oldtnquiltinglady

I am guilty of all of the above---winding too much over what is already in the bobbin thinking I'll use it all on my current mending project (that's all I get from my kids anymore--their mending); then leaving it on the bobbin when I change to another color. But my bobbins are Elna, so I can tell if there is enough left on it to finish something. And I have been known to strip all the thread off if I know I'll be using a bobbin off. And for piecing, I use up whatever is on a bobbin no matter the color, until I get disgusted with running out of thread when I have sewed up half a strip of 2-1/2" fabric.....then I'll fill a bobbin with a beige or gray like the rest of you ladies seem to do. Not a nickle's worth of difference in any of us, huh? Must be depression era kids.....Love you one and all.

quiltmom04

My mom used to do that, too- winding open color thread on top of another. It never made sense to me, especially if you needed the underneath color and had to unwind thread to get to it. I'm not sure saving everything is necessarily good. It seems rather useless unless you can find it, or you'll spend a huge amount of time (wasted) trying to find it. I'd rather throw out a few yards of bobbins thread unnecessarily than have 50 little containers with odd bits of thread clogging up my sewing area.

SteveH

this thread keeps reminding me that i wanted to put together a chart showing relative costs of Sewing machines and components. to see that things like thread were more significant expenses than they are today.

i.e. imagine if the numbers worked out to thread being 10% of the cost of sewing in the Victorian days vs .05% of the cost of sewing today. Those % were just made up, I have NO idea what the real numbers are yet...

In my research I find that sellers then (like today) look for the biggest issue for the customer as the point they invest research/cost improvement dollars. so what we see today as crazy cheap is the result of it once being the most expensive part that got the attention to improve.

ArchaicArcane

The other thing that works is elastic bands. I use them to hold the bobbin to the spool, and I can still hang them on my pegboard hooks. The thin ones on broccoli work, the thicker ones not so much, or I suppose any dollar store or stationary store would have ones that don't smell like the produce department.

I suspect that's very true for thread.

My breaking point was the day I found 8 different colors on one bobbin. I'd been trying to empty bobbins while practicing FMQ, and having to pull one bobbin out that many times lead me to a thread removal frenzy. Now, I'll use up old thread from spools for things like that, but bobbins wound previously by someone else with who know what? Nope. I'd rather use it for stuffing a pincushion or something.

maviskw

I do this, too. And I also wind thread from a spool that is almost empty onto a bobbin and use it up in the bobbin. Much better to have the bobbin run out than the spool. When the spool runs out, it creates a mess that can take several minutes to clean up.

barny

I have a lot of those bobbins[plastic] that I use on my Touch 'n Sew. They unscrew. If I need the bobbin and it has wrong color on it, I unscrew it and put the thread in a pill bottle. Then if I'm hand sewing anything, I have that thread I can use in my hand needle.

NopahDesertRat

My Great Grandmother was thrifty out of necessity. She made nearly all of her clothing. She would try to sew at least one seam every day on a dress or project. When finished with she would leave it in the machine and the next day the new seam would began with only a small amount of thread between seams so as not to waste the thread.

Her Domestic sewing machine, a treadle is still in the family and still sews.

As for me, I have a lot of bobbins with matching spools of thread. They are stored together so when I need a certain color I don't have to hunt up the bobbin to go with the color. I don't put them in pill bottles usually just on a shelf with the bobbin on top. Or, when I get super efficient I roll up a sponge earplug put it in the top of the spool and the bobbin on it. Keeps em together!

Krystyna

Miriam, this is a quote that I am going to keep in front of my face as we prepare to move into a new house. Thank you.

quilter1

I guess I should reuse my tea bags too? Toss out the unused thread from the bobbins unless it is a color I often need.

leatheflea

I use those small leftovers on a bobbin for piecing. Of course I've been known to just pull it off and throw it in the trash. Thread is too (cheap in my eyes) to worry about saving every last yard. Now I do hoard fabric. If its at least .75 in width and length I save it....And yes I have used some of those small pieces for applique and mini quilts.