Louisa Quilts: Thread spools

Monday, July 23, 2012

Thread spools

Have you ever thought about how many different kinds of thread spools there are? If you had asked me, I probably would have guessed there might be, maybe, a dozen different kinds. Because there are different sizes of spools and different kinds of thread. Yep, a dozen kinds should be lots.

I have been working on finishing up odd spools lately, and as I empty a spool I set it on the windowsill by the sewing machine. When I added another spool to the row today I realized that the twelve lined up there were all different. I was intrigued by the variety, so I scooped them up and took a picture.

Don’t they look good! There are a couple of really old wooden ones, some 100 yard and 150 yard Gutermann spools, Mettler (small and large), a couple of “exotic” ones, plus the straight core out of something that I can’t remember, and the cardboard centre from my last cone of CanSew cotton.

Looking at them made me wonder if I had any more different ones. I dug through the box of empty spools. There are always quite a few spools around because I keep them until I find someone who wants them . Once I donated them to be used them for crafts at Sunday School, and another time I heard of a fifth grade teacher that wanted some for her students to build bridges with. They always find a home eventually.

I was astonished at how many different ones were lurking in the box. There are 31 in this picture. (Don’t they look like people lined up for a photo at a family reunion?)

After I took the picture I realized there are others that aren’t represented here – some different sized cones that I use on the longarm, and those stocky cones that YLI invisible thread comes on, and, oh yes, some different ones that embroidery threads come on.

thirty-one spools