When we had the store, we stocked the large 1200 yard spools of Star Thread made by Coats and Clark.
The problem buyers encountered was that the hole through the center of the spool is 5/8 inch in diameter, the spools wiggled and rattled when installed on the sewing machine's spool pin and the thread unwould unevenly.
My solution is to use a thread stand but not everyone wants to carry a thread stand along on sew-ins and retreats. We still have a couple of dozen spools of Star and it's not selling in Kathie's Etsy store so it looks like we are going to have to use it up ourselves.
I went to the local home improvement store and picked up some tubing with a 1/4 inch inside diameter and 3/8 inch outside diameter for about 21 cents per foot. That was not large enough to fill the hole, so I also picked up some other tubing with 3/8 inch inside diameter and 1/2 inch outside diameter for about 39 cents per foot.
I slipped the smaller tubing inside the larger tubing for 2 1/2 inches (the length of the Star spool) and sliced it off with a utility knife.
The 1/4" inside tube fits snugly over my spool pin and the 1/2" outer tubing takes up most of the space inside the Star spool so there is less rattle and the thread comes off the spool more evenly.
I can make 5 inserts for 60 cents worth of tubing. Maybe providing an insert with each spool of thread will spur some sales, I already have enough thread to last my lifetime.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/oldsewingmachines
http://www.etsy.com/shop/oldetownestitchery
5 comments:
I realize that the tubing idea is really inexpensive, but did you know that deelybobs have been around for years?
http://deelybob.com/
They work great in large Coats spools.
I have a couple of wooden spool inserts that fit those spools nicely. I've gotten them at different quilt stores. I just bought your even feed foot online for my 301A. Hard to purchase when I don't have PayPal. No, I don't want it. Hubby has it, but, me not having it keeps me from spending too much money. Yes, hubby knows, he just wasn't home when I placed the order. Thanks.
Cheryl,
Thanks for supporting my Etsy shop. Against my better judgement, I gave Etsy a ton of personal information and actuated the credit card/gift card feature on both shops. Now you can spend money without siphoning it from your husband's PayPal account. -Ed
Cari,
12 cents worth of materials and two minutes of labor vs. $8.50 for one deelybob - let me think about it and see if I can come up with any reason to buy a deelybob (I didn't even check shipping). -Ed
Yes, I get it, if I didn't already have the deelybob I would use your idea. BTW, I got the deelybob years ago off Ebay for about $2.00. I linked to the site because it was quicker than doing an ebay search.
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