Dastardly nasty thread

My DSM who loves a bargain gave me some gorgeous threads for christmas year before last. Beautful colours, some variegated, some plain - about 12-15 spools. States on the label it's all cotton, 100% genuine cotton. Made in France.

Yeah right!

It is branded "DMC" and since I vaguely recall hearing about them I figured it'd be good. Went to do some sewing with it the other night and snap - it broke off. Threaded up again, few stitches later - kerplunk. Broken again. Changed reels. Same deal. Finally chose a third reel of the stuff and pulled the thread - snap. Pulled again - snap. This stuff is weaker than me in a chocolate shop.

I think it is now doomed to sit in my cupboard forever. Such beautiful beautiful colours but totally useless.

Reply to
Sharon Harper
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What a shame. DMC are a big name in the stranded cotton/floss world, the sort you'd use if you were doing cross stitch. I don't think I've ever seen any of their cotton threads and from what you've said maybe there's a good reason for that! Morag

Reply to
Morag in Scotland

Hmmmm. Most peculiar, Sharon. Before we storm the gates of DMC and give them a whack on the nose, let's take a look at your DSM who 'loves a bargain' and your SM. Could it be that DSM bought the thread at a great discount because it had survived being buried away somewhere for many years? or could it be that your SM is being cantankerous? I'm not a card-carrying member of the DMC fan club but they are usually reliable. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther

Piggybacking once again.

Sharon, Write the company and enclose the thread you started using. I'd let them know you received it as a gift so you couldn't tell them where it was purchased. You'd figure a well-known company like DMC would want to stand behind their product..it will be interesting to see what they say and do.

It might be 'dry rot'. Ran into that once when I was working at a LQS.......brand new thread TO US from a well-known company. Seems the supplier sent us thread that had already been 'returned to them' because of that problem. They rectified the situation very quickly both with the store and customer.

Butterfly (Sure appreciate when those of you keep the original posts :)

Reply to
Butterflywings

I have several friends that are hand appliquérs & they all swear by DMC. I had the same thought that perhaps this great bargain wasn't such a great bargain & that it may have been very old (i.e. rotted) thread that someone discovered?

Reply to
Pauline

in message

Hi Sharon,

I am so surprised the DMC thread you have is that brittle. I LOVE DMC and have used it for years with great success. It is not weak or brittle thread for me. Have never had a problem with it breaking.

Please contact DMC and let them know what has happened. Surely they will stand behind there product. At least I would hope.

JMHO,

Marsha in nw, Ohio

Reply to
marsha

Sharon, I know you think it's worthless, and it is for your intended use. Do you do any applique? If so, get some water soluable stabilizer. Lay a piece down, then the thread and "puddle" it all over the stabilizer, fairly heavily. Put another piece of stabilizer on top and free motion all over it--heavily with a thread that blends with the rest of the threads. Wash out the stabilizer, and make applique shapes. Basically you've made a new fabric. Gen

Reply to
Gen

Aha! So that's where i know the name from! I have a gazillion of the embroidery flosses and have no trouble with them. Moral of the story....I'm sticking with Guterman.

Reply to
Sharon Harper

LOL Polly. Lordy only knows where my ma bought the stuff! But it wasn't only my sewing machine being cantankerous - I also tried handsewing with it also. Double strand - single strand, it's gosh awful. Perhaps a bad batch? Could be - but so many different colours.....

Reply to
Sharon Harper

Not a bad idea Madame Butterfly. May try that when I get a chance.

Reply to
Sharon Harper

Hmmmm...I'm not sure I'm that skilled!

Reply to
Sharon Harper

Will try this option - thanky kindly.

Reply to
Sharon Harper

Yes, that's a good idea. Do you remember the thread that I think it was Sharon? had that had been inadvertently cut on the spool while someone was opening a package? It was broken every so often of course. Could you try pulling a length off the spool to see if it is all in one piece? As well as all the other advice you have been given. . In message , Butterflywings writes

Reply to
Patti

Might be very elderly thread way past its sell-by date. Somebody once said it helps to put old thread in the freezer, but I've not yet had occasion to try this. Wonder if there's some way to find out when it was manufactured -if it's really weakened, one wouldn't want to use it. Although the logic of all this sort of escapes me. After all, we expect the finished product to hold up for many years, with laundering, exposure to pets and children and daylight, and all sorts of other stress. And there is never any actual date on the spool! Roberta in D

"Sharon Harper" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:4640ef12$0$27740$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

I'm thinking it would need to be pretty old for cotton... I've got some old Coats & Clarks mercerised cotton on 1000m cops that must be more than 20 years old, and I can use that perfectly well in the serger, not just in the sewing machine. I suppose it would depend on how well it had been stored.

Reply to
Kate XXXXXX

The pleater for smocking was loaded somewhere between 12 and 20 years ago and the thread in it is still holding strong. Sometimes a great deal of stretching and pulling on pleating threads is needed and there's been no problem with one popping. There was a fairly silly procedure to do before putting the thread in the pleater. It seems like I was directed to soak the spools in water and then set them on the floor in front of the refrigerator vent to dry them. (Just 'try' that with a big kitty in the house.) My point, if I ever get to it, is that maybe this made the thread stronger. Maybe it just entertained the kitty. Polly

"Kate XXXXXX" wrote > Paul>> I have several friends that are hand appliquérs & they all swear by DMC.

Reply to
Polly Esther

Some folks around here keep thread in zip lock bags in the freezer. It is really dry here and I honestly don't know if that is the reason or some woman just forgot what she was doing and put a bag of thread in the freezer by accident and it just caught on.

Ann Leatz sells a lot of dmc thread for appliqué work. I really like dmc thread but she has moved and it isn't so accessible for me any more. If you search her name she has a web page and probably could answer questi> The pleater for smocking was loaded somewhere between 12 and 20 years ago

Reply to
Taria

I know that the DMC machine embroidery thread, 100% cotton is prized by some for appliqué. Haven't used it my self but am wondering if you are using it for hand or machine work??? I do know that it is a specialty thread, and it can also dry out. When cotton thread, especially fine, not tightly twisted, thread gets a bit elderly it does break a lot more easily. DMC is not a general purpose thread, unless they make one I don't know of.

Check the sp> My DSM who loves a bargain gave me some gorgeous threads for christmas year

Reply to
Pati Cook

OK that is just wierd.

I swear by DMC generally, though it is the very devil for me to find anything but stranded embroidery floss or perle cotton anymore. Just recently I found I can get their spools of metallic, and I am very pleased with them indeed.

To the point though, I have gotten a great many of their products second hand and they have usually been fine even though they were old. One ball of darning cotton is all I can think of that had dry rot, and that ball must have been at least 50 years old.

I would agree that you should contact the company and tell them what you have, what is wrong with it, and explain you had been given the spools as a gift.

If the spools are plastic anyway. DMC has been in buisness and shipping worldwide for better than a hundred years. If they are wooden spools, and printed entirely in french, take them to an antique dealer that specialises in textiles. LOL

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

A good thought Taria, thanks. The thread and spools themselves look literally brand new. It's just the quality that.....errr.....sucks! LOL

Reply to
Sharon Harper

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