sandy.smith

I love the spools, just didn't know what to do with them, but throwing them away is out of the question! Some of them were my grandmothers. I love the jar idea. I will put it next to the jar of the balls of leftover yarn I have. Great idea.

Thanks

ArchaicArcane

Or you can do this:[ATTACH=CONFIG]465728[/ATTACH]

miriam

This is a fun read again....

I've been taking care of my mom. Some times things get boring so I sew. I got out her old beater Featherweight and was looking at her bobbins. One was so bent out of shape it should be pitched.......... The rest were full of various colors. I finally pulled all 17 layers of thread off one and put on white thread, then did the same for black thread. So far I'm ok with just that. I guess if I have to do some button holes or something I'll need to unwind another loaded up bobbin. Mom had quite a genius for re-purposing or reusing just about any piece of plastic you can imagine. She had a hard time throwing it out. She doesn't think about that kind of thing all that much these days unless it is disposable underwear. She would love to find a way to recycle that stuff. ew.

Rodney

A year and a half later I'm still a waster. I hoard almost everything (one look at our house will tell you that) but life is too short to waste time on suspect thread. Trying to use it will cause more problems and questions than it solves.
Not only is there the issue of whether or not it's rotten but it can also cause uneven tension problems.
Rodney

DonnaMiller

My mom only had 4 bobbins and the bobbin winder didn't always work. I wound the bobbins by hand when I was a kid. It kept me out of trouble I guess. She would also wind the thread on an empty spool and use it for hand basting. She basted everything before she sewed it. Looking back, why didn't I get her some more bobbins for heavens sake. I feel bad that she went through life doing this when some extra bobbins would have made live easier for her. I wind 20 bobbins at a time now to avoid having to do it when in the heat of battle with quilt piecing. I feel guilty thinking of my poor mom saving thread and doing all that extra work. Of course we lived WAY out in the country and she couldn't get to the store and money was tight, looking back. Extra bobbins would have made a good mother's day gift that she would have really appreciated.

manicmike

I'm with Rodney. I've always thrown old thread out if it were weak (old cotton) but realised a few months ago that people will actually *pay* for old spools of thread to use them as decor! I must have thrown hundreds of dollars worth into the bin over the years.

Cari-in-Oly

[QUOTE=manicmike;7286662]I'm with Rodney. I've always thrown old thread out if it were weak (old cotton) but realised a few months ago that people will actually *pay* for old spools of thread to use them as decor! I must have thrown hundreds of dollars worth into the bin over the years.[/QUOTE

I did worse than this when I first started buying vintage machines. I would often just throw away the bobbins that came with machines, after all new metal ones from Sew Classic were cheap. I could kick myself now for all the perfectly good bobbins that went in the trash.
Now I hoard my vintage bobbins, but thread not so much. I remove thread from old bobbins and throw it away but I keep the old wood spools with thread on it. I will toss old cheap spools of thread (remember the K Mart 4 for $1.00 spools?), but if it's good thread I keep it.

Cari

Rodney

I don't throw out wooden spools. They're not making them anymore except one company (YLI?) for quilting thread. But generally they haven't been used in ages.
I don't have many either though. I generally only get them when I buy a machine that has one or two with it.

Old bobbins only get trashed if they're too far gone to salvage. Rust cleans off but bent and warped ones are generally not worth trying to fix.
Exceptions would be rare or expensive ones. Those are worth the effort to try to save.
Rodney

elnan

I was several pages into this "Thread" before I realized it was an old one revived. I have enjoyed reading it, as with anything Miriam posts. The person who sews with pale lavender for her quilts has me interested in trying it. My mother, older sister, and Granny sewed clothing, and I do not recall ever seeing them buy more than one spool of thread at a time except when all the girls got new Easter dresses and the boys shirts & shorts for summer. Most of the bobbins I have were picked up by the bag at thrift stores, either hanging on pegboard or under the glass near the cash register. The treasure stores I frequent usually remove everything from the drawers of an incoming sewing machine and price them separately, placing them different places around the store. From bad experiences just like Joe described, I learned to remove the thread on old bobbins instead of waiting until I needed a new color. A video at Briansews made me a believer about not winding new thread over old on bobbins.

Littledreamdevil

I guess I am a hoarder or that's what hubby says anyway . I like to save stuff. I save swing machine motors, old presser feet, and stuff to craft and projects ...now I always know hat I am gig to make with the stuff I save but hubby just can't see the big picture ....I am saving all these parts to make new sewing machine...ha ha