Skip to main content

Another Haul

I think I mentioned I'm putting the short story project on hiatus. Anyway, if I didn't, I have -- I need some time off from it. My brain is a little fried.

Meanwhile, I'm actually running out of inexpensive embroidery thread for my stitch practice, so I started looking around for some vintage thread lot listings on a couple of sites. For a couple of months I was either outbid or had some qualms about the threads due to condition, description, discolorations, poor listing pics, etc.

Finally I found a large lot that looked good and fit my very low budget (under $40.) The listing had great photos so I could look at everything up close. I rolled the dice and bought it.

Sorting out the threads tonight was fun. I ended up with around 250 skeins of 6-stranded vintage and near-new thread. The majority are DMC floss, which I prefer over other brands, but there were some Anchor, JP Coats, Prism and AI as well. None of them were dirty, stained or odorous, and only a handful were unlabeled. When you purchase vintage thread online the biggest headache is the condition in which they arrive (and for me the smell.) I'd call 90% of this lot like new, and the rest in good, usable condition.

Included with all the floss were 24 pristine skeins of DMC #3 perle thread. This is the thread I use most often, and to buy them new would cost about $2.00 a skein.

Whoever owned this thread before me carded a lot of the DMC skeins on paper bobbins, and numbered them. These sold me on the lot; I fell in love with the colors. There were also two project thread holders, and even a spool of fine metallic thread. Someone really cared about their thread; you can just tell by the condition. I will do the same.

The final plus for me was that the seller offered free shipping, so the cost of the whole lot worked out to about twelve cents a skein. You can't beat that price for practice thread. :)

Comments

nightsmusic said…
WOW! That's an awesome stash! Care to share where you look for some of these? I wouldn't have the first idea except for Etsy and I haven't looked there, but this is a great buy.
May 6, 2022 at 5:58 AM
the author said…
Thanks. :) I found this lot as a buy-it-now listing for $29.99 on eBay. I've been doing searches for "embroidery thread lot" there, which brings up a lot of results, but I like looking through the listings. I do the same search on Etsy, although the lots there are smaller and not as cheap.
May 6, 2022 at 6:57 AM
nightsmusic said…
I do see them on Etsy, but I wondered. I know you just never know what you might be getting. I'll check eBay. Didn't think to look there.
May 6, 2022 at 9:48 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodwill Gamble #2 Arrives

My second Goodwill gamble arrived; this is one I paid ten bucks for last month. Just inside the lid was a big roll of plastic mesh that I think is for latchhook work. In the auction listing it looked like fabric to me, so that was unexpected. Someone at the seller's end was nice enough to put a note on this pinned fabric. I'll put on my gloves before I take it out to inspect it. The embroidered green fabric turned out to be 1-1/2 yards of sequinned and three-dimensional designer fabric. I'll guess this cost somewhere between $20.00 to $30.00 a yard, and it's in pristine condition. But here's a shot of everything in the lot, which is mostly crafty odds and ends with a small amount of cotton fabrics, a large amount of synethetic fabrics, and some other surprises. The original owner of these was probably a Catholic school teacher; these beads, crosses and medallions are the kind of rosary kits for kids to make at Sunday school or Bible camp (and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love Means This

Invested in a couple of hand-dyed bundles from one of my favorite fabric artists. This one said "Make me into something for Valentine's Day." So I went for a quilted and embellished tote. I kept thinking about what love means to me as I worked on it. Here's the finished tote. Although I was tempted to embellish with beads and pins, I got sick and only felt well enough to do a little stitching every night. As I worked I thought about how often love seems disappointing to us, especially when it fails to live up to our expectations. But now that I've experienced love in many forms, I can say that it's made me a better person than I might have been without it. Love is a precious thing, and should be appreciated in all its forms. I am very grateful for the love of my guy, my child and my friends who have stuck with me all these years. That's you two, in case you're wondering. :) Also finally found something to do with a ve...
1 comment
Read more

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.
Post a Comment
Read more