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.

I had a strange observation. My nearby Walmart Coats and Clark thread came on one of those spools with that little slit that caused me lots of headaches too. However, when I travel a distance to JoAnns, the Coats and Clark spools had the end cap. Strange....I wondered if C&C had a zillion of those spools with the slits in their store room and are trying to use them up at Walmarts, or are they just cheaper to make so Walmart gets them.

It's more likely that Walmart required concessions from C&C to keep them as a supplier and they found the cheaper way to do so. Walmart asks many suppliers to meet a certain price and it's up to the company to either meet that price point or not be on the store shelves.

yes, then i remember i have a larger disk to fit onto the spool. i use that for the most part now.no more problems.

speaking of thread brands, anyone know why connectingthreads now sells their threads with the center round "spool" poking out of both ends. I cannot stand it up anywhere now. Very irritating.

Or could it be that WalMart has the old style old inventory to get rid of it?

I know and it's very annoying.

I do think the newer spools are not made with the slot anymore.
How about putting a small drop of glue on the slit then the thread won't catch?

Both of my straight stitch only machine, that I use all the time. Have round things that stick down onto the end of the spool holder keeps thread from touching any part of the spool.

I got one spool at Walmart only because it is 1.5 mi there, about 9 to JAF, and 10.5 to my favorite quilt shop. It was so bad I threw it away and drove 10 mi to buy more. Until I got it home, I didn’t even realize it was the spool with the slit. Hadn’t seen one in years. Will never ever buy thread at Wally World again. Turning the spool didn’t help, tried both the vertical and horizontal spool holders, and the thread disc did nothing.

.I'm going to try this next time I use Coats and Clark thread. I've had the same problem!

This is puzzling because Coats & Clarks stopped making the thread spools with the slit to hold the thread several years ago. Now a new spool just has the thread 'tucked' into the first wrap. So, you must have old thread or someone is selling old stock. Now, if it is the actual spool that has jagged edges - that's a different problem. That can be attributed to new manufacturers who are not good about quality control! But if it is on a horizontal threader, it shouldn't be hitting the spool end and snagging. Last resort, roll it over a piece of fine sandpaper or emery board - in one direction.

I have had this problem on my Artistic 18 sit-down machine. I finally put the cap (the caps come with all the machines) over the top of the spool and solved the problem. I did what you did at first. Got out the nail file but that didn't completely solve the problem. The cap did.

I keep on old emery board in my tool cup. Just sand it down, works like a charm

Yes, I believe that is the case. The new C&C spools don't have those slits. I'm a little surprised that so many of those are still being sold. It has been a few years since I commented that C&C had finally designed a spool without those slits.

I find other brands have the same issue so I also smooth out the edges so I don't have issues when I'm using it.

I remember reading something about this when the new style of spool was introduced by Coats. Walmart wasn't happy with the price increase of the new Coats thread and it would be too expensive to carry. Coats continued to produce the old style for Walmart. I haven't noticed the old style of spools being sold anywhere but Walmart. Where else is the old style sold?

The slot is for the thread when you are done with it, supposed to stop the thread from unraveling. Slot end goes to the bottom of thread spindle. Do not know about snags, never had that problem.

I keep a glass nail file under my DSM to smooth those little burrs. Works just fine. I find them on all different brands of thread.

When I get a new spool for quilting, I sand the slit area down with a simple emery board. It only takes a few minutes and has solved this issue for me.

I've had a few old C&C do that, but on my machines I can just turn the spool over. I'm not buying any new C&C unless it's an emergency. Too stiff. Anyone know what thread Hobby Lobby carries?

I also just turn the spool over, use a cap and I also use a spool "sock" It's an elastic sort of netting made to fit around the spool so that it doesn't unwind too fast. It also holds the thread away from the spool just far enough to avoid the edges of the spool.

A spool cap bigger than the spool of thread should stop that. Or try putting it on a vertical spindle. I have been known to take a sharp knife or exacto and scraping the ridges; sometimes there is a tiny piece of plastic that was cut off in the making of the spools.

I had such problems with their rough spools and thread issues I threw them all out and started with aurifil. No more thread and spool issues.

No, you are not the only one. Just 3 weeks ago I got so tired of that same problem.I had 3 spools that I had bought at Hancock's before they closed. I called C&C in Greer S C talked to their customer service. They were so nice to me, said they were having trouble with their spool molds. They sent me replacement thread which I received in about 3 days. I looked on line and got their number. Don't just throw your money away. They said we should never have to repair their spools. Good luck.