Winding with a hand drill and other things found lying around 

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WINDING THREAD ONTO SPOOLS AND BOBBINS 
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    There are assorted electric and hand-cranked gadgets for 
winding various needlework tools, but if you haven't got 
one, things you find lying around can be made to work. 

Here's how I use a hand drill: 
        
    To hold the spool, I chucked a piece of the pointy end 
of a disposable chopstick in the drill, then wound it neatly 
with carpet warp until it was a tight fit in the hole of a 
spool.  If you are using the set-up only once, pushing 
flat toothpicks in as shims would be easier.  Leave enough 
shim sticking out to get hold of with pliers, just in case. 
    
  I put the ball in a cardboard box on the floor and thread 
the sewing machine as far as the take-up lever, to put 
tension on the thread and leave both hands free to work the 
drill.  (I *don't* have one of those so-called "easy thread" 
levers, so the thread popping out of the hole is not a 
problem.)  
   Standing at a considerable distance from the machine puts 
more tolerance into the system, so that it is easier to keep 
from missing the spool and winding around the drill.  
   Thread wound with a drill tends to collect on the flanges 
of the spool, so trying to wind a lump in the middle keeps 
it fairly flat.  


An electric screwdriver: 

   An electric screwdriver leaves one hand free to guide the 
thread, but it's slower than a hand drill.  Sewing-machine 
bobbins are easier to wind with a screwdriver than with a 
drill, because they are smaller targets than spools are. 


Winding with a stick: 

    Wedging a stick or dowel into the hole in a spool allows 
you to spin it rapidly.  If the stick in question is a hand 
spindle, the job may be easier. 
    
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