Fellow Spiders, I have been enjoying my complete set of Madiera Tanne 50 that I bought many years ago in order to have a huge palette of colors for creative work in bobbin lace. But unfortunately, some colors are becoming depleted and Madiera Tanne 50 is no longer being made. I asked Holly Van Sciver about a replacement that would serve the same purpose and she said that she thought that DMC Cotton Machine Embroidery Thread, size 50 weight, (Broder Machine) was what I was looking for, but that she did not carry it. This is a 100% cotton thread in many colors. My impression from speaking to her was that the thread was so generic and universally available that it wasn't something that a vendor who dealt in difficult to obtain specialty lace threads would want to carry, so I didn't think it would be too hard to find it. However, the store locater at the DMC website is useless since it only tells you what stores carry any DMC product, such as the universally available floss. In fact, after visiting Michael's Craft store to see if their DMC offerings included DMC Cotton Machine Embroidery Thread, it seemed to me that the DMC locater was more likely to produce red herrings in the form of cheap craft stores, and high end embroidery stores than to yield the thread I was looking for. I contacted DMC via the questions area of their website, although they are physically located in Elizabeth, NJ, but a stone's throw from my house, in an effort to find out if I could buy the thread locally. My (hopelessly outdated?) concept was that it would be nice to walk into a store, look at the thread, and buy a few spools, since what I think we are talking about here is what used to be just cotton sewing thread such as we all bought for sewing back in the day. Maybe I am wrong. Of course, now sewing thread is polyester, so not necessarily what you want for heirloom (?) bobbin lace. I was hoping that I would not have to get involved in mail order. After a prolonged email correspondence with DMC which included them sending to me via snail mail a nice brochure with a color chart confirming that there are a lot of lovely colors in the Machine Embroidery line, DMC told me to call a phone number in Florida for a place called Hamburg House and that they would be able to tell me where to buy the thread. I called the number and they were utterly puzzled about why it had been given to me, since they are only fellow customers of DMC. We had a good laugh. Not deterred, I called a quilting store that I know of, but they only have hand quilting thread. I asked the quilting store lady about whether she thought Jo-Ann fabrics would have it, and the woman at the quilting store said she knew for a fact that Jo-Ann didn't carry any DMC, only Coats and Clark. I have tried to call Jo Ann fabrics, the nearest one being somewhat farther than I want to drive on spec, but they didn't answer the phone. Nearer to me, it seems that most of the fabric stores are ones that sell only upholstery fabrics. I would be grateful for any thoughts about where DMC Cotton Machine Embroidery thread could be found, as I am beginning to think that I am overlooking some obvious source. Also, if anyone has tried the thread for creative bobbin lace, is the search actually worthwhile? Devon
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