sewing thread

It's not always the thread. I use C&C a lot with no problem.

Is your machine in clean, running order?

Are you regularly changing to a new needle?

Are you using the correct needle for the type of fabric you're sewing?

If fuzz is accumulating on the needle, then your thread could be the problem. However, I do have C&C thread that seems to work OK--- not great but OK. One way to determine if it is the thread is to switch to a more consistently reliable type of thread--- like Mettler for instance. If it still happens, you'll know it isn't the thread.

Check your needle size against the kind of thread. It might also be that your needle has too small a hole for the thread type or is even too large. Here is a chart that might help you:

Good luck!

I know that my sewing machine mechanic told me years ago that retailers contract with the manufacturers to make what appears to be the same thread, but actually is substandard..so that they can save money, but still look like they are selling a well known product. I had that same problem with thread, balling up on the needle, switched to buying the same C/C thread from fabric store and problem gone.

A friend of mine who works at a garden tool manufacturer told me the wally world contracts them to build shovels hoes etc, but to make them less sturdy than what is sold elsewhere, but to market them basically as the same.

Perry

What a world... what a world.

Phae

Sometimes when the thread gets old it starts to dry and that could be the problem. I had the same thing happen with some black coats and clark that I had had for more years than I care to say. I found a newer spool and the problem was eliminated.

Judie

ilaboo wrote:

retailers

the same thread,

still look

me the wally

them less

our ever growing disposable and bottom line society.

I am annoyed with the MFG habit of shrinking the products and keeping the price the same.

robb

I don't know what "MFG" is, but:

Is your salary/wage higher this year than last year? If so, are you actually producing more, or is your salary inflated? Costs go up for many reasons, not the least of which is labor. If you want/expect/demand a pay raise every year, you should also expect everything you (and I) purchase to cost more as well. Many of us live on what we were able to save during a lifetime of work. The income produced from those savings does NOT increase with the cost of living.

Beverly

What you say is very true, but we also are in a period in which our economy is not in good shape. The dollar has seriously lost value, at the same time that production and jobs in this country are being cut severely. For the first time, our children cannot expect to do better than their parents.

I think what Robb is referring to is manufacturers who change the packaging on products, reducing the amount of contents, but keeping the same price, or even raising it.

Yes, it was my sense, as well, that his concern was about *hiding* the price increase--- not about the increase per se. I'm still irked with Hellman's (Best Foods) for hiding their price increase by reducing the jar size from 32 to 30 ounces. It just seems so insulting to the consumer... you know, like we're so stupid we won't notice.

Phae

Hi, sorry ... MFG is what i thought was short hand for ManuFacturinG

No, my salary has not gone up but my responsibilities and the demands on my time have increased by 2.5 fold.

I have two employees that behave like toddlers ! Both want everything now, need lots of attention and are experts at how i should do my job (they would gladly take over given a chance) . We do not produce much that can't be cleaned up with a roll of paper towels but we do try.

When i buy raw materials for our enterprise (eg, peanutbutter, bread, banas, paper, etc) i see first hand the bad/annoying practices of the manufacturers.

bad ? because it is deceiving ! reduce the quantity of product, packaging the same, price the same or higher. with one product the only difference was the packaging was just a wee bit smaller.

I could demand a higher salary , i doubt i would get fired :), but it would likely be met with great resistance and/or the funds would jus get shifted out of some other use.

robb

our

value, at

being cut

better

the

keeping the

yes, you have it exactly.

I think it is deceiving.

I understand inflation , prices go up and so on, but don't try and hide it because it makes me wonder what other thngs might be hidden ?

is it %100 penut butter or maybe itis %90 peanut butter and %10 food grade filler (wood pulp/mash, soybean by products etc..)

It is mindboggling all the non nutritious fillers that go into food for a variety of reasons.

robb

the

keeping the

*hiding* the

irked with

reducing the

the

Thanks, that is it.

