May be you could cut the bottom off a soda bottle and use that. Not sure if it would work or not but it is a thought. I think I will try one.

Get a couple of clean slurpy cups with lids and it would do the same thing, or some of he cheap cups with lids at the dollar store.

Try a soda bottle, a wide mouth pint jar, a thread net, a piece of a nylon stocking, all much cheaper than the advertised item. I get a "dish" of ice cream at Burger King for 50 cents and it has a domed plastic top over a plastic glass. I bet if you glued one of those to something heavy and poked a hole in the top that would work just as well. Lots of cheap suggestions to try before spending any money.

I've seen threads that come in a container like that. The container is part of the packaging. The only one I can find right now though is Hemmingworth. Amazon carries it: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_3jxlsba6xo_e

Looks like a water bottle, you can cut off the bottom and set thread in, then just tape bottom until you need to put new thread in.

That was my first thought until I got a good look at it. A 1 liter coke bottle with the bottle cut off.

well at least I know my thinking isn't crazy. The first thing I thought when I saw it was "soda bottle" :)

I am thinking that if you want something to keep a thread cone from getting dusty, you could probably make one from a soda bottle.

S0da bottle
 

That's what I thought when I saw it. Think I'll try it and see if I have a saved plastic lid* that would fit on the bottom after it's cut off to insert the thread cone. *(I save lids to use as spoon rests, then toss them, either in the DW or the trash.)

It is a monofilament that they use for binding rug edges. That is the only way you can find it. It is called a clear thread canister. Look under Large thread covers. it is made by National. Hope this helps