Mother lode of thread...
 

My neighborhood had it's annual garage sale day. At one place I was able to procure an entire plastic tote of good, new thread, on modern spools, for $27.00 (I talked them down from $42 because $27 was all I had on me.) The spools, in every color of the rainbow, were all jumbled together. Mettlers, Sulky, Gutermanns, Dual Duty and Coats and Clark.

Only a few of the spools had been used - you can tell because the thread is loose on those ones. Each one that's loose I've been pulling on the thread to see how easy it is to break and only two really old ones (that have $0.50 on the labels) have broken.

I could NOT believe it!

I'll never have to buy thread again (yes, I know that's a lie but it doesn't seem that way right now). And I don't have room for all of it! LOL (Gee, what a problem.)

So far I haven't been looking at weight or TEX (I hate trying to compare TEX to weight!) and just separating all of it by brand. Then I'll go back through all of them and separate by weight, then again by color, cotton/poly and sheen. And I've already ordered more spool holders.

It made me realize that I'm still so new to quilting that I don't know the differences between all these brands. I mean, is Sulky better at one thing and Mettlers better at another or are they all pretty much comparable?

congratulations. The best thing is just try out the threads and see what you like. I don't know what kind of machine you have but some brands of machines like certain threads better and others are just happy to have some kind of thread in them. Of the brands you listed. I like the mettler thread. but there are different kinds. I generally use Mettler silk finish cotton thread weight 50 for piecing. I also have used the gutterman 100% cotton but find that a little bit more linty. Both of these brands make polyester thread too that works fine for piecing. But what I would do, is go to the websites for each brand of thread and look for some kind of a thread information sheet as most will describe each of the threads they make and the usage for that thread. I generally do not use the coats and clark or dual duty for piecing as those threads tend to be thicker and the piecing does not lay as flat when you press it I do use what dual duty I have left if I need a certain color for binding and don't have it in one of my other threads. Sulky also makes a lot of different threads. I haven't particularly cared for it for piecing as the stuff I had did not seem as strong as the other ones. But the sulky I had did have a beautiful sheen to it and looked lovely for decretive stitching in stuff that did not need to be strong.

This is the kind of information I need - thank you for it! I never even thought about going to the websites. Duh! That should have been my first move. lol

I just spent 3 hours going through all of them just to separate them by brand.
2 spools were cotton - they were the old ones that broke.
I did find 1 elastic thread on a wooden spool and very easy to break.
1 fusible spool in shrink wrapped plastic...no idea how old it is or if fusible thread even goes bad.
2 were Isacord cones - I've not used Isacord before but they're new and in good shape.
A few were Coats & Clark All Purpose cotton/poly, most of the AP's were C&C 100% poly - I grew up using this AP thread but have read it's not as good as it used to be.
60% was Mettlers, the rest was Gutermanns.

There were also 2 quite odd looking, fully plastic, machine feet and some itty-bitty little needles with a name Geschuetztes Muster I'm going to have to research.

Isn't it fun to find great sewing items at yard sales?

Nice score.

Pictures, please! Are the itty-bitty little needles hand or machine needles?

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

It sure is. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

I've discovered the itty-bitty needles are vintage Colonial Quilting Between needles - no idea what size because that part of the package has been cut off.

Now I'm working on the odd plastic feet. It has a very mod looking font on the logo that says "Unique". I'll see what I can find out.

Wow! You scored!

Ok, the weird presser feet are for invisible zippers: https://www.ebay.com/itm/172205584037

Now for the last one. And I'm going to need your help on this one. I took a picture of this little metal case so you could see the size against my computer mouse. The inside has a cardboard liner with red velvet on the inside. The red liner in the lid has two slits. What is is for? A tiny pair of scissors that didn't come with it?

If they are threads that you use, that's a great deal!

Here are the needles and the oddball feet.

I handwrote the info on the needles and taped it together. The top of the card was cutoff.

Probably for some itty-bitty little scissors. Maybe like for the 2 1/2" scissors as seen at https://adirondackgirlatheart.com/wp...1-800x1200.jpg from the page https://adirondackgirlatheart.com/co...tage-scissors/

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
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Do you need the instructions for the invisible zipper foot? I'm fairly certain I have both the Unique and Talon ones.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

I thinnk you're right. Alas, no scissors were in the case. I'll still find a use for it though.

Here's the thread. The Mettzlers are in the spool caddy, which has 46 compartments - 4 spools per compartment except for the 3 larger spools which take up a compartment themselves. The rest of it is in the tote still. Awaiting more spool caddies to arrive. And then the chore of more sorting. lol

That would be great! Otherwise I'd have no idea how to use them.

Do they work well?

One last thing. Furrier Waxed Skein. What the heck is this for?

I just love a good deal, and you sure scored. Great find.

