m really enjoying trying out new types of threads and having an excuse to stitch with them. I know most of you will stick to the easy to find or mainstream brands, but I hope you at least find these reviews interesting.

For my international readers, I will say I have only found retailers for these two in the US. But I hope it at least inspires you to find out what different and unique brands are available near you and playing around with some new threads!

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Note: I am not in any way affiliated or sponsored by either of these brands or any of the needlework shops I’ll be linking to today. But I will include an affiliate link to the pendant tray I used to finish my design, featured in the main photo.

Bijoux and Accentuate spools

Accentuate thread

I knew nothing about either of these thread brands before purchasing, so the information here is just what I’ve researched online.

As far as I can tell, Accentuate threads are manufactured by AccessCommodities.com. Their website only takes store orders and my LNS doesn’t offer them online, so I did some searching and found a few places that DO offer them:

According to the AccessCommodities site, there’s 140 colors of these threads! Not bad at all! The color I purchased is #277, which is a lovely mix of pinks, blues, and golds.

Both of these threads are a little thinner than Kreinik #4. They would work quite well as a blending filament mixed with a strand of normal cotton thread. For the sake of this review though, I decided to stitch using just these threads.

I stitched a small section of the Moon design I used for my Sulky thread review and stitched 1 over 2 on 28 count evenweave.

Closeup of Accentuate thread being stitched.

As you can see above, it started to fray a little bit at the end. But not terribly. If you plan to stitch on 14 count (or over 2 on 28), you could definitely double it up for better coverage. But I don’t mind the gaps as it adds a bit more texture to the design.

Small stitched flower

I found it quite easy to stitch with, if a bit coarse in texture. The shimmer is quite bold and the variegation within the strands of this particular color is very strong. This made it easy to achieve a multicolored look in a small design.

Bijoux thread

Up next is Bijoux, also known as Lacquered threads. From my research I found that this is manufactured by Madeira threads, though I didn’t see it listed on their MadeiraUSA site. Please correct me if you know more.

Basically, these are thin metallics with a black cotton core, resulting in a striped appearance. There’s about 30 colors I could find consistently. I got #457 Malachite, which is a gorgeous emerald green.

Like before, I’ve googled up a few shops that offer these threads if you’re interested. If you know of other sources (Especially outside of the US!) please let me know.

Since the Bijoux already has a black core, I’m not sure how well it would work in a blend unless blending with other dark colors. You could double up on it for more coverage though.

A french knot being made with Bijoux threads.

I only did backstitching and french knots with this one, but I found that the spiral of metallic held together quite well. There was very minimal fraying, just at the very end of the strands. It was smooth enough to make french knots quite easy as well. This is one I’ll definitely want to use again.

Thickness

Both of these brands are about the same thickness. Pictured with them is a Kreinik #4 Very Fine braid to compare.

Comparing thread thickness between three brands.
Finished lotus flower design.

The flower seemed too light compared to the stem, so I did the outline of the flower with a single strand of DMC Cotton 310. This also helps compare the thickness of the strands to DMC.

Parting Thoughts

Overall I’m pretty pleased with these two. Both the lovely variegation of the Accentuate thread and the subtle stripes of the Bijoux.

I’d love to use the Bijoux more, but it seems general availability of these brands is low unless you happen to have a specialty needlework store nearby.

If you do have them available though, I’d recommend giving them a try if you have a specific project that could use some glimmer. Instead of buying them because they’re shiny and letting them sit around for 2 years with no idea what to use them on. Now that they’ve been ‘broken in’, I will probably end up using these again on personal projects, though!

Finished flower pendant

I ended up making this little piece into a necklace pendant using these gorgeous starred pendant trays I picked up on a whim. If you’d like to learn how to make your own cross stitch pendants, I have a tutorial on just that very thing! Lucky you.. 😉