New brothread Thread Kit: An Honest Review

I bought the New brothread 40 color polyester kit last fall after a rush order derailed my week. It was not the pretty range of colors that sold me. On a Saturday morning, a church group needed 24 towels done in three days, and my old garage sale threads kept snapping mid-letter. I had plenty of shades, but not one dependable spool for a full run. I needed thread I could trust hoop after hoop. The kit showed up, I wound four bobbins, and I ran a test towel before touching the real order. That test is the reason the kit still sits on my rolling thread stand today. It is also the reason I want to give you an honest list of what a forty color box does and does not do for a one person shop.

How I've Used This Kit Over 40 Small Runs

After the first church towels shipped, I kept the New brothread set on the stand for two months of regular work. I used it for left chest logos, full back designs, towels, hats, and a batch of canvas tote bags for a school fundraiser. Every project was a real paid order with a deadline. I kept notes on thread breaks, tension changes, and how often I had to rethread the machine. I did not run a lab test. I ran a working test.

The honest part is that this thread is not a different world from the mid tier brands you already know. It behaves like a quality polyester 40 weight. The spools are wound without tangles, the thread does not shed fuzz on the guides, and it is pleasant to load. What New brothread adds is a wide palette in one dependable box. That matters more in a one person shop than any fancy fiber claim.

The First Weekend With 40 Colors

I started with a test strip. Friday night, after the kit arrived, I hooped a leftover piece of cotton and stitched a row in every color. That sounds fussy, but a test strip takes less than an hour and tells you which shades are close to your old stock and which are true newcomers. I wound bobbins in the five colors the next order needed, loaded the machine, and ran a full design on a practice towel. The needle did not stop once. In a one person shop, a quiet test run is a small victory.

Then came the real order. I loaded a mid blue for the towels, ran a full row, and checked the reverse side. The underside was smooth. No bird nesting, no loops, no skipped stitches. On the third towel I changed to a dark red for the church logo. The color change was as quick as the first setup. I know thread kits have a reputation for being hit or miss, so I kept waiting for the miss. It did not show up that weekend.

How Multi Color Runs Actually Went

The first multi color run was six dozen left chest polos, one design with three colors. The machine changed threads automatically, and this is where a kit earns its place or causes trouble. Every color switch has to sit in the same tension window or you spend the run babysitting. On the New brothread set, the switches were clean. The yellow gave me a little more lint than the black, and I wiped the thread path before the second dozen. That was the only attention it asked for.

The other surprise was registration. With a multi color design, if the thread tension changes between colors, the satin columns can walk out of line. In the first three color run, every letter stayed lined up. I checked with a magnifier lamp because that is how small shop mistakes happen, right where the colors meet. The thread was not the hero of that story. It just did its part so my machine could do the rest. For me, that is the definition of good thread.

What Nobody Tells You About a 40 Color Kit

The first surprise has nothing to do with stitches. A forty color kit is heavy, bulky, and takes up a shelf. My spare bedroom has one work table, a rolling thread stand, and a window on the left side. There is no extra storage. The kit lives on the lowest shelf now. I still reach for it often, but I cleared that space before the box arrived. If you stitch from a tidy kitchen corner, plan for the box before you order it.

The second surprise is that the kit gives you colors, not consistency between every spool. Different colors still need the same tension adjustments any thread needs. On a thick towel fold, the red spool may need a half turn more than the navy spool in the same run. That is normal. No brand can make forty colors identical through every fabric. When a thread breaks, check the needle and the design before you blame the kit.

Thread Tension and the Honest Needle Story

Thread tension is where thread reviews often go quiet. Every machine is different. My six needle is used, a little fussy, and set for medium weight work. I did not change my bobbin tension for this kit. I did set the upper tension a half turn tighter for the thick towels, which I do with any brand. The New brothread polyester holds a clean stitch at a middle tension range. That is the quality I care about most.

I also pay attention to needle wear. A cheap thread will dull a needle faster and then make you blame the needle for every skipped stitch. After four weeks on one needle, I saw the same stitch quality I would expect from any thread in this class. I changed the needle after a full day of hat work, which is my habit anyway. This thread never forced an early needle change.

