The ladies at my class put an empty plastic biro/pen tube over their normal holder and stick the cone of thread over that, works a treat, and cheap :-P

Hi, I use over sized spools alot. I had my hisband make me a round wooden disc with a hole drilled in the center and a dowel placed in the hole sticking up . I put the spool on that to keep it in place and place that in front of my machine and feed the tread up from there. Or you can put the spool in a mug in front of your machine and feed the thread up from there too. They both workn wonderful. Try it. Jane

I had the simplest way of getting the thread off the spool: I put a push pin in the wall about 2 feet above the machine. I threaded the thread through the bottom loop of a safety pin and hooked it onto the pin. If you have curtains, you can pin the safety pin to them. Just make sure the spool of thread is directly below the safety pin so the thread comes off the top, and it is not pushed up against the wall. You go from the safety pin to the machine and thread like normal.

I had trouble using cone thread with my newer Kenmore machine. The machine was skipping stitches and I couldn't figure out why so I sent it in for service with the cone still on it. The report said that only spools could be used and the needle was wrong too. I had used a needle that would fit Kenmore machines rather than a Kenmore needle. I couldn't figure out how the cone thread fed into the machine differently than a spool, but if I use the right thread and needles, I have no problems. I can go through a spool a day when I get going on a project!
Janie

I use a wide mouth mason jar and it sits behind and to the right of my machine. I was at my friends the other day and forgot my jar, I saw a gallon? size fish bowl and it worked great and held two cones at once.

I have heard of people putting the spool in a jar on the floor, and then threading your machine, I have not tried it but it might work.

You can set a coffee cup behind your machine, put the spool in it bring thread up over machine and continue to thread machine as usual. This works also for nylon thread.

I use a lot of cone threads for my reg. machine. Cut a Pringle can in half, use the plastic top as the bottom for one of the halves. Insert a spray can top (the size of a deoderant or pam spray top) into each pringle half can - Drop your cone into the top, place can to the back and right side of your machine, thread and sew - no tangles, no wobbling, just smooth stitching. Upon reading, it may sound confusing but its easy as pie
I've been known to tape the two pringle cans together for easy access to two different threads when sewing some projects.
Love the board - but it IS addictive, have to control myself or I'll get no quilting done.

You can get a stand for using with a regular machine. I have one that's plastic. I've seen some that loving crafty hubbys have made for their wives also. I love mine.

Before I bought my large spool holder, I made my own out of a small square block of wood to which I nailed a tall 1/2 inch square length of wood. I then screwed in a coffee cup hook at about the level of my machine's thread holder. Worked for me...but the suggestion of a cut or jar is even easier.

Thanks for the chuckle none the less.... :lol: