Ditto what ckcowl said, I got some thread that is on wooden and the foam spools and I'm using it. I also got it at an estate sale. I washed the thread while it was still on the spools. I put them in a small plastic basket and put that into a plastic dish pan. Swished them around a bit the bottom of the basket had holes so they were easy to rinse. That's been a few months and I'm using the thread. none so far have shirred or split. The colors are vibrant. I used just a tad of Woolite.