Has anyone done a cost comparison between pre wound bobbins and wind yourself. I have never keep track of how many bobbins I get from a spool of bobbin thread.

Prewounds hold more thread - so you change less often and you don't have to take the time to wind your own. I only wind my own when I need a matching color (and I save the pre-wound bobbins when they run out to use for that purpose - no need to buy a bunch of bobbins separately). I like the ones from metroemb.com - they are cheap and my machine likes them.

1 comment

by queenofhearts 06 Sep 2010

Yes, I see that prewounds from Metro hold 150 yds versus the 100 yards an average self wind holds.

I wind my own and I kept count and got 298 bobbins from a Coats 10000 large cone which cost $14.95 here in Australia which worked out well. I wind my bobbins while my machine is embroidery as I have a Janome 11000 which lets you do this at the same time. A great idea as you are there to change colours etc

1 comment

by quilter124 06 Sep 2010

I fill bobbins while embroidering also. I have the 11000SE and I really like it.

I've been doing some searching and found this...
The average bobbin holds about 100 yards of thread.
so if you take the # of yards on the spool and divide it by 100 you should have the number of bobbins that you can fill, then divide that into the cost of the thread+shipping and you will have tha amount it cost to fill each bobbin. Then you can decide what is most important to you, cost or convenience.

1 comment

by queenofhearts 05 Sep 2010

Right now Metro has prewounds on sale and my cost for shipping plus the sale price would make then about .185 apiece

I make my own bobbins only if I need it in that color. Otherwise, I use the prewound!!!

I buy pre-wound from my dealer for 35 cents each.....I've only bought bobbin thread one time and realized it was cheaper to buy pre-wound....while I can use the bobbins in my sewing machine I end up with a large amount of spare bobbins.....interesting question....Janet

there is more thread on a prewound, and also there is a place on the web that sells them for 25.00 for a gross, that is about .17 cents a bobbin. Not sure you can do better in my opinion for that. I have one of those little pre winding machines but I don't think they wind tight enough. But this is just my opinion. ;)

Maybe the solution here is to wind your own on the thing that winds them separate from your machine so you wouldn't be wearing out your machine. Thanks to all those who answered.

I would think prewound bobbins would be dearer because you are paying for the bobbin as well. Once you have your own bobbins you keep using them reducing your cost.

used to buy them but half or less goes to waste, I do my own now, use the big cone from Metro you can wind lots of bobbins....********

1 comment

by queenofhearts 05 Sep 2010

I couldn't find spools of bobbin thread on Merto site, only prewounds. Have they discontinued it?

I have used both, and sometimes, on the prewound, it wastes a lot of thread when you get close to the end, it doesn't come off correctly, at least not in my use. I just started winding my own. If it causes a mess, its my fault! Hugs, Judy

Always wind my own so can't help you but can bring this back to the top. Hope you get your answer.


BTW....I do know there is more thread on prewound bobbins....worked at emb store for a while.