I have noticed that the quality is not as good as it use to be.

The new Coats and Clark thread doesn't have the slits on the spool as they did years ago (except for the large Wal Mart spools.) Now the spools are made like Isacord spools or others with the smooth slot to tuck the thread into. I don't think it could get into that slot while sewing. I suspect when it jumps, it either has too much twist or else the polyester may have a coating that is clogging up the tension disks. It is really frustrating.

I've recently purchased 3 spools of Coat and Clark thread for my daughter's Italian flag and the thread kept breaking every two inches. Talk about time consuming and I have to clean my bobbin case way too many times. I even turned to my troubleshooting section in my Janome operator's manual and the bottom line is the quality of the thread. I am not impressed at all with this brand and will never buy it again. I always got it at WalMart, but now I am buying my thread from Connecting Threads online. I just ordered their 100% polyester thread in the large cone style that long arm quilters use in charcoal and silver and can't wait to try it out. A sale on the charcoal urged me to get 4 large cones and a silver was regular price. I was told that their threads are high quality and the lint is less because of that quality. I've used a natural color in 100% cotton from Connecting Threads and was impressed that the thread didn't break as often as the C&C brand. I plan to stock up over the next few weeks.

Same here, I've use Coats & Clarks 100% cotton thread and find it very satisfactory. I've use Gutermann and others and don't seem to get the same satisfaction as the C & C. at least for quilting. For embroidery I use the 100% rayon thread by Iris...don't even know if its made any longer but have a well preserved stock of it for the amount of machine embroidery I do. I've been told that you need to keep your thread in the refrigerator if you are not going to use it for long period of times which I have done with my embroidery thread. I use my 100% cotton thread too much to keep a stock of it.

Me too!

This is interesting. Is there any way for the non-expert to crack the number code? The department store in the UK that's stocking these threads is known for the quality of everything it sells, so I'd be surprised if they settled for the cheaper "Walmart" version, but it'd be good to know.

My first machine [Viking Lilly} sewed well with them. My current machine [Viking saphire] breaks this thread all the time. I would try it sparingly and see how it works with your machine

I seem to have problems with it. I prefer other threads. I had to have one of my machines worked on and the guy said that I need to use a better thread. I was using Coats.

I have 3 Janome machines, none of them get along with Coats.

I purchased quite a bit of C&C thread in the last 2 years. Many of them broke easily. Especially the C&C Machine Quilting and most of their Star line. Very disappointing. Especially since I bring them overseas for other quilters. There are 4 spools I have to throw away. From what I have read, I will be going to Connecting Threads in the future.