Ebay item # 183964160108 Says it is for hand sewing. Looks like this is an older version of N.B.T. Waxed Silamide Skeins. 675 yds per skein. Tex 23. A soft thread made with wax and a little silicone used to replace silk thread for hand sewing. Fun to do sleuthing like this.

It was a double sided single sheet that folded up. I think I only used it a couple of times, many years ago. i really wouldn't want to use a regular zipper foot for an invisible zipper. Something that should be noted is that you install the zipper before seaming below the zipper. I also forgot that one side of the instructions is for polyester teeth and the other for metal teeth, although they look the same.

Attachment 633420
Attachment 633421
There is also a Coats & Clark invisible zipper foot.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.

Going by the pdf that can be found at https://www.amefird.com/wp-content/u...art-2-4-10.pdf It looks like it Tex 23 is a really fine thread, so probably what the itsy-bitsy needles are for

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

It IS fun to do sleuthing! And the things you learn when ya do it.

Thank you for finding out for me. (My RA has made me reeeeeeally tired from my garage sale foray this morning and my brain has decided to go on strike. I should've taken a nap when I got home but I had thread to play with. And, of course, that was much more important to do, doncha know. )

OurWorkbench, you are so very helpful!! Thank you.

I'd never have figured out how to work the zipper foot without your scans. These feet really are unique, aren't they.

And I own fake silk thread. That's something too. I'm sure I'll find a use for it one of these days.

Thank you again!

I am lucky the two machines I use all the time like coats and clark threads which is what I buy.

Yes, those zippers were unique and really did need a special foot for them. A lot of the snap on feet sets now have a metal one, but the plastic ones work fine. It was neat that they had the adapters for the different machines. I reviewed the other ones I have. The Talon one came with a short shank, high shank adapters, but not a top clamp one which they call front mount. For the slant shank you could slide the bottom piece on a narrow regular zipper foot. Both the Unique and the Coats and Clarks have a single piece for both the high shank and slant shank - just had to put them on differently.

I found the patent for the holder for the needles at http://patentimages.storage.googleap.../US3500998.pdf

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

Aha, the patent was for the needle holder, not the needles themselves. (Makes sense since needles have only been around for a millenia or two.) Good sleuthing on your part!

Super! I just paid $15 for 6 spools of thread! And that was because "Buy 3, Get 3 free"!

The Sulky thread that has a beautiful sheen is probably for machine embroidery. They make rayon and cotton.
Elastic thread, if it's over 2 years old, I wouldn't use it.
fusible thread, I have had some for 10 years and it's still good.
Isacord is usually embroidery thread.
Usually the top of the thread will tell what type it is. Also, watch out for thread that said Quilting. It may be for hand quilting only.
Sounds like got a deal. .

WOW! You really won big on that Mettler thread. Around here, it goes for about $7 a spool although I haven't bought any for a couple of years so may be more by now. I keep a giant cheese puff jar where I put my empty spools into. I find it helpful sometimes when I don't think I am getting anything done to look at my jar with the empty spools and think "well I must have done something, I have empty spools"

I was just thinking about what I was going to do with the Sulky and Isacord thread. I don't have too many spools but I also don't do machine embroidery. I'll figure out something.

Good to know about the elastic thread. Dumb question but, if it doesn't last much longer than around 2 years, why even sew with it to begin with? Seriously, whatever it was used on wouldn't be good for very long.

If you don't do embroidery, you can always sell it and probably get some of your money back. Please don't take my word for the elastic thread, I just haven't had that good luck with it. I make a sundress that you sew elastic thread about 1 inch apart on the top. It looked really nice when I finished, but after the 2nd summer, the elastic wasn't tight anymore. There are several different brands of elastic thread, so it may have just been the one I was using. Maybe someone else on here has had better luck.

I use Isacord thread to FMQ on my Janome. My machine loves it. I usually use Bottom Line or So Fine in the bobbin with it. In fact, although many people swear by Glide for FMQ, I get better results with Isacord.

I always find it interesting, and amusing, how machines prefer different threads. Don't get me wrong, one of my machines is more finicky than my other 3. It happens to be a computerized machine. I wonder if that has something to do with it?

I would just like to know what it is that makes a certain brand of thread work perfectly fine on a bazillion of the same make/model of machine and not work great on that one machine of the same make/model.

Is it the tension?
Is a gear off by a hairsbreadth?
Is it humidity?
Did a butterfly in Timbuktu flutter it's wings, whereby causing a slight current that created a sand storm that pushed some clouds across the ocean and cause it to rain over the sewing machine factory when that one machine was being made so it suddenly doesn't like certain thread...?

If anyone knows the 'why' behind it, please tell because I'd sure like to know.

I think it was the butterfly. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/biggrin.png

You got an amazing bargain- so happy for you!!!