I must be part crow. I looooove sparklies.

When I see things that sparkle, I go googly-eyed and say things like, Oooooh, a Sparkly!

(In case the reference is lost on you – and you’re interested in visiting a childhood moment of mine – check out this Sparkly scene from Secret of Nimh. The reference is about 28 seconds into the video.)

When it comes to things that sparkle, you can call me Jeremy.

Well, along the lines of sparkly things, Cosmo – the Japanese company that produces this embroidery floss – has introduced a new metallic thread onto the market, and I had the opportunity to play with it a bit last week. Today, I’ll show it to you – in case you’re a fan of Sparklies, too!

Cosmo Sparkling Thread is available in only a few colors – seven, to be exact, although only six are shown here: a salmony orange, black, kind of a pinky crimson, white, champagne or gold, a glorious blue, and a light rosy pink (not shown). The blue is by far my favorite!

The reason the blue is out of the skein – I used it. Quite a bit of it!

The thread skein comes apart just like this skein of coton a broder – it’s not a pull skein. So when I first open a skein, I undo the loops and cut the skein in half next to the knot, resulting in about 18″ lengths of thread. But then I end up with these long strands of thread that need to be tamed a bit, so I fold them in half and twist them together for safe keeping. Hence, the twist in the photo above.

Cosmo sparkling thread is non-divisible. It comes off the hank in the single thread that you stitch with. Each strand is about the thickness of two strands of regular embroidery floss. It’s a fairly fine metallic thread.

Although I tend to get weak in the knees over sparkly things, I have to admit, I’m not generally a huge fan of metallic embroidery threads. There are very few that I like to use.

Bijoux is one, and I use it as a blending filament or on its own, sometimes doubled or tripled. It’s a good thread that really holds up to stitching in surface embroidery and other needlework.

I also like DMC Diamant. It’s another metallic that holds up to surface embroidery well.

So you see, I’m picky about metallic embroidery threads. If they offer the user a smooth, trouble-free experience with minimum control efforts while stitching, then I generally like them.

But most readily-available metallics don’t do this – they require more extreme measures (very short lengths, the use of Thread Heaven, specific methods of securing the thread in the eye of the needle, and so forth and so on…), and still, they fray and break and knot. I don’t like threads that frustrate stitchers, because frustrating threads can turn a newbie off embroidery faster than anything else.

Do Cosmo Sparkling Threads pass my frustration test? Yes, in fact, they do! They stand up well to surface embroidery stitches, passing through tightly woven ground fabrics, manipulating around the loops and movements of surface stitchery. They’re nice to work with!

In fact, I put them to the test with shisha mirrors – the real glass ones. The thread held up, despite stitching over the edge of the glass mirror.

The blue is magnificent with the glass, if you’re looking for an icy, sparkly, wintery look!

Because the metallic thread is fine and it doesn’t plump up, you get a wispier, lacier look to the stitching, as opposed to the chunky look of perle cottons and the like.

Where can you find Cosmo Sparkling Thread?

You can find Cosmo Sparkling Thread online, through Anita’s Little Stitches, where the price is 35 cents less per skein than the standard $6 at other stores. I’ve not seen it around much, but I know Anita has it.

I’m not sure where it is available in other countries. If you know of needlework shops that carry Cosmo embroidery floss, then you can most likely special order it if they don’t regularly stock it.

That’s today’s thread chat!

I’m working on color matching some embroidery threads to an old piece, for a work of restoration and new construction. I’ll share my experiences so far – and some photos – tomorrow! See you then!