Neige floss?

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While looking through my stash for an insane amount of white floss to accommodate all of the snowmen I will be stitching, I came across this gem. I have no idea where it came from (I’m guessing a garage sale since I don’t wrap my partially used lengths around the skein like that). It is DMC, but it is labeled Neige instead of Blanc. I have never seen this before, and I have been stitching since around 1982!

A quick Google search tells me that “neige” is French for snow! I wonder if this is B5200 floss, but they called it neige for a time before adding the numbers to it? I really have no idea. If you know, drop me a comment! In the meantime, I will not be using this floss for my snowmen projects; it is too cool to use (no pun intended)!

XXX
Carrie


Exclusive Colors are Back!

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The 2013 exclusive DMC colors which were only being offered in a special boxed set are now available for open stock!

16 colors were initially introduced and sold in the exclusive set only; they were not available for individual purchase. Of course, after designers started using these “new” colors DMC decided to discontinue them. They kept releasing the boxed set but with only a few of the new colors, and the rest were not-quite-so-similar substitutes from their normal range of floss. People were extremely disappointed when they purchased the boxed sets around 2019-2020 and found they were not the same set that was released initially. No one knows how long these will be available in open stock, though, and DMC only released 14 of the 16 colors. According to DMC’s American headquarters, these colors have been discontinued and they are selling off old stock (which might be why most of the boxes are the old blue and yellow color instead of the new blue and white). Yet according to some US distributors, these are “new” colors.

You can purchase 14 of the 16 colors at www.crossstitchers.com

XXX
Carrie


What a find!

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I was so excited to find a DMC wooden floss cabinet on Facebook Marketplace a few months ago. It was in pretty good condition and the seller only wanted $9! The drawers did not contain the plastic divider inserts to separate the floss, but I knew I could pick them up online. But when I tried to order them, they were either sold out or no longer for sale from the distributors I had used before. But I placed an order with Wichelt Imports and they did eventually get them back in stock. The inserts were $4 each so I have $21 into this cabinet now. But new ones sell for $155 on DMC’s website, and they are never in stock. What a score! The seller called it “storage” was using the drawers to store sunglasses!

XXX
Carrie


What a mess!

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DMC has raised the price of their floss to an MSRP of 99 cents and a MAP (minimum advertised price) of 60 cents. It wouldn’t bother me so much if the quality didn’t seem to be going downhill the last several years…

I have seen lots of stitchers complaining on Facebook groups lately about how their floss has a knot in it, as if to tie together two ends (from the end of one lot and the start of a new one, I guess). I have seen this first-hand.

XXX
Carrie


DMC Étoile

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It has been a while since DMC introduced their new Étoile embroidery floss, but I have never had a chance to actually stitch something with it. I decided to take a closer look at this floss and see if I couldn’t find a small, simple pattern utilizing these colors.

DMC says this floss is made of “73% coton –27% Polyamide métallique”. I wasn’t sure what Polyamide was, so I decided to Google it. The definition: a synthetic polymer of a type made by the linkage of an amino group of one molecule and a carboxylic acid group of another, including many synthetic fibers such as nylon. Well, I’m glad that cleared things up! Upon further examination of the floss, I found that it is 6 stranded just like normal cotton embroidery floss. Each strand is made up of two thinner strands, tightly wound together. It appears that one of the strands is just plain cotton, while the other is a mixture of cotton and metallic. By winding these two together, you get the sparkle of the metallic at even intervals along the length of the thread.

The colors are very loosely numbered after their cotton floss counterparts, but with a C in front of the number. I say very loosely because some of the colors don’t really match at all. Blanc, for instance, is not white at all, but a dingy gray color. It actually appears to be the same as C415, which is a gray color. At first I thought the floss I received had the wrong label on it, but after searching online I found that others were saying the same thing. I’m not a big fan of the stock photos DMC has put out for this floss, because they obviously have the flashy stars Photoshopped onto them. And the colors do not seem to be the same to me. There is only one light purple skein, and it is much darker than what is shown in the photo above. It also has more of a mauve tone to it instead of the pale lavender that they show. The light pink they show is also much lighter than in real life. That is C603, and it is actually a dark bubble gum pink. Ecru (not shown) has a sort of greenish hue to it. I’m not saying the colors are bad, just that they don’t match the promo photos DMC is using in the media, and they won’t be exactly like their cotton floss equivalents.

Since there are only 35 colors, the options are quite limited; there is a dark purple and a light purple, there is a dark pink and a light pink plus 3 burgundies which are similar to each other . Green comes in 4 shades – regular green, darker “Christmas” green, lime, and olive. There are more options when stitching with neutral colors – black, dark gray, medium gray, light gray (plus the white that looks gray), and 6 shades of brown.

In terms of how well this floss stitches up, and how easy it is to use, that remains to be seen. I have found a few free patterns from DMC’s website and I will pick one and give it try. I’m thinking Thread Heaven will help keep the threads from tangling, but I would really like to see how this floss does on its own to give it a fair rating, so I probably won’t use it. I will also take my own set of photos of what this floss looks like and how the shades match the original cotton floss.

XXX
Carrie


New From DMC!

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I just got an email from my DMC rep which said that DMC has created a new floss called Étoile! This premium embroidery thread features an added sparkle. The new 6-strand divisible thread comes in 35 shades, that all feature a unique twinkle effect.  This floss is made of 73% cotton and 27% Lurex. The skeins are 8m/8.7y and will retail for $1.95 each (in the US).

