Learn from other friends...cones and other threads.
 

The top off your spray starch can, has a lid, and I found if I drilled a small hole in the top, my cone or spool of thread will sit inside this lid on the spindle of any sewing machine with the top spindle in the upright position.

The bottom of each spool of thread comes off and inside the bottom is a plastic plug, which will fit inside the cone or spool of thread where the opening is too large for the spindle on your sewing machine. You can then place the cone or spool onto the upright spindle as seen in pic. 3, without the lid from the spay can.

Sometimes these bottom plugs, are a bit harder to remove.

The small 1/4 inch thick orange plastic bottom off the Aurifil thread spool will fit on your sewing machine spindle, and allow the thread to move easier when you are sewing. This plastic orange bottom, can be easily pulled down a bit as that is where you need to wrap your thread after you are finished sewing with that spool, and the thread will not unravel from the spool, once you have wrapped the end of the thread you need to push it back on into place.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]603478[/ATTACH]Pic #1[ATTACH=CONFIG]603479[/ATTACH]Pic 2[ATTACH=CONFIG]603480[/ATTACH]Pic 3

Pic 1 - shows those bottom plugs removed from various other threads and a couple of small cones,
Pic 2 - shows those various sizes of plastic bottoms inserted into the base of those with larger openings,
Pic 3 - shows the spool of thread sitting inside the lid off the spray starch

The tall cone when empty will also fit inside the bottom of a larger cone, however I would use one of the free standing cone stands.

I hope you will get an new idea on how these will work for you.

Very helpful Donna...thank you for taking the time to post.

Thanks for sharing another creative idea. Quilters are awesome!

I love when quilters come up with great uses for items that are made for other purposes.

Picture no 3. I thought the thread was supposed to come off the cone from the top. You would need several inches of free space above the cone for the thread to unwind freely without pressure from anything. In that picture it looks like the thread is coming out the side. Maybe we are looking at it wrong.

And putting a cone in a cup would cause pressure every time the thread needed to be free to unwind from the very bottom of the cone. I never understood how that would work.

In a pinch I put the cone on the floor to the right of the machine and lead it up to the first thread guide. Cats love that. LOL