I discovered something neat while mending today.

[Martinhouse]

I've been doing a lot of hand mending the last couple of days and today I found some really nice thread in one of my thread drawers.

I couldn't find a good match in my newer thread, so I took out a very old, unused wooden spool of thread. I probably got it at one of the thrift stores. I'm always leery of thread that breaks easy and wasn't sure this old stuff was any good.

Well. I reeled off the first "needleful" and I couldn't snap it off the spool. I had to use the scissors. The first thing I sewed was an overlap join of some stiff webbing elastic and once I got the needle through, that thread slid through that dense elastic like water through a soda straw. And I was using single strand and the free end never tangled once and the thread didn't double twist from lots of tiny whip stitches and the whole four foot length of thread never got a single fuzzy patch on it after being pulled hundreds of times through that elastic and fabric.

This probably sounds pretty humdrum to most of you, but to me it was a remarkable experience. It makes me sad to think that when I was very young, we sewed with this kind of thread all the time and never realized how fine it actually was.

I have no idea how old this thread is but it was a 600 yard spool of #50 royal blue color #1360. I bet it will still be too tough to snap with my hands when the rest if the garment has turned to dust.

[Summerthyme]

I dunno.. I'd call that "frustrating", not "neat"! Just kidding... sort of.

But yes, I've noticed that older fabrics, threads, and even buttons are much sturdier than the current stuff. There are exceptions... the newer synthetics are NOTHING like the old polyester "double knits"... Thank God!! Remember those?

Back to thread, there *are* much better quality threads out there, but you won't find them at WalMart or JoAnnes. There is a website called www.Threadart.com that sells more varieties than you can imagine exist. And www.Connectingthreads.com has some *really* good deals on cotton or polyester thread. MANY colors, too. If you do like their stuff, get on their mailing list and wait a few weeks or months... they'll have 40% off all their thread at some point. They "cycle" their sales, and just got done with 33% or 40% (can't remember) off all their batting. They do it for books, and notions/rulers as well.

And their cotton fabric is wonderful... good weight, wonderful finish, washes like a dream. Compared to most of the stuff at WalMart (at least, for the same price as the Connectingthreads $5.96 a yard when it's not on sale) it's amazing. WalMart does carry some brandname cottons for quilting, but they're running around $10- a yard around here.

Summerthyme

[Martinhouse]

Summerthyme, I guess it was a neat experience for me because I do not order things online. We only have a Walmart and a Hobby Lobby in our town.

As far as having to use inferior thread, I find it more sad than frustrating. Companies used to want to make the best product they could. Over the years that has changed, and even before everything moved overseas, they started making things as cheaply as they could get by with, and greed became the prime consderation, not product quality and customer satisfaction.

If I need to mend jeans or jackets, I still have tons of nylon upholstery thread left from before I retired. It is in several nice colors and I can usually find a good match. If I could get my back porch cleaned up, I could even get the industrial sewing machine working again. That thing hems jeans like a dream and I can bind the edges of a big Herculite tarp in minutes.

Gee, now I want to clean up my porch. But it would be a two-week project since I don't move around so well any more.

Carol