I found a simple way to keep my spools of thread from unraveling and causing a mess. I normally keep my embroidery thread on a spool rack (see my avatar). But, I am traveling now, and they sure don't sit tight in a box. At Walgreens I found small polybands (for ponytails). They are clear bands that fight perfectly around the embroidery spools and work great. I got 100 large ones and 150 smaller ones for $5. You can barely see them on the spools so will look nice even at home on the rack.