I love old sewing thread. I collect wooden and paper spools with old darning silks on them. I also have a couple hundred spools of vintage threads that came in old sewing boxes, bags of thrifted notions and auction lots. Most are still in good shape, but I rarely use them for anything except basting here and there. For quilting and textile art I prefer Gütermann thread, which I think is the best quality on the market. I have Gütermann in basically all colors.
When I saw this video by Maeli Designs about turning sewing thread into yarn I simply had to try it, and pulled twelve spools of my vintage threads in different shades of blue.
I did the technique from the video by hand because I don't own a yarn winder, and it works just like the video said.
I then crocheted this little disk with a 4mm hook. The gathered threads are not like yarn, so they're hard to hold together. It's easy to turn the threads into a bunched mess with a slip of the hook (and I should note it's difficult with my arthritis to keep the proper tension with working anyway.) Still, the finished product looked pretty cool.
I was curious to see how the thread-yarn would behave as embroidery thread, and there I had a bit more luck. Twelve sewing threads make a decent substitution for cotton perle, and in the future I may use this technique to make embroidery thread skeins in colorways I can't find.
I enjoyed the experiment a lot, and I'm glad I gave it a go. Thanks, Maeli Designs.
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