I sew with a lot of black fabrics, so I was going thru a whole spool or more for piecing and quilting one wall quilt. I then decided instead of using a spool from my LQS, I'd get a cone from Connecting Threads. I bought black and several tans (for when I'm piecing other colors besides black). It'll be a long time before I'll need to replenish thread for piecing. I also have several of their sets of spools, got them on sale and I really like the colors.