Full Set of DMC - Yes or No?

[destructiveernie]

Some of you will have read my moaning I want the HAED's Sistine Chapel chart but I want to get the full set of DMC also but my budget won't stretch to both at the moment, and are probably sick of hearing it!!!!!! (I now want Spanglers SK that HAED have just released aswell!!!!)

But I have a question to those that have the full set of DMC, yes you have the full set so know that when you buy a chart you'll have the thread you need. But are there some colours you'd never use? Do you automatically go out and buy a replacement thread when you use the last of it? In the uk so buying one at a time gets expensive!!!!

What I'm trying to work out is am I just better off buying the threads as and when I need them? at the moment I need 30ish to complete my three main WIP's or do I go the whole hog and buy the 192 I need to complete my full set?

I probably have enough threads that I could buy the charts I want and make a start on them all but would need more thread to finish them all but then I worry about dye lots aswell!!!!!!!!!

Am I overthinking this a little?

[Squirrel]

Emma I only ever bought threads when I needed them or they were running down and were colours I used a lot of - eg greens browns etc.

When I finally decided to come up here to Brisbane and move in with DD & SIL I knew I would find it more difficult to get to a LNS so decided to then get the remainder of the ones I needed to fill out the plank spaces. I guess at the end of 20 yrs or so of stitching I only needed about 30 or so to get everything plus extras for those that would run out soon. That way I could relax and not have to get DD running here and there to get 1 or 2 skeins.

Personally I would keep going with just getting those you need, especially ones like HAED's or Joan Elliott or Chatelaines which have long thread lists.

Sally

[Mrs Milkybar Kid]

I don't think you are overthinking it!!! You find that the same designers use similar colours and that also there will always be thread colours that never seem to get used. I have a full set of Anchors which means that for any projects other than HAEDs and Chatelaines I use them up first and it is nice to know that I can start anything when I feel like it (although therein lies a temptation!). With my Chats and HAEDs I probably have 75% of DMCs. Whilst it is nice to think you have the full set of something, you're probably better off kitting up the charts you have that you want to stitch. With HAEDs you always have to purchase multiple skeins of certain colours anyway - so I'm sure you'd rather have more of the colours you actually need rather than skeins of thread you would never use.

As for replacing thread once it is running low, you get to know what colours you use a lot and that turn up in all your designs (if you are obsessive like me you'll have a spreadsheet listing all the colours needed for all your future stitches.... ) - so it would make sense to replace these when placing a bulk thread order.

I have this same dilemma alot with my collections of overdyeds and special threads. I am strict with myself and only buy what I need for certain charts - but obviously when Sew and So has a lush thread sale that falls out the window! But even then I will only buy colours that I know I will love and want to shoehorn into a project.....in my case anything purple!!

[Lessa54]

I tend to buy in bulk from ebay - 50 or 100 at a time. I work out what i need for the project I'm kitting out and then round up to the nearest bulk buy amount and use the remaining spaces to fil in gaps in my collection. It's a slowish way of completing the set but i'm always happy i have threads for my projects and i'm making progress to the full set.

[destructiveernie]

Lessa thats what I've been doing until now and think thats probably what I will carry on doing.

Mrs Milkybar Kid, thank you, I tend to overthink everything!!!!!
I have a spreadsheet for my 4 WIP's and for the two HAED's I own but haven't started yet, one is fully kitted and the spreadsheet has shown that I don't need many threads to have enough to do the other one also.
My spreadsheet shows the stitchcount listed by HAED for 2 over 1 on 25 ct, but my one HAED is 1 over 1 on 25ct and the other is 2 over 2 on 18ct so have to try and compensate accordingly.

[Athalie]

I agree with Amanda. I was so happy when I finally had the full set of DMC but there are so many I have never used. I don't 'do' bright colours so I am now using them up on cards and squares I do for charity quilts and I won't replace them when they are gone. I alter a lot of the colours for the charts I stitch so always make sure I have spares in what I call 'my colours'.

[coffee_freak]

I was lucky enough, years ago, the local craft store had a sale 10 cents a skein...but limited 20. So I bought my 20. my mom went through the line, my dad then went through the line..then I went back the next day and did the same until I was complete.
I then only bought when running low.
I loved the fact that if I was in the mood to stitch something, I knew I could go and pull the thread I needed and it would be there.
It also has helped over the years if I had to stitch up a thank you card real fast, I could chose any patter that fit that person and knew I would have the thread.

LONG story not so short lol..I would buy the complete.

[Mabel Figworthy]

I've got a fair collection but by no means the full set; often I can use a substitute from what I have if I don't have the right shade, or if it is essential for the project I'll buy it, but even now there are shades in my stash that I hardly ever use and some that I haven't used at all (and am wondering why on earth I got them as I don't even like them!), so i'd definitely not get the whole set by default but use my budget to buy speciality threads I definitely will use, or charts that I am likely to stitch.

[destructiveernie]

I'm fairly certain that the next projects I kit up will be The Sistine Chapel and the four new Randal Spangler SK's that have been released over the last few days, I'm hoping there's no more today!!!!!

