Jeanette Frantz

Me too!

Jeanette

Sunflowerzz

I used to think thread was thread and saved it too especially huge lots I would find at yard sales etc. I ended up throwing most of it away when I learned how to test it to see if it was still good. Never thought of thread as going bad but when I tested my new thread against the old thread the proof was right there. So that is my answer to your question.

Sewnoma

I used small wooden spools as knobs on the cabinets I store my fabric in. I wound turquoise and orange thread onto them to brighten them up, held down with a dab of Elmer's. I get lots of compliments on them.

I unwind bobbins that come with machines. I don't know what's going on under there and I don't want to try to use thread that is rusty or weak or in a million short lengths - life is too short to struggle with stuff like that when I have a whole shelf in my cabinet full of good thread! I do try to salvage the bobbins themselves, though, as long as they're not too trashed.

LilRedRocker

My mother saved everything. If she needed another color of thread on one of the few bobbins she had, she folder a piece of paper and wound the unneeded bobbin thread on the folded paper or piece of cardboard and later would use that thread for basting. I rarely baste these days, but I will grab a bobbin with thread that I probably won't use and use it as a tiny spool when I'm basting something.

miriam

When I get a machine with a bunch of multi thread vintage metal bobbins, I clean the thread off then soak them in water with a pinch of citric acid added to get the rust off then polish them with a piece of aluminum foil crumpled up into a strand that will clean the center of the bobbin. If the bobbin is deformed I pitch. Usually the older bobbins will clean up just fine.

tessagin

I use bobbin thread for scrap piecing and my little emergency sewing kits and hexie kits.

tranum

My thread is sorted by color and stored in plastic shoe boxes. When I finish using a color, I store the bobbin in the same shoe box. If I have a small sewing project, I find the bobbin is ready to go and I'm a happy camper.

quiltsRfun

Same here. I'm also using up almost empty spools of various colors of thread this way.