A few weeks ago we looked at how cross stitch threads are made and surprisingly we were bombarded with comments about discontinuations of DMC threads. So I decided for our second look at threads, we’d look at discontinuations.
There are a few sets of discontinued threads from DMC and there looks like there is a load of confusion over them, so without further ado, here are the sets:
3880 replaced with 223
3881 replaced with 164
3882 replaced with 839
3883 replaced with 722
3884 replaced with 535
3885 replaced with 312
3886 replaced with 3685
3887 replaced with 208
3888 replaced with 3740
3889 replaced with 445
3890 replaced with 3766
3891 replaced with 995
3892 replaced with 740
3893 replaced with 543
3894 replaced with 907
3895 replaced with 646
The most recent discontinued threads from DMC come in the form of the 2013 ‘3800’ series. A lot is said about these particular threads due to how weird they were. Unlike any other thread sold by DMC these were only ever sold as a package; never alone. In addition, they only released in the USA (but also made their way to Canada through resellers).
Most people suspect therefore that these had an issue being sold in the EU, and whilst that is partly true, most people are getting confused with the second set of threads.
You see, back in the 1990s, DMC threads were made in two factories; in France and the USA. At the time US threads were considerably more expensive than they are now and one of the reasons was the dye cost, which was taxed heavily at the time. So the US factory came out with new dyes to replace the hard to get dyes. The set sold as a tester to see if they should change some other colors (see below), but poor sales of the packs, thanks to the fact that they were copies of colors already in the range, meant they were scrapped within a year.
Officially, these were never actually discontinued. Whilst they are no longer sold on their own (apart from on the DMC US website), you can still pick up the larger packs, however, branding hasn’t changed since 2013, so there is a good chance its old stock.
504 replaced with 3813
731 replaced with 732
776 replaced with 3326
781 replaced with 782
971 replaced with 740
806 replaced with 3760
868 replaced with 801
3773 replaced with 407
Those other threads the US factory considered removing? Wasn’t officially discontinued until 2015, the most recent set of discontinuations. The new EU laws in 2000 stated that no new products could use dyes classes as harmful to the environment. DMC chose to alter the dyes of a whole set of their threads, but for some dyes, they just couldn’t get a good match. Whilst the threads were phased out of all EU stores (and removed from their thread cards), they hung around in the US for some time, who didn’t have the same dye laws. They were officially removed alongside some variegated threads (without alternatives) in 2015.
But what about the new DMC threads? Is this signs that we might be getting more discontinuations?
No. In fact, the new range fills in many of the gaps of the old range, and we think, thanks to the numbering, that we might be seeing a ‘renumbering’ of the old set soon.
Need a DMC thread card with the new colors? We have you covered.
Your information doesn’t seem to include DMC threads with 2000-2999 numbers. I think they are called flower thread, similar to Danish flower thread. It appears they are also discontinued, but I am wondering how they differ from the “soft cotton” thread from DMC, which is also matte.
Hi Diane,
Those threads are indeed Danish Flower Threads. This list only includes the standard 6 strand threads used in cross stitch.
Flower threads are non-divisiable, and are closer to #8 Pearl Cotton threads.
Still hunting down 3 missing threads from this set. Do you know what the set was named?
Hey!
I’m afraid none of these were a “set” per-say, and were simply depreciated over time.
This was great information! Thank you!!
I went to order dmc 740 instead of dmc 971 from joanns since I’ve read it was the substitution and 971 was discontinued, but they were both listed as available? And 740 is listed as tangerine but 971 is pumpkin. Any idea what’s up with that? Should I just order 740 regardless and ignore the naming differences?
Hey!
971 isn’t discontinued! Many people say that 3392 used to be replaced by 740 and is now replaced by 970, so I think that’s where the confusion comes from.
Hi can you tell me please what happened to the Rayon threads ? They has an S in front of the normal number for the ordinary DMC example 310 would have been S310. I have lots of these Rayon threads as DMC never told us they were being discontinued.
They still exist, and use the “S” in the way you were explaining, but they’re now called “Satins”. Hopefully this link should display the whole satin range on the DMC website.