You can always rewind the thread onto a new bobbin, if the pre-wounds don't work. If you don't have an embroidery machine, you can use the iron-ons and do either hand or free-motion embroidery with them. Some use the liquid embroidery for these also.

The iron ons usually have a little "test" design just for this purpose. I have a large clear lamp that I have a lot of old sewing items in. That way it's useful and holds all that little stuff you don't want to get rid of.

Thanks everyone for your ideas and help!!!! I am in the stages or reorganizing my sewing studio this week... so hopefully I will find a nice place for them! :) We shall see!!!

Here is the thing... Even if the images won't transfer anymore you can use them if you wish. Three other ways I know of are, use a purchased transfer pencil to outline the image and then iron the transfer the same as normal. You can use a light box to transfer them with a regular pencil onto the fabric by tracing around the image. Lastly, you can iron on newly printed images (copies) that you copied from the original pattern. I think you must iron the printed copy within so many minutes for it to work. I am not exactly sure how long it takes to transfer to the fabric. I haven't done it in years. But, it does work, I have done it but, it has been some time ago. Years and years... lol!

Oh I forgot! You can use the printable sheets of fabric.

Many years ago, people used to make doll furniture from those wooden spools. Somewhere I have a very old article with some diagrams of how to put them together to make beds, tables and even little doll chairs with them.

Also they can be all lined up on a nice long board and screwed on to make a coat hanger type holder for the sewing room or workshop. You drill the evenly spaced holes to fit the inside of the spool that the machine screw will fit into, then use a sunken (countersunk) holes that you use larger drill bit to make a hole on the back that the nut will fit down into and onto the machine screw. The shelf will then it will hang flush to the wall. The names of the threads show on the front and give some interest to the little hanger. The metal picture hangers work good to hang them onto the wall on either end of the shelf.

I would try taking them to a retirement community/assisted living housing that hopefully has a manger. They would know if anyone living there still sews and does embroidery. A lot of towns don't carry iron on transfers anymore, you need to order them out of catalogs or on-line and the elderly can't get them. They would love to get their hands on this stuff! Or sometime church circles have elderly ladies that get together to work on quilts for projects, these ladies might be interested in the iron ons and threads. To be honest, hand-sewn embroidery kitchen towels are the SECOND thing I look for at auctions and sales if I am lucky enough to get to one - right behind the FIRST thing I look for- quilts!

I use the the paper bobbins for embroidery

The paper spools were bobbins that were used in
a Sewing Room of a mill for making sheets, etc.

If thread is not rotten, you can use it.

Take up English paper piecing and use the thread on the bobbins to baste your fabric to the paper. :) It will get torn out and tossed anyway, so it won't matter if it's any good. Just a thought......that would be a way to get some use out of it. I've seen those paper bobbins before, too.....no idea what they were used for.

The small wood spools I think has silk thread on them I used that to hand sew the out side of a zipper on
a dress I still have some

i have a box of the iron on transfers that are from the 40's...back when they cost 5cents...they still work fine and i still use them when i need/want an embroidery pattern. my first redwork quilt was made using them.the paper bobbins are-exactly that- pre-wound bobbins. if the thread is still good (stong, doesnt break easily if you take some in both hands & give it a tug) then they are still fine to use. you can wind them onto your own bobbins, or use them for hand sewing, or even put them on your spool pin & use them on the top of the machine- if you have an old machine they may even fit as bobbins.