If you’ve been following my posts, you know I did some thread experiments on dye day.
Experiments are always just that. Might work, could work, did work, did not work. All information.
But I worked with threads that are NOT workable in a commercial teaching setting, largely because of the way they’re put up in manufacture. The best way to dye thread is in (reasonably enough) a dyers hank. That means it’s in a flat loop, usually confined by a paper label or by twisting into a skein. Do all threads come that way?
Sashiko thread 
#3 pearl cotton 
#20 pearl cotton 
Frizzle
No. No they don’t. But since I’m not producing for class or for travel I can fuddle around with the weird stuff. The trick is to get it in the end into a form where you can get it on the machine. Between a ball winder and a swift I can hank up anything I like. (See Noncommercial blog post.)
Here’s some of what I tried.
# 20 pearl cotton fits in the needle as well as the bobbin! Since the cone didn’t feed onto the machine I filled a bobbin for thread from the top.
I love the Frizzle I dyed!
Look at it as branches for a tree. I have the cotton string I dyed here too, but the frizzle definitely wins.
Do I love the new threads I dyed!
They are to dye for!
Will I experiment with new threads? Well there’s all that thread that didn’t arrive in time for dye day…. Stay tuned!