They come in two weights, 40 and 60, I use isacord, I find it durable and a good quality and I get it pretty cheap, but I am also in canada, so not sure what stores sell it there, I also use Gunold but it is more of an industrial one, if you don't want it to be to heavy or thick you would pick the design best suited to what you are doing, there is simple line designs, to full filled in heavy designs, it can be very versitile, there are a lot here obviously that do embroidery that can help with specifics when you are trying to work things out, feel free to pm me anything, I may or may not be able to help, I have been at it for a bit, my first embroidery machine was a janome 16 years in Feb. check out the site www.emblibrary.com for ideas and what there is out there, they have a very large supply of designs and they are pretty reasonably priced and continuously go on sale, the quality of the design plays a large part in out it will turn out, I have not had any issues with their designs or their customer service, they are alway friendly and helpful when ever I ask a question, they have a lot of projects as well on their sister site.