Review on Paxcoo 124 Skeins Embroidery Floss Cross Stitch Thread Set with Needles by Angela Rodriguez

I love to do all sorts of handicrafts. Among my hobbies are knitting and decoupage, but still, my favorite pastime is embroidery. I have been embroidering for about five years, during this time I have tried many different floss for embroidery and have repeatedly made sure that DMC threads are the best. But, to our great regret, the price for them is very high, and sometimes you need about 100 colors for one picture, and some flowers also have more than one skein, it’s good when there are stocks, but they run out quickly. And if you sew a picture to order, it is very often difficult to explain to the customer that the threads are very expensive, well, people don’t understand how a skein of threads can cost 15 hryvnias. Therefore, when I found out about Chinese CXC strings, which position themselves as an analogue of VMS, of course I decided to buy them and try them. Mouline thread ordered in China, but now you can already buy them in many stores or find joint purchases on the Internet. The price ranges from 4 to 6 hryvnia, depending on where to buy them. Threads come in cardboard packages of 24 pieces each. On the reverse side is absolutely unnecessary (at least for me) information, since I use ordinary bobbins, they are much more convenient for me, although I need to tinker with rewinding, but the main thing here is not to mix up the ends. The numbers of the CXC threads correspond to the DMS numbers, which is very convenient, you do not need to translate and select, but they are different in their brightness and saturation. Therefore, I absolutely do not recommend using the same floss number in one work, only from different manufacturers - the difference is very noticeable. In general, if you embroider the whole picture only with CXC, then it turns out not bad, though not as bright as when embroidering DMS. Structurally, CXC strands are thicker than DMS. If, for example, on a 14-count canvas, when embroidering with DMS threads in two threads, gaps are visible, then when embroidering on the same canvas in two threads with CXC threads, gaps are not visible at all. CXCs are a little fluffy, and accordingly, when embroidering, they are wiped off and the thread at the end of the needle becomes thinner, you have to constantly trim the tip, so I recommend taking a small piece of thread for embroidery. During embroidery, the thread does not get tangled, knots appear, but very rarely. Not often, but still there are gaps in the skeins. The threads do not lay down very evenly, for experienced embroiderers this is not a problem, since the process of aligning the cross is automatic, but for beginners it will be problematic to achieve evenness of the crosses. So in this matter, the CXC threads are very much inferior to the DMS. In the photo below, you can clearly see the difference, the lightest upper tone is embroidered with DMS threads, and everything else is CXC, which immediately catches your eye which crosses are neater and even. Of course, all these nuances are visible only if you look very closely and very closely. It should be taken into account that the image in the photographs is enlarged several times, in fact, everything is not so sad and these shortcomings are almost invisible. This is what the whole job looks like. All but one shade of white, which I wrote about above, is embroidered with CXC threads. I washed the work in cold water with liquid soap, the threads do not shed. Ironed both from the wrong side and from the front side, the crosses are well steamed and aligned. I have repeatedly met reviews that during ironing, CXC threads melt (due to the unnatural composition), I did not notice this and this is not my first work, so I can safely say that they tolerate ironing well (I ironed wet embroidery). Considering the affordable cost of these threads and the fact that they do not shed, do not tear and do not get confused during embroidery, I definitely recommend it, of course, if it is possible, then it is better to buy DMS, but if this is not possible, then you don’t need to think - what are they replace - definitely CXC.