Tutorial - Thread Stand

If we quilt, we like big spools of thread.  If we use big spools of thread or thread that is cross wound on the spools, we need a thread stand.  If we have more than one sewing machine, it's nice to have more than one thread stand.
I ordered my thread stand a couple of decades ago from Home-Sew in Bethlehem, PA, but I don't know if they still carry them.  Long Creek Mills sells one just like it for a really great price, but be aware that the base is cast iron, so it is heavy to ship.

Here's the homemade one I put together this morning so that I do not have to carry it from room to room.

 I began with a 3/8 inch dowel rod and a little wood stand that I picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago.

 I drilled a 1/16" pilot hole into the top of the dowel rod, partially opened an small o-ring with a pair of needle-nosed pliers, and twisted it into the pilot hole until the screw threads were imbedded in the wood and the opening of the ring was at the top.

 I set the base with the dowel rod down into a heavy bottomed glass I've used in my sewing room for years.  It could just as easily have been placed into a jar or a piece of pottery--it just needs to be heavy enough to keep the stand from tipping.
Before placing the thread on the hook, I twisted it so that the thread coming from the spool was in front of the thread that traveled on to the machine.

 This is an important step with almost any thread stand because it keeps the thread from jumping off the hook.

 My machine has two thread spools, so to get the alignment I prefer, I carried the thread in front of the spool pin on the right and behind the spool pin on the left.

 Then I set a spool of thread on each spool pin to keep the thread from jumping off.  This would be a great place to set some vintage wooden spools if you are lucky enough to have them.

 I keep a couple of other homemade tools on the right too.  You can see the large spool of my favorite thread, Fil-Tec Glide, to the right of the stand.  The weight of the spool is enough to keep it in place.  I didn't try it with a nearly empty spool, but if I have a problem with it staying put when the thread is nearly gone and the spool is much lighter, I'll just set that down into a glass, jar, or piece of pottery too.

 I keep a sweet little dish filled with the bobbins I'm using in front of the thread.  I love class 15 bobbins because they hold so much thread.  (I admit that sometimes if I need just a little thread and already have a class 66 bobbin with that color, my machines accept those just fine too, although they are a bit looser in the bobbin case--and I use them only for tiny sewing jobs; I usually load 3-4 bobbins for the size of prayer quilts we make most often.)

 On top of the dish, I put a coffee filter so that I can drop all my pretty thread ends in there--the filter paper has enough texture to keep them from escaping.

It's dispensing thread very well....and I'm sure it will work great while I decide if I want to pay to ship a bargain of a thread stand clear across the country.

Happy quiltmaking.....
Post Script:  I did go back and use the needle nose pliers to close the ring quite a bit.  While the thread didn't jump out while sewing or quilting, it did jump out while winding the bobbin.