I have not been able to find a sturdy stand locally to use with cone threads. The only ones I’ve seen are attached to the table of industrial sewing machines. Purchasing one in the U.S. and having it shipped down has not seem cost-effective. Enter my homemade solution:
1. Take the plastic spindle of a CD case (we buy a lot of blank CDs around here!). For this purpose, you need one with a tall spindle.
2. Just in itself it is rather flimsy, but if you stack some old, discarded CDs on it, you will be weighing it down. (You can also lift the plastic disk and place small BB pellets under the disk to weigh it down. But old CDs work fine for me.)
3. Place your cone on top, and forget about it tipping over!
4. To complete the holder, place a small safety pin on your spool holder, and run the thread through the eye. Then thread your machine as usual.
A nifty, cheap, practical solution.
I am a self-learner. I taught myself to sew and to quilt. And I taught myself how to draw. I am learning how to dye my own fabrics and am dabbling with mixed media. I am a quilt designer and teacher, and design and publish my own line of quilt patterns. With this blog I would like to share the bits and pieces of my life. 
15 Comments
¡Me encantó!!!!!! Y ya estoy revoleando los ojos sobre el escritorio de mi esposo…..uyyyy …ahí veo un par…..me los voy a apropiar!!!!! Gracias por la idea. Muy ingeniosa!
Oh my. What a brilliant, yet simple idea!! I work at an office, and there are always spindles being used up. I’m going to raid the stationery cupboard at work and find myself a new spindle. I’ve been wondering how to use up these larger thread reels… and a safety pin?? Oh so easy.
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for this great idea. I just purchased a metal holder. I wish that I had seen this a few weeks ago. I can still use this idea for my lighter travel machine, though.
This is fantastic! I was searching to maybe buy a cone stand, then stumbled onto a few DIY ones, but this one tops them all! I already have mine all set up and I only just found your blog post a few minutes ago! Just have to buy some thread now. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this idea! I need one bad for my spools of thread i’m about to buy. I’m so glad I ran across your blog!!!!!
This is just brilliant – thank you so much for sharing this.
That’s a wonderful idea. I bought a plastic storage basket with holes in the sides. I slip a wooden spoon through the cone and the holes. I can store extra cones of thread in the basket as well.
This is amazing! I always use serger cones with my sewing machine and you don’t know how many times I’ve tried to jimmy-rig something to no avail. I will be doing this tomorrow.
Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, that safety pin is a brilliant idea, will try the spindle when i find one unoccupied.
GREAT IDEA…..I should be soooo smart……..and it works toooo!
I’ve often wondered how I could use those large cones of thread with my sewing machine. Thanks for the brilliant idea!
I always try to re-purpose things. But never knew what to do with all these empty CD/DVD cases. Now I know. WOW. What a great Idea ! Thanks.
This is so much neater than my pencil taped to the thread holder.
This is so great!!! Thank you!!
Angie, thank you so much for this post!!! I rigged up a spool holder, but the thread was a different story~~ this is so clever!
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[...] You use a lot of thread when you sew patches together so I am using a cone rather than a spool of thread and I made a stand for the thread cone that is working out quite well! Here are some instructions. [...]