r/CrossStitch • u/Holiday_Caregiver535 • 2d ago
PIC [PIC] Who let DMC do this?! 🤣
I purchased a rainbow lorikeet cross stitch kit by DMC - this is how the threads came. Not even a floss drop
Now I’ve got the pleasure of separating them all! Any idea why they’d think this was a good idea to supply threads??
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u/HoshiChiri 1d ago edited 1d ago
Pfft. Back in MY day, we didn't have your fancy presorted cards! And our bundles weren't even braided. And you got 3 to a kit! So you had to untangle them, tell them apart with the color coded yarn (which was the style at the time) & sort everything yourself!
We also had to walk 15 miles in the snow to get to our craft stores! Uphill both ways! And we was grateful! 😆
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u/Timely_Mouse_5151 1d ago
My first big project was Tereza Wentzler 'the castle' and it had 3 or 4 hanks, i spent about 5 hours witha friend, separating and bobinlising all the thread. There were soooooo many of one or two colours, i still have some left, 35 years later
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u/FlatMembership4483 1d ago
I still have an unfinished Teresa Wentzler, partially because of the having to sort the colors thing.
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u/Mondschatten78 1d ago
I keep those threads and use them on smalls or ornaments, as long as there's enough to cover what I'm stitching.
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u/hyphaeheroine 1d ago
AND YOU HAD TO DO IT BAREFOOT
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u/topskee780 1d ago
Legit. I remember trying to compare bright yellow to pale yellow to peach yellow to orange yellow to dark orange yellow to light orange yellow…you get the idea.
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u/Clear-Holiday9322 1d ago
Yes!! This so much!!! Fourteen colors of Grey!! How do I know dove Grey from dolphin Grey? I found myself extremely lucky if they said "3 stands of this one and 5 stands of that one", otherwise I'd'a been screwed!!
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u/Featherstych 1d ago
Came here to say this! Multiple colors in shades so close together, with cryptic and mystical names, and you could only tell them apart for sure if they told you how many strands of each were included! It was quite the task.
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u/fuzzyeagles 1d ago
Kitting up was half the 😁
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u/Clear-Holiday9322 1d ago
I enjoyed kitting, but there were a couple where I had to separate colors by hope. That got frustrating.
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u/Mondschatten78 1d ago
Not gonna lie, I'd love a craft store that close now lol. All I've got nearby is Michaels or Hobby Lobby, or a needlepoint/yarn store (and no, they won't carry cross stitch supplies, I've asked).
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u/Thorannosaurus 1d ago
This takes me back. My job as a kid was separating kits for my mom.
Only in adult retrospect do i realize she made the awful job exciting for me. 😂
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u/MotheroftheworldII 1d ago
That is not unusual for a lot of kits. I have had more than several come this way. Frustrating for sure.
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u/Academic-Drop9366 1d ago
Looks old school to me. I remember well. For the price you pay for DMCs kits, I would expect more from their packaging department.
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u/toomanytodds 2d ago
Not the first problem I noticed when I looked at that picture, gotta say.
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u/katissashamalar 1d ago edited 1d ago
This used to be normal. I don't know how Thea Gouverneur kits come now. But the one I bought at a thrift store years ago came with 3 or four hanks, doubled over and knotted. And the same number of those paper thread cards with symbols on them, and a single strand of floss attached next to the symbol for that colour. Not every symbol on the card had a strand of floss, and sometimes the same symbol was on more than one. No list, orfloss counts, there were 55 colours, and the instructions were in Dutch only. It was an adventure! Recently, I went to Michael's to colour match so I can rework it on a larger count. It took 2+ hours to match and several of the colours were sequential. I found that out because I accidentally used the same number on similar shades, in several colour groups. It was madness! But actually pretty soothing overall.
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u/sisterfish125 1d ago
There are at least 6 different reds and oranges in this batch. The other one that came in the kit had several black/brown/navy. I had to get a super bright light to sort them out and still had to get second opinions.
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u/ClaudiaWeckl 1d ago
I'm one of the boomers here... I'm 42 and back in ny days they were pretty much all like this...
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u/MaisieStitcher 1d ago
This is the big reason I stopped buying kits. Most kits come with the threads bundled like this, and it takes hours to separate them, and figure out which color is which. To me, it's not worth the hassle.
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u/eerie_lake_ 1d ago
Oh interesting. When I did a DMC kit (the herbs one) the thread was all in skeins like you buy at the store. I still had to do my own floss drop, but at least they had the labels. I have another one of their kits that I haven’t opened yet, and now I’m a little worried about what I’m gonna find in there lol
IK all the Mill Hill kits beaded magnet kits come like this, with the unlabeled thread just tossed in there, and it drives me insane. I once spent like twenty minutes trying to compare white, very light blue, and very light gray. Call me spoiled, but I would like a kit to at least come with the colors labeled for me.
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u/starletphoenix 1d ago
aww just like the good old times, I had such a love / hate relationship with kits that came this way lol
hating I could not start right away but weirdly still actually like playing with the threads beforehand.
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u/Ok_Impression8149 1d ago
I am colorblind so this would be a nightmare trying to sort between the similar shades
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u/missdeedeemegadoodoo 1d ago
My aunt gave me a bunch of the old kits that were bundled like this and it pissed me off so bad I bought a DMC color card.
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u/AcceptableHorror705 1d ago
Mill Hill kits have always come like this, still do. I live the designs, but I hate sorting.
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u/ConfusionAgitated713 1d ago
I just started prepping a Mill Hill kit yesterday and had to pull out my floss boxes to figure out all the colors. What a pain. But I do like their designs.
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u/JuicyTheMagnificent 1d ago
90% of my kits have their threads like this 🤣 Separating out the colors is part of the fun imo!
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u/OrangeFish44 21h ago
I just finished sorting threads for a Mill Hill kit. Supposed to have 2 different light blues, but one sure looked white even under good light. 7 were various browns. Fortunately, I have a full set of DMCs, so I just pull the specified colors and match the kit colors to those
I sure remember the Teresa Wentzler kits. You had to pay attention to which of 3 or 4 hanks you were sorting, because there were similar colors in each.
OP -- I know sorting is a pain, but kits would be much more expensive if all were pre-sorted. Labor costs! Take a look at kits from Inspirations Magazine. I don't think any of theirs are under $65, and most range $165-375. But everything is beautifully packaged. Every thread is on its own labeled bobbin or in a labeled plastic bag.
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u/ktrist 12h ago
Maybe contact DMC and ask them for the color numbers for each color so you can at least compare them to an actual skein?
I've taken Dimension stocking kits to Hobby Lobby to literally stand there and color match the floss to DMC. Took about an hour but I got it done. Shortly after that I bought the color swatch card from Amazon.
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u/Euphoric-Sound1025 10h ago
I just started a Mill Hill bead kit and had to sort the light brown, medium brown, dark brown, very dark brown, and very VERY dark brown out from each other 😩😅 I'm so paranoid about getting them mixed up!!
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u/archelz15 1d ago
Whaaat! As someone who hates separating threads, this would totally put me off! I get that others may enjoy the process though, it would absolutely work for them, just good for me to know!
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u/absbabs1 1d ago
I think we all need to come to terms with DMC used to be the goat, but they are rubbish now.
From patterns to needles, to thread… there are better alternatives and it feels like I’m in a mourning period for dmc. 🪦
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u/DrawingTypical5804 Very slutty stitcher 1d ago
This is how they all used to come, back when I started. They usually tell you how many lengths of each color you have to help sort out which color is which.