Need To Prepare Thaali For Shashtiabdapoorthy

Hello,

We are celebrating shashtiabdapoorthy in the US this week and the priest has asked me to buy and prepare the thaali myself. I have purchased the gold thaali, but have no idea how to prepare it. What kind of thread do I need? What should be the length of the thread and should it be a single thread or multiple threads? Should I put knots into the thread so that the thaali stays in place after I put it on the string? Can someone please help me as I don't have many days left to do this.

Can I use a new poonal thread for this?

Thank you,

Padma