Hiya,
How do I transfer thread from one spool to another spool? Is there a low cost machine that I can get that will do it? I'm not talking about bobbins but spools of thread. I want to transfer some thread from some huge spools I have to some normal sized spools.
Just pick up a cone thread stand and use the cones on your machine.
Sometimes I can get cones cheaper than the equivalent in spools. The spools fit better into the case I have for thread.
I also have spools that have different sized holes. There is also the thread I got from a tag sale that was wrapped onto cards that I would like to wind onto spools.
I just made a thread stand using the pictures from this site
Just wind it onto a bobbin using your bobbin winder. That should work fine unless your bobbins hold very little thread.
I use a piece of chopstick chucked into a hand drill; I wound the chopstick with carpet warp to make the spool a force-fit.
I've used an electric screwdriver to wind bobbins, but it's too slow to wind a whole spool.
A simple dowel works well: it can be spun between your hands much faster than you could turn a spool without a dowel stuck into it. I've heard of using hand spindles for the same purpose.
I saw an ad for an adaptor to fit onto the kind of bobbin winder that sits on top of a sewing machine, but I'd hesitate to use such a thing frequently, for fear of bending something inside the machine.
A quill winder would work for spools with the same sort of fudging mentioned for the hand drill, and they must be available, as people on the lace-maker's list sometimes report adapting them to wind bobbins when no proper bobbin winder is available.
Ouch! Just Googled; a weaver's "double-ended bobbin winder" would work fine -- and they start at $199.00. I didn't turn up any quill winders. Did find a bobbin winder that can be ordered with a quill-sized shaft instead of the larger bobbin-winding shaft. Also discovered that there are also "pirn winders".
Checking lace suppliers: Snowgoose has a bobbin winder for $40. Lacis has one for $40 and one for $100.
Van Scyver has six, ranging from the same $40 winder Lacis sells to a $279 electric winder. This one also comes with a crank instead of the motor for $155, and is the only one at any of the three sites that looks as though it might handle a sewing-thread spool without being re-built. It looks somewhat like the weaver's double-ended bobbin winder.
I think your best bet is to rig up a dispenser that will let you sew directly off your huge spools. You'll have to have some sort of dispenser to wind the thread off them anyway, so all you need is a way to direct the thread from the dispenser to the sewing machine. I ran the thread through the hinges of safety pins stuck into the curtain when I sewed off a cone sitting on the floor behind the sewing machine. I also have a cone of basting thread hanging point down over the machine, suspended by way of a piece of twill tape from the curtain rod. (If there is no convenient curtain rod, you can get ornamental ceiling hooks, some of them strong enough to support flower pots.)
Joy Beeson
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