$1936

Embroidery Floss?

OR

Craft Thread?

It depends on what you have trouble in. At first I used craft thread and everything was fine. I recently received a package of 105 skeins of embroidery floss and the thread falls apart into many threads. It's very annoying and confusing. You can tell by looking at it. This might not be applicable to you, it's just my opinion on the different kinds of thread.

I personally love DMC threads. Only because of its' range of colors. But, I hate how when I knot with the DMC threads, I have to make sure they stay apart or they will cling together and tangle up on the bottom of my work. Prism, on the other hand, doesnt tangle and is smooth as you knot a long. I think it makes nice knots as well, however, the color range is limited (you dont get 50 shades of any colors with Prism like you do with DMC). And Prism is the one that breaks easily in my opinion. Hahaha!

BUT!! There is a way to stop ANY strings from breaking. Just dont pull the knot VERY tight. For the first half knot (of any knot), dont pull tooo tight but just tight enough where its not digging deep in your fingers. I would say let the working thread HUG the thread you are tying it around. Then for the second half of the knot, not tooo tight but give it a little squeeze. I like to think of it as hugging and squeezing my best friend without killing him and her! Hahaha... A knot is a knot and it will stay in place. If you leave it for a few hours or over night and get back to it, and you see the knot has become a bit loose... Before you continue with the thread, pull it a bit to tighten the knot then continue. Your threads will not break if you dont pull too hard and tight. Thats what eventually stretches the thread and then makes it snap apart.

OH! You could try mixing up Prism and DMC and maybe the teo together will work better?

Oops! I meant CRAFT THREADS instead of PRISM. PRISM and DMC are similar but have different textures. All of these could work together still.

Prism is technically embroidery floss, although not very good floss in my experience. Just like you I've found it breaks really easily and doesn't feel that nice. Craft thread is 2 strands of string twisted together and you can easily see the twist, like in the picture you posted. While embroidery floss is made of 6 small strands twisted together. DMC and Anchor are the main high quality flosses that people like to use, but if you're in the US you probably won't be able to find Anchor very easily.

In reference to the photos you posted:
The first 2 photos are of Craft Thread. The next ones are of embroidery floss.
Embroidery floss is 6 thin threads bundled into one. It is used in embroidery (duh) and cross stitching, because you can separate out some of the threads.
Craft thread (which is i think what you are using now) is more like 2 cottony strings twisted together. You can't as easily separate these threads.

The difference between Prism and DMC is just a brand. Both of these brands make both craft thread and embroidery floss, but depending on what store you go to it might not be available.

Now for my opinion:
I personally use DMC craft thread. In my experience, Prism is breaks more often and is just not as good quality. I think this might be the problem you are experiencing. I suggest to try different brands and string types until you find what works best for you and your type of knots. Many people on this site use lots of different things, there is no clear "better" string type, just personal preferences.
There is a tutorial with pictures here https://www.friendship-bracelets.net/tutorial.php?id=3620

But to answer your original questions, I believe you are using craft thread right now and want to try embroidery floss.

I personally use Embroidery Floss (Different Brands) And Crochet Thread(Most of the time).
Crochet thread , yes, i know is not as thick as embroidery floss because it's just one string (Thickness varies).
But in my case i've never had problems with strings especially with crochet thread.
Many people might say it is too thin for a friendship bracelet, but i have no problem whatsoever doubling or thripling or more my strings and working with them. Ive found crochet thread to be very VERY Strong, even if pulled very hard.

And as for your question, where i live , you don't get DMC OR Prism.
I've used a lot of other brands, dmc included , where there was a special offer once. But now i don't know where to find them. And for me, iv'e never really had issues with string. As long as their abundant in colors, it's all good with me :D

Thank you all for all your help! I think I'll be trying Embroidery Floss ASAP. I had never had any problems with Prism until I found this site and decided to try out some of the bigger bracelets, (I had been pretty experienced before I found this site from books, YouTube, and other sites) and I found that the Prism just wasn't holding together.

Also, I read somewhere that Embroidery Floss is 6 thin strands twisted together and Craft Thread is 2 strands twisted together. I read that one of the thin strands of Embroidery Floss is stronger than both strings of Craft Thread. Does anyone know if this is true or not?

I don't know if one strand from embroidery floss is stronger than both strands of a craft thread, but I do know that it is fairly strong. I have never been able to break an embroidery thread (I use DMC). I also have another reason to switch: when I first started out I was using the much cheaper Prism threads, but I made so many bracelets so quickly that the thread started wearing skin off my fingers! DMC is much smoother. I also have to be another voice for the HUGE range of colors, including the variegated threads. I love their new Color Variations!

Not that this will help you much, but I've snapped DMC threads on occasion from pulling too tightly in a mild temper. And that's the full 6 stranded stuff, that's not individual threads.

I tend to use embroidery floss and perle cotton, and the vast majority of the time I use Anchor. I've also used Duchess, DMC, Moonbrand, Iris...I don't actually like DMC all that much. I find it very oddly textured in comparison to Anchor, more prone to fraying, and more inclined to get random knots stuck in it.

I don't like Prism thread in general. I wonder if your issue isn't that you're using craft thread, but that you're using Prism. It's actually made by the same company that make DMC and much as I dislike DMC, the difference between it and Prism is huge.