I have 830 bobbins. Since I store my presser feet together elsewhere, I replaced the plastic holders in the Bernina presser foot box with bobbin holders for every other row and store my bobbins threads there by row--Aurifil, Bottom Line, etcetera. It keeps the sensors on the bobbins from getting damaged and me organized.

My boxes are Art Bin.

I keep my bobbins by thread type/brand. So all my Bottom Line are in one bobbin box, all my So Fine in another, all cotton in another, etc. All my bobbins are then kept in a drawer in my sewing machine cabinet. The boxes that have covers are labeled.

I've always heard that sunlight and dust are the two main things to keep your thread away from. I keep my thread in plastic hinged boxes made for scrapbooking/thread storage. Sometimes I can get them with spool storage racks inside and sometimes not. Not all of my spools fit on those special racks, so I don't use them in all my boxes. I've gotten them at JoAnn's and a local craft store. They are stored in a stack on the floor in a spot where the sun doesn't shine on them. The boxes I have are translucent so I can see what colors are inside. I do have them labeled though. Most are sorted by color, but I do have all my Bottom Line together, then a box for metallics, silk, and specialty threads like Glitter, Razzle Dazzle, Halo, rayon and WonderFil Spagetti.

You just saved me so much money, time, work and my sanity. The special bobbin can go in the ziplock bag, then I can punch a hole through the ziplock bag, and the pipe cleaner can then thread through the hole, so I can still keep things together.

off to find mini-ziplock bags!

THANK U!

Pat

I use little ziploc bags. I have tiny ones that I've saved from buying crystals and stuff, then supplimented with little cheap ones that I bought on Amazon. The little ones just fit the bobbin inside so that the thread doesn't unwind. Then I use bigger bags that I've saved from everything I buy and put the spool and the bobbin in the bag so they stay together. For cones, I slip the bobbin (in the little ziploc) inside the cone before putting the cone in another bag. Then the bag goes in one of my thread drawers.

This works well for me, but I don't have fancy electronic bobbins. I don't know what the issues are there.

Nancy

This is a subject dear to my heart, and I just cannot figure our how to CHEAPLY store thread together with the BOBBINS, so I don't have to guess which is what.

Up to now, I have been using the pipe cleaner trick. But, that won't work for bernina's 8 series bobbins [those bobbins have electronics in them to be protected].

Anyone have ideas?

Pat

I use the super deep, Super Satchel for my cone thread. The thread holder is extra and a separate unit and not needed if using regular size spools. I have a more shallow satchel for regular thread. These plastic storage boxes can be found at, Keepsake Quilting. The brand is, ArtBin and they are acid free.

Barbara

I store my thread in those little sets of drawers that are sold for keeping screws and nails in from the D-I-Y stores. If you are uncertain about which size you need, just slip a couple of your spools in your pocket and you can check in store which they fit.

For larger cones, they live in the second drawer down of the unit underneath.

Older natural fibre threads do rot, same as fabric. And different colour dyestuffs affect the same base fabric differently, which is why a blue fabric could have a different 'hand' to a yellow or red, this will also affect rate of deterioration.

I also have some very old Pearsall's silk floss thread, and the to tell if they are totally past it for using is if you can rotate the thread whilst holding onto the spool with the other hand, if you can't you are probably ok for careful hand sewing.

Rosemary

I've had thread dry out so it breaks continuously on the longarm. Now, remember, that machine sews at incredibly high speed. My "active" thread, the cones I use a lot, I keep on hooks on a pegboard inside little plastic bags. Some, like King Tut thread, I keep the wrappers. The thread I haven't started using yet I keep in drawers in a filing cabinet.
Light and dry air are the enemies of thread, even polyester!

Hmmmm....I have always stored my thread in some form of plastic or metal bins or plastic bags. I even have some thread some might consider "antique", by which I mean it is as old as I am. (I occasionally use some of these antique threads, but only in the smallest quantities because it used to belong to my mom and I'm just using it for the "magic" it must surely still have in it from having been held by her talented hands. The rest I just keep in the metal boxes she and my mother-in-law had just to look at from time to time. Some of this was what I used to learn to sew from her instructions when I was 3 or 4 to when I left home.)

I also have some real antique threads that I keep around for fun and don't use.

I never have had any problems with (non-metallic) threads that are made well when I have a good needle. The only threads that gave me problems were cheap bargain threads and they broke and split and fuzzed until I threw them away.

I have had thread not work well for no apparent reason and I have often wondered whether age plays a factor or whether other things contribute to a thread not working well. For instance, I've had more problems with white thread than any other thread including black. I've actually switched brands several times thinking that a manufacturer had changed the way they make a thread.

My non-scientific rational is that (at least in my shop) that weather plays a function in how the thread acts. There's no other reason for it, so it must be something like that. I also have more problems in the winter than in the summer and wondered whether it could be caused by the warmth from the heater. I keep my Superior threads in plastic thread bins and my large commercial cones on a racking system that is open but I go through the commercial thread pretty quickly.

I put mine in a thread caddy and yes it is plastic.

I have had problems with dust because I left spools in an open basket (looked really pretty on the table) so now I store them by colour groups in ziplock bags in a bigger basket!