I was given a very large spool of cotton grey thread. My machine won't handle the whole spool as the "hole" on the spool is much too large. I love the thread but there must be a way I can use it with an empty spool. I keep them on hand all of the time. Mostly for my cats to play with :roll: I was able to fill a bobbin by placing a wooden spoon in the center and just holding it.

You can get spool tower thingy that you can sit your large spool on, and then thread it to your machine. Some have converted upright paper towel holders, and some just set the large spool into a coffee mug or jar or such.

Thanks for sharing your tip. Love your avatar picture.

Thanks!!! ... if you want a better look, check here on Page 2 ...
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-112573-1.htm

You mentioned your cats playing with your large spool of thread .... if the cats have been playing with it, and have let their little claws dig into it, you may be best to let them keep it as their toy as the thread may be damaged and could create havoc while running thru the machine ... to say the least about the strength being lost in the finished quilt.

My dad made up a whole bunch of the large thread holders simply by taking a small 4 inch aquare of wood and drilled a hole in the side & then took the old wire hangers & took part off & straigtened it out & put a curl on the top end & the other into the hole he drilled. He cut off a part of a dowel & drilled a bigger hole to put the dowel in the middle of the square. I took the cap from needles & cut the end off & stuck it in the curl & put my thread thru that. I also put an old spool inside the big one to hold it on the dowel so it didn't wiggle. It works great. Cheap too. Most people have a little chunk of wood around & an old wire hanger. He also sanded the block so it wasn't rough.

I was shown a way to make a large eyed spool holder.Cut off one end of a spool like Gutermann's.The spool then will fit into that big hole.Will that work?

You can just place the large spool in a glass & put it on the table behind your machine, bring the thread up the back & thread your machine as normal. It works fine for me that way.

Absolutely Incredible advice. Set the spool in my ceramic "butter bell" bottom. Perfect. The only problem I had was I was so excited to try it my bacon on the stove is now black and the house is filled with smoke. Not a bad price to pay for such great advice.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

So there is truth to the old advertising moniker ....
"Everything's Better with Butter" (Butter-Bell, that is)

*gag* nothing worse than a house of bacon grease! ick!! :)



As a PS ... check that your machine is stitching correctly. Sometimes the tension will get messed up by not having the spool sitting in the proper position on the machine. Better to check now, than do a whole bunch of sewing and say, oh dear! :( :)

So far the tension is better than it has ever been. Not sure why and don't care why. :thumbup: