When it comes to rare DMC threads, there are a few that come to mind. The limited edition 24 carat gold 8m skein, the US only discontinued threads and the short-lived DMC linen threads.
But there is one thread that is so rare that those others pale in comparison. So rare in fact that many DMC experts haven’t heard of this thread. DMC 724. Sometimes called “gold” sometimes called “Winnie The Pooh”.
Today, we look into this fabled thread and even get our hands on a strand!

The Thread Itself

Unsurprisingly, 724 fits right into the 727 to 725 golden color group, it being slightly darker than 725, but still much lighter than 972. It’s labeled as “gold” in the Designer Stitches kits and is honestly the best gold I’ve seen in the DMC range.

The fact that 724 is so rare really is a shame, considering it’s a perfect gold, being darker than 725, but without the orange tint, that 972 has.

Did It Actually Exist?

We know that this thread is so rare that many will think it didn’t actually exist, but we have been able to confirm through various sources within DMC, and some ex-magazine publishers that the thread did exist.
In addition, you can still purchase kits from the late 1990s and early 2000s with this thread included.

The Story Of 724

Now we’ve established the color itself, let’s start with the story of 724, and how it differs from other threads DMC have produced, so drastically.

In the late 80s and early 90s, DMC was doing very well, with cross stitch and embroidery, in general, having a mini resurgence. At the same time, Disney was also having a revival and looked to expand its branded deals with other suppliers. Therefore, when the UK based cross stitch pattern designer Designer Stitches, under the designer Debbie Minton, approached both parties to design a run of Winnie The Pooh patterns, they all jumped at the chance.

But Disney wanted to make sure that wherever and whenever its assets were used, they were perfect. And while there were some close thread colors to Winnie The Poohs well known golden fur, nothing was perfect. So DMC came to an agreement to create a new thread specifically for the use of Designer Stitches. There was also a subsequent agreement that this color would only be used for Disney patterns.

But this agreement, whilst working well to start, came up with an issue. If only Designer Stitches could use the color, and only on Disney patterns, and it was only to be used on Winnie The Pooh, the places this thread could be used started to look very limited.

Why Is It So Rare?

This limitation of usage started to be an issue. DMC could produce the thread, but with such limited and controlled use, it became uneconomically viable to keep producing the thread. So an already limited-use thread became an even rarer thread.

Designer Stitches started to produce the kits without a number against the golden thread initially, but moved to an internal reference system referring to the color as “CT1”. They chose to move away from using DMC threads at this point, and used a thread with slightly different hues to get around the licensing issues.
The company started to gain less and less traction, and as they had only ever produced Winnie The Pooh patterns, couldn’t diversify fast enough. They continued to produce kits as free giveaways for magazines, but their time was limited and they soon shut down.

With this shutdown, the license issues continued. The DMC contract stated that the thread could not be used apart from Designer Stitches. Therefore, DMC had to abandon this thread entirely.

Why Has No One Heard Of It?

For the final question we come to the obscurity of this thread. However this is rather simply a case of DMC never selling the thread. As they couldn’t sell a skein due to their agreement, they didn’t include it in any color cards. As Disney and Designer Stitches chose not to publicise the custom thread, it became another thread in the pattern kit.
Unless you happened to come across the kit, and happened to check the thread numbers against the color card, you wouldn’t know about it being unique.

Have you ever heard of this super rare thread? And just how tempted are you to get your hands on it? Thankfully kits containing it go for about $10 on eBay right now.

Happy stitching!
Lord Libidan