Nymo Cathay Blue nylon thread

Nymo thread is a non-plied, lightly bonded nylon thread originally developed for the upholstery industry. Nymo is excellent for beadwork, especially beadweaving, bead embroidery, bead fringes, and bead looming. It comes in several sizes from the largest, F, to the smallest, 00. It is packaged on bobbins, spools (aka large bobbins), and cones; yardage depends on size of thread (see table below).

The most common sizes for beadwork are D and B. Nymo D is the larger of the two and works well with 11/0 seed beads and Delicas when the number of passes through the bead is not excessive. For smaller beads, size 13/0,15/0 and work in 11/0's and Delicas involving many passes, Nymo B is the better choice. For work with vintage seedbeads - sizes 16/0 and smaller, 0 or 00 is available.

Always condition Nymo beading thread with beeswax or a microcrystalline wax and stretch the strand before starting to stitch, as it can stretch a bit over time. Weird tip - thread your needle before cutting it to your required length or "wingspan" to ensure you thread the end that comes off the spool first. Sounds silly, but beadlore suggests Nymo does have a tendency to tangle more when threaded from the end you cut. Check our Needle Size and Thread Size info in our Bead Size Chart-click here.

Nymo thread is also known as Nymo beading thread, non-ply or non-plied stringing material. Coats Nymo monocord construction has a unique oval cross section, providing low profile stitches on materials, and is often generically referred to as a "flat" thread. Some people mistakenly refer to this thread as "twisted", but the manufacturer explains "Coats Nymo has no ridges, unlike twisted thread surfaces, thus resulting in less wear and tear..."

Also, Coats makes over 800 colors of Nymo, and only uses a "shade code" of 5 letters and numbers to distinguish them; and even these vary by lot and manufacturing run. So distributors instead utilize descriptive color names; unfortunately, there is no standard name. Many distributors claim Nymo to have a "light wax"; however it will require more if you plan to use for bead weaving or stitching.

Happy Stitching!

Encyclobedia-click here

Bead Size Chart-click here

Working With Beads: Some helpful tips...-click here