DIY Thread Conditioner

Have you heard of thread conditioner?  You are supposed to use it to keep your thread from breaking or tangling when hand sewing!  Since I sew my quilt binding on by hand, I am always having my thread tangle.....so thread conditioner sounded like a great idea.  Nancy's Notions sells it really cheap but it comes in a boring little box......not going to work when I can make my own super cute version.Here are mine and they are made out of beeswax, of which we have a surplus since we have our own hives.

First you have to heat and clean your wax.  This stuff comes out of the hive pretty gross looking, not at all the pretty gold you see above.  Of course, if you buy it at a craft store, it is already cleaned up.  But mine is icky so this is how I do it.  Put a chunk of wax in a sturdy paper cup and melt on 50% in the microwave.  When melted, pour through a layer of paper towel into another paper cup.  Then pour through another layer of paper towel into a third paper cup.  Now you have beautiful clear wax.

Here is a chunk of wax pre-cleaning.  Ick.

Now pour into a mold, placed on a plastic or sturdy paper plate (this can get messy and the plate protects your counter.  This stuff can be a pain to clean off of things).  Allow to set at room temp until set or if you can't wait, like me, put in fridge to speed things up. 

Pop out of mold and let cure.  Done.  Think of all the cute shapes you can make (especially if you make your own molds)!  Now here is how you use the conditioner.  Thread your needle like normal and knot.  Run the thread across the wax.  Now run the coated thread between two fingers to warm wax and embed it into the thread.  I can't wait to see if this helps me, especially with tangles  Diana