Coats and Clark plastic snags? Am I the only one?
 

Ladies, is there anyone else out there that’s had their thread snag and get stuck on the rough plastic spook base of Coats and Clark Dual Duty thread? I was trying to quilt with this tonite and it was a god awful nightmare. I actually busted out my nail files to smooth the plastic rough spots but to no avail. I have all these colors just purchased for quilting but this thread isn’t working. Is it possible it’s operator error and not the thread?! Thoughts welcome. I’d hate to have to go now and purchase Superior Thread, but those spools are dreamy. I have a Brother 1500. Ty!

It’s the spools. There may be some way to smooth them (nail polish?), but I don’t have enough experience with them to be sure. My other gripe with Dual Duty is the lint and dust it creates. Polyester threads are much nicer for quilting. Check out redrockthreads for Superior and other brands.

Flip the spool over. The slot should be down. If that doesn’t work, I’ve smoothed edges out with a sharp seam ripper before.

Yep, I've done both....flipped the spools over and on other occasions, filed the heck out of the snag! Very frustrating when you come across a spool like this and it's always the colour you are desperate to use!!!

I don't think I have ever encountered that problem in all of my years of sewing and I have used and do use lots of Dual Duty thread. Are you using a vertical or horizontal spool pin? That does make a difference. Maybe using a cone holder type device would help-or even a cup or glass at the end of your sewing machine.

Usually, you can flip the spool so the slit isn't a problem. If you are using a horizontal spool pin, see if you have a cap that is wider than the spool. The wider cap will guide the thread away from the spool.

Along with flipping the spool over, another option is to see if you have a different way/route to feed your thread.

Eg. My machine, the thread normally goes straight up from the spool,then left towards the machine.
My machine has an option that lets the thread feed through a small hole to the bottom right
of the spool, then straight up, then back left to the machine.

I've used that different routing when a spool has created issues ... and it worked!

After years of dealing with some form of this problem, I got desperate. Don't laugh, I'm actually kinda proud of myself. A little duct tape on a stand, sand for ballast, and one of those heavy wrenches to put stuff together with...my problem is solved. I tried unsuccessfully to upload a photo :( but I got it so that the thread is on an angle now and has no change of grazing the plastic at all now. One day when I figure out why it didn't upload I'll post it! Thank you!

My machine came with discs/caps mentioned by PaperPrincess and I find they do the job of stopping that problem.

I've had it happen to me too - defective spools are crazy to deal with. I've done similar to others here and tried redirecting the thread feed and once in a very desperate move rethrreaded it onto another spool.