For me it was 16.9 oz peanut butter that was reduced to 15.2 oz and the packing was almost exactly the same. the same height, same label, same colors, and same top width. Just the middle section was slightly smaller and the only thing that raised my brow was a slightly larger bump at either end of the plastic container where the mid-section was reduced a wee bit.

i find it insulting as well

robb

In peanut butter especially. I recently ran into a couple of young men in the grocery, shopping for peanut butter. I suggested that they read the list of ingredients on Jif, Skippy, etc., and compare it to the list on Adams. I am "addicted" to Adam's crunchy peanut butter. Nothing in the jar but peanuts and a little salt. Now I hear that there is some kind of connection with diabetes - women who eat peanut butter several times a week are less likely to get diabetes. Why, I don't know. Or perhaps it's just that people not inclined to diabetes happen to like peanut butter? But I eat peanut butter almost daily, and I don't have diabetes.

The ups and downs in the stock market are a pretty good refelction of the overall US economy. The "economy" is, and always has been, cyclical:

?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref3 now, we have *very low* inflation, low unemployment, and yet everyone bellyaches about the price of gas/lattes/housing/whatever. Businesses, whether mom-and-pop or very large corporations have just a few options when *their* costs increase: decrease quantity and charge the same; increase prices; go out of business. We, in the U.S., only recently began paying a higher price, adjusted for inflation, for gasoline:

Robb thinks 2.6%-4% CPI is a large number he apparently does not remember *double digit* inflation in the 70s and 80s. I do:

I also vividly remember living through a couple of hellish years when DH never knew from one week to the next if his company was going to include him in (necessary for survival) layoffs. Fortunately we dodged the bullets, he retired after 42 years with the same company. I'm not saying things are perfect, but to complain about today's low inflation rate is silly.

Beverly

>

> Right now, we have *very low* inflation, low unemployment, > and yet everyone bellyaches about the price of > gas/lattes/housing/whatever. Businesses, whether mom-and-pop > or very large corporations have just a few options when > *their* costs increase: decrease quantity and charge the > same; increase prices; go out of business.>

> If Robb thinks 2.6%-4% CPI is a large number he apparently > does not remember *double digit* inflation in the 70s and > 80s. I do:

> I also vividly remember living through a couple of hellish > years when DH never knew from one week to the next if his > company was going to include him in (necessary for survival) > layoffs. Fortunately we dodged the bullets, he retired > after 42 years with the same company.>

Stand by, then, because inflation is coming. It has to. We owe an extraordinary amount of money, and the only way to pay it back is to devalue the dollar even more. According to a House committee report dated September 2007:

At that time, the total national debt was $8.9 trillion. As of May 8,

2008, it's $9,361,092,875,743.26.

Or:-

Bush takes you into a war with Iran in the time that's left to him. The US economy always seems to thrive on the prospect of another war.

It's worth trying a google on Jon Basil Uttley and keep an open mind on what you find........

I fear our grandchildren will still be paying down this debt. Under the current administration, the national debt increased 6.9% (1st term) and is projected to increase another 3.9% at the end of this term. In contrast, the debt was decreased under the previous administration by

0.6% first term and 8.2% second term.

Phae

These last two weeks my local grocery store has had a certain brand of ice cream 2/$6 which is very good. A few days ago I figured out why. The company has reduced the size of its product from 1.75Qt to 1.5 Qt. I don't know the new price yet because it is still on sale. Very common tactic. Then the execs pat themselves on the back and give themselves fat bonuses for increasing the profit margin.

I think we should kick them in the pants and go back to eating everything home made. No packaged potatoes, spaghetti/sauce,ice cream etc., you get the picture. Just the basics: fruit, vegetables, flour, sugar, meat, milk, cream, block cheese, eggs, legumes, rice(not instant), what did I forget. Yes, I know this is hard on some of us, like me with the FMS, MPS, CFS. But how else to hit those living it up to the max while we who support their arses are in big time trouble.

AK in PA

Our grandchildren and their children will be too busy hitching their horses to the wagon to go to the market. I see an ad campaign that says if we allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness, we'll have enough oil for 60 years. Well, 60 years ago, I was riding in my parents' car. That's not such a long time. I see the handwriting on the wall. Why can't our "fearless" leaders see it?

There's an old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." I guess we're cursed. ;-)