We will be putting in an order for all 35 colors as soon as they are available, probably around the end of September. The 35 colors correspond to the most popular embroidery floss colors, and not the 35 newest floss colors that were just released last year. The numbers will be the same as the regular floss numbers, but starting with a “C”. For example, black floss 310 will be C310 in Etoile.

The floss also will come in a collector’s tin featuring one skein of each color. This will retail for $69.99.

XXX
Carrie


DMC Price Increase

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DMC has announced a price increase on their floss (AGAIN)!  The MSRP will be $0.91 per skein and the MAP pricing will be at $0.56 per skein. MAP stands for Minimum Advertised Pricing and will be the lowest price a store can sell their floss for. So this price will be for all the big chain stores like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Jo-Ann Fabrics. The price increase will take place on September 10, 2018.

XXX
Carrie


DMC floss price increase

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Sadly, the rumors going around online are true. DMC is indeed raising the MSRP of their 6 strand embroidery floss, from 77 cents to 87 cents per skein. The change took effect on April 6, 2017. I have waited until today to raise the price on my website, from 44 to 47 cents. I hated to do it, but since my price went up I had to pass along the increase to my customers. But stay tuned; I plan to offer special discount coupon codes to readers of my blog in the near future. And, my price is still lower than many online retailers, who went up to 52 cents per skein. You can view the full selection of threads that we carry at http://www.crossstitchers.com/floss.htm

DMC-Logo-0001

XXX
Carrie


DMC Floss Increase

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dmcfloss2015
My sales rep warned me that this would happen. On January 1, 2015 the suggested retail price of DMC embroidery floss went from 74 cents to 77 cents (US dollars). This means that most stores will raise their prices in the near future. Because I knew of the price increase beforehand, I ordered a lot of floss at the end of the year to get the old pricing. So I will not be raising the price in our store until we need to make another large order. So if you need floss, you should buy it soon, regardless of where you shop.

XXX
Carrie


Lost Floss

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I ran out of floss. I knew it would happen. So many stitchers have complained about how Dimensions kits don’t come with enough floss, and I have been very careful with what I had. But then the unexpected happened. It was night time, and I stopped stitching for the day. I put the dark blue floss I had been using on top of my chart, and put that on top of my stitching bag. The next day, it was gone. Apparently someone walked by and either took it (not likely) or it got stuck to their clothing. I searched high and low for two days, to no avail. I had a tiny bit of the same color set aside for the borders, so I now have to use that to finish the sky to ensure that everything matches. I looked through every color of DMC trying to find a match, but to my dismay there is nothing even remotely similar. I have not gone through my stash of Anchor yet, so maybe I will find something close. I am hopeful that there will be enough to finish the sky and then I will just have to take the closest match I can find and use that for the multi-colored border. Hopefully it will not be too noticeable. Dimensions is supposed to send you more floss if you run out, but I don’t want to wait for that, and I have heard so many stitchers say that their requests never get fulfilled anyway. I have certainly learned my lesson… always take the time to put your stitching away properly!

XXX
Carrie


Floss Winding Time

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flosspileThe other day I was going through my stash of DMC floss and made note of which colors I was missing (or running very low on). I was shocked at how my full set of floss had dwindled down a lot. Some of the colors I do have, but they are pulled out for various projects. I decided not to worry about those, and just get a full bobbin-wound set again. This is what the “before” photo looks like. It will take serveral evenings of sitting in front of the TV to get these all wound. But I love looking at a full set of floss when it is sorted by numerical value and organized in plastic cases. I’ll post another photo when my bobbin winding is finished.

XXX
Carrie



I need some stitchy time!

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Once again I had a day with no cross stitch. Well, that isn’t entirely true. I processed orders. I did inventory. I started on my taxes. But that isn’t exactly the kind of cross stitching I had in mind. My 10 day goal to finish Autumn Leaves was a joke. Who was I kidding? I spent last night restocking DMC floss. A shipment of 140 boxes came in. That’s 1680 skeins. Mmmm… that’s almost as good as chocolate! I love looking at the rainbow of colors, and seeing the display cabinets full to the brim. I don’t particulary enjoy opening all of the boxes and finding which spot the floss goes in. But I guess that’s part of the job. Today I restocked all of the other items that came in that I was running low on, such as bobbins, needles, magnetic boards, and fabric. Tomorrow I have to add all of the brand new products that came in, namely hoops in every size. I also can’t wait for my shipment of Coats & Clark floss to arrive. We have decided to add their line of floss to our shop. Later in the year I hope to add the entire Anchor line, as well. Hopefully this will satisfy our overseas customers, who cannot purchase DMC threads from us due to DMC’s European Union rules. It’s a brand new year, and so far it has been great for the shop. It looks like the economy is turning around. Yay! More orders = more $ to spend on new inventory!

XXX
Carrie


Frogging

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I hate frogging. You know, when you make a mistake and you have to rip-it, rip-it, rip-it all out. I had a leaf to stitch on the Autumn Leaves project and it happened to be within some of the wording. Halfway through I realized the color I had picked was not going to work – it was way too close to the color of the lettering. The words completely disappeared into the leaf. After ripping it all out I couldn’t find anything suitable, so I went for a plain old skein of DMC.

It looks… somewhat okay. I’m not thrilled that there is no color variation on this leaf, and there is with everything else. Oh well. Leaf done, and onto more wording. And then of course I mess up the counting and am way off. Time to rip-it. Again. Needless to say, not my favorite stitching day. But alas, a bad day of stitching is better than no day of stitching at all. Or something like that.

Carrie