Simthread Embroidery Thread Review: Is the Budget Brand Good Quality?
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Simthread is a budget polyester embroidery thread sold mainly through Amazon, best known for large colour sets numbered to match Brother’s palette. The common question is whether cheap thread is a false economy. This page explains what Simthread actually is, what the Brother colour matching does and does not give you, and how to judge budget thread before you commit a whole project to it.
To be clear about what this is: a research-based explainer built from product specifications, listing details and owner reports. We have not run laboratory strength or colourfastness tests, and we do not publish numbers we cannot source.
Is Simthread good quality?
Short on time? If you only take one thing from this guide: 40wt polyester thread set — the single cheapest fix for shredding and thread breaks.
For its price bracket, the honest answer is that it is adequate for home and hobby work and not intended to compete with commercial thread. It is 40wt polyester, which is the right fibre for embroidery: polyester tolerates industrial laundering and resists bleach far better than rayon, and it is stronger than cotton at speed.
Where budget thread differs from premium thread is consistency rather than headline specification. Two spools of the same colour from a premium line will behave identically; budget lines have more batch variation in twist and in how evenly the dye takes. For a single project you are unlikely to notice. Across a production run of matching garments, you might.
The Brother colour numbering, and what it really means
Simthread’s main selling point is that its sets are numbered against Brother’s colour system. That is genuinely useful: when a design file calls for a Brother colour, you can find the matching spool without eyeballing it against a screen.
What it does not mean is that the colours are identical to Brother’s own thread. It is a mapping, not a licensed colour match, and dye lots vary. If you are stitching something where an exact colour must be reproduced months later, buy enough of that colour up front rather than relying on a repeat order matching.
Simthread, Brothread and Embroidex compared
These three brands occupy almost the same shelf, which is why they come up together so often. The differences are in positioning rather than in any dramatic quality gap.
| Brand | Positioning | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Simthread | Budget polyester, large colour sets | Numbered to Brother’s palette; snap-base spools |
| Brothread | Budget polyester, very similar bracket | Wider range of pre-built kits and specialty finishes |
| Embroidex | Budget polyester, large colour sets | Often the cheapest per spool; finish reads flatter |
If you are choosing between them on anything other than price, the practical differentiator is the colour numbering. Simthread’s Brother mapping saves real time if you stitch from Brother files.
Where cheap thread actually costs you
Thread price is a small fraction of what a project costs you in time. The failure mode worth avoiding is not a snapped thread, which you notice and fix, but a colour that shifts after washing in a garment you have already delivered.
- Colourfastness on dark or saturated colours. Reds and deep blues are the hardest to dye stably at any price. Wash a stitched swatch before committing to a garment someone will launder repeatedly.
- Lint on long runs. Cheaper thread tends to shed more, which means cleaning the bobbin area more often rather than any damage.
- Batch variation between orders. Buy the quantity you need for a project in one go.
How to judge any budget thread in one evening
This is worth doing once with any new brand, and it costs you a scrap of fabric and twenty minutes. It is also the only honest way to answer the quality question for your own machine, since tension behaviour varies between machines far more than between budget brands.
- Stitch a dense fill and a satin border on the same scrap, using the fabric and stabiliser you actually use.
- Note how often you adjust tension compared with your usual thread. Frequent adjustment on one colour usually means uneven twist in that spool.
- Wash the swatch the way the finished item will be washed, then dry it fully and compare against an unwashed offcut for colour shift.
- Check the bobbin area for lint after the run.
If the swatch survives that, the thread is fine for your work. Our guide to choosing durable, colour-fast thread covers the wider selection question, and bobbin thread choice matters at least as much as the top thread.
Who it suits
Worth buying if you stitch at home, work from Brother design files, and want a wide colour range without paying premium per-spool prices. The colour numbering is a genuine convenience and the fibre is the correct one for embroidery.
Think twice if you sell finished garments that will be laundered repeatedly, or you need colour consistency across repeat orders months apart. At that point the per-spool saving stops being the number that matters and a commercial line such as Isacord is the safer choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Simthread good quality?
It is reasonable quality for its price bracket. It is 40wt polyester, the appropriate fibre for machine embroidery, and it is widely used for home and hobby projects. It is not specified to match commercial thread for batch-to-batch consistency, which is the main thing premium lines sell.
Is Simthread the same as Brothread?
They are separate brands in the same budget polyester bracket and are frequently compared because of it. Brothread offers a wider spread of kits and specialty finishes; Simthread’s distinguishing feature is colour numbering mapped to Brother’s palette.
Does Simthread really match Brother colours?
The numbering maps to Brother’s colour system, which makes finding the right spool from a Brother design file straightforward. It is a mapping rather than a licensed exact match, and dye lots vary between orders, so buy what a project needs in one purchase.
Can you use Simthread in any embroidery machine?
Yes. It is standard 40wt polyester embroidery thread on conventional spools and is not restricted to Brother machines, despite the Brother-oriented colour numbering. You may need to adjust tension when switching brands, as you would with any new thread.
Is cheap embroidery thread a false economy?
It depends entirely on what you make. For personal projects the saving is real and the risk is low. For items that will be laundered repeatedly by a paying customer, the cost of restitching one garment outweighs what you saved on thread, and commercial thread becomes the rational choice.
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