The Colors That Actually Earn Their Spot

After roughly two months, my notes show twelve colors doing most of the work. They are the usual crew: black, white, a strong red, two blues, and the greens and yellows local teams ask for. The other 28 shades sit in the box until a special order comes in. That is not a warning about this kit. It is the honest math of a small shop with a short customer list.

If your shop mostly monograms gifts, the spread of colors matters more. The kit's forty shades make it easy to say yes to a teal graduation set or a coral family reunion. If you stitch the same three company logos every week, a forty color kit is more than you need. Buy six refill spools of those three colors and call it a month.

The Everyday Frustrations Nobody Mentions

Now the honest criticism. The biggest day to day frustration is that this is a kit, not a system. I dig through the tray to find a color, and the lid does not stay out of the way. It is not a flaw in the thread, but it is a flaw in the workflow. In a shop with one person, every extra step costs time. I solved it by pulling out the whole tray and setting it on the table next to the machine. My table is never as neat after that.

The second frustration is the same one you get with any large color set. There is no quick way to grab the exact shade you need from across the room. The printed labels are small, and after a busy week you end up reading every spool to find the color you pulled from memory. I started writing a code on the edge of each spool with a permanent marker. It is an extra minute per spool, but it saves me from staring at the tray during a rush. A molded number on the spool cap would make this kit close to perfect.

One more storage truth. Because I work alone, the kit lives on the lowest shelf and I only open it when an order needs a new color. The six active spools ride on the machine. That means the box is more warehouse than everyday supply. If I had a larger room I would put the whole set on a wall rack and keep it in arm's reach. With one table and a window on the left, the shelf is the honest place for it.

Most thread reviews are hoop tests. A job test is what tells you whether the thread will survive a folded towel edge and a padded cap seam.

Who This Is For

I would hand this kit to anyone starting a small embroidery business on one machine. It gives you a working palette before you know which colors will be your regulars. It is also a good restock for a shop that does gifts and never wants to stop a run to hunt for the right blue. Most of all, I would choose it if I wanted one house brand. When every spool behaves the same, setup is quicker.

Who Should Skip It

Skip this kit if you already have a thread cabinet full of colors. Buy singles and save the shelf. Skip it if your business is mostly one color of black hats and white towels, because you will never open most of the box. And skip it if you are looking for a thread that fixes loose tension or poor digitizing. Those problems have to be solved in the design file, not the spool.

One Honest Caveat About Polyester

Polyester thread is forgiving, but it is not a substitute for good needle work. It stretches a touch more than cotton, which is fine for towels and bags and less ideal for fine detail on very thin fabric. If you run a lot of no show mesh or lightweight shirts, stay on the low side of your tension range and test before a big run. I keep a spool of cotton in my drawer for the rare jobs that need it.

The Small Changes I'd Make

If I could change one thing about the kit, it would not be the thread. It would be the way the colors are organized. Right now the forty colors sit in one tray in no particular order I can understand. I sorted them by color family on the first weekend and it took twenty minutes. Twenty minutes you do not want to spend when a job is waiting. New brothread makes the spool quality easier than it makes the shelf life, and I say that as a compliment and a small complaint.

The other improvement I would like is more consistent tension between the lighter and darker shades. That is not a New brothread problem. Every polyester brand I have run has at least one color that needs a half turn. The kit's dark red and navy were steady for me. A pale yellow needed a little more upper tension. Once I wrote that down, it stopped being a mystery. This is why I keep a notebook, and it is why I tell new customers not to fight the machine.

Would I Buy It Again Tomorrow?

Tomorrow, yes, with one condition. The condition is that I keep the kit as my main color library and not as a replacement for every single spool. I would still buy my top five colors in larger quantities because I go through them fast enough that the smaller spools would not last. The kit does not eliminate refills. It eliminates the empty shelf at the wrong moment. For a little more than a couple of individual cones, I get forty colors I can draw from for special orders, team colors, and gifts that show up with no warning.

The Bottom Line for a One Person Shop

Here is the kitchen table version. If I lost the whole kit tomorrow, I would buy the New brothread 40 color kit again. It is not magical thread. It will not fix a bad design, a dull needle, or a machine that has not been cleaned. But when my tension is right and the design is right, this thread gets out of the way. For a home business, that steady performance is worth more than a shelf of fancy brands. If you are still buying spool by spool and losing time to color gaps, the honest review is that this kit is worth your list.