I used the cover of a syringe ( live on farm lots of those) and cut the tip off placed it in the lop the thread goes to from the stand itself putting the thread thru it never had any problems n my dad made my thread stand one of the things another was two thread holders Held many spools of thread on the wall I covered each spool with a sandwich baggie to keep the dust off n also hooked the bobbin with a bread tie that hung on the dowel