I have rejigged my spreadsheet so I can add them into it and then I'll be able to work out what I need threadwise to complete those on top of what threads I already have.

[rcperryls]

I think it is much easier (and cheaper) for those of us in the States to complete a DMC set. I did that several years ago and I like it because I can start a project as soon as I feel like it and know that at least for the beginning of it I will have the thread I need. I replace them as I need to (if Michael's has the color I need) with either 1 or 2 skeins depending on the number of projects that will use that shade. For example, between my mini and the HAED Dragon Riders shades of purple/lilac etc are in demand. I have a spreadsheet with all the DMC colors listed in the rows and then the columns are for my different WIPs. I think it will manage about 6 or 7 at a time. (Lord help me for when I'm doing more than that). I have one set of DMC bobbinated and extras are in floss bags. But I know I haven't used some in years and years. I think if I couldn't get the skeins so easily I would probably have just accumulated them as I needed them. Hope this makes sense and doesn't confuse the issue.

Carole

[destructiveernie]

The nearest place to me selling DMC is half an hours drive and dmc are 89p (thats $1.40ish!!!!), I was there monday and checked how much they were!!!

Its a garden centre rather than a stitchy shop.

[BizzieLizzie]

Why not get the threads you need now for e.g. Sistine Chapel and ask for the threads that are missing from the full set for your birthday, Christmas, etc? That way, you wil have all the threads you need for your current projects, but you also know you will gradually build up the full set. The colours you have to wait for are mostly ones you don't use anyway. Just a thought ...

I get my threads in bulk from Across Town Stitching - 200 skeins works out at 28p each which is the cheapest I've found anywhere.

[destructiveernie]

I get mine from Acrosstownstitching aswell.

[stitchnsew]

I agree with Carole-I have them all because it's been cheap and easy to get the whole dmc set. I also have about all the Anchor, because I needed some, so I got the whole works, because I could. I hardly use them, but I might, and it was just fun to get them.
I like being able to just start a project and know I have the threads available.
Dye lots can be a problem. I've tried to look at all my charts to see what colors are duplicated and get several skeins of the duplicated/most frequently used colors. However, I've decided not to get too stressed out about the difference in colors between dye lots. As long as I use the thread from one skein/dye lot in a large block of color , the difference in dye lots really won't be noticed in small random areas or stitches.
Personally, I'd want to get the charts and get stitching, get the 30 or so colors you need, and not bother with the rest. Really, you won't notice any dye lot difference in something as large as the Sistine Chapel. Happy stitching.

[LastingAllure]

My mom and I used to have a full set of DMC but what happens is you go and take the threads you need and then you realize a certain other color you need is piled away with all the other works in progress or in kits to start at a later date....So now we just buy as we need.

I always have a list in my purse (well now on my phone hehe) of colors that I need for future projects and that way if I find myself out and come across DMC I can then buy the ones I need for my projects.

We used to live in an area where you couldn't get DMC (or anything crafty for that matter) So we made sure we had every color and then some. We would stock up when we went to Micheals or to a small bead/cross stitch store and then we knew we at least had the colors if we came across a pattern we wanted to start and weren't planning on going out of town for a while.

We don't even bother putting the skeins onto the bobbin things anymore either. Too time consuming if you think about it...much easier throwing the skein and what left overs of it you have into small ziplocks and then sorting them into bigger ziplocks of same numbers and then putting them into one of those small rubber maid bins...

So all in all I vote for buy as you go and plan ahead for kit making...and if all else fails I am sure you can find some good deals online. We found Krienek for $2 a bobbin online....good since I needed 8 of them for one project...

[Nachstenliebe]

Good question... I have the complete DMC set.. it was convenient to do so when they used to be like 8 for $1.. There's quite a lot that I've used over and over again.. probably some I've never used.. I think getting ones you need for a project take priority over ones you may or may not use down the road.. when you have the fundage to get things you don't need then you can build up your collection
Faith

[Fizzbw]

I have two complete sets and about 15 boxes of other DMC as well. I love being able to kit up anything at a moments notice. I buy the DMC that is made in France but not for European sale. I've never had a problem with it and it's indistinguishable from DMC I've bought in shops here in the UK.

I am banned from buying any more for a while though, and I have to be very good about not replacing things straight away.......

On balance though, I think you get more fun from stitching than looming lovingly at your boxed threads.....

Niki xxx

[Charmed]

I buy as I go and just buy what I need for a project. Over the years its gradually built up. Im actually dead proud of my dmc collection, I love ordering for a project then winding them onto bobbins and filing them away in their correct spot in the box and watching the collection get a little bigger. Its taken years to build the collection as I do a lot of kits too.....

Ps, I have a list of needed threads on my phone too!! you just never know

[Reta]

I buy as i need

A friend has a full set of DMC and Anchor and replaces as

she uses And admits there are colours she has

never used in 20 years

I do not see the point in buying just to make a set

[Rose]

I like to have the complete set as I never know what color I might need and I hate having to go to the store for only 1 skein. When I get low I will look and see what 15 need to be replaced even if they are not completely out,so I can feel as if the trip is worthwhile.