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How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:46 am
by Pedals
I have tried a few different ways to organize my floss but none of them seem to work for me. I have tried to put them in the little bags that are attached to a ring. I have tried to put them into one of the sorting boxes like my mom use to do. I have also tried to put them into envelopes into a shoe box with them labled. I was wondering if anyone has any other ideas that I could try out.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:36 am
by Play Outside
I keep mine in order (by number) on labeled cards in plastic boxes. When I'm working on a project, I pull out only the colors I need, and keep them in a smaller box (again, ordered by number) that's easily accessible. The rest go back in the closet until it's time for the next project. The key for me was to get boxes with small slots. Without dividers, the threads don't stay in order and everything turns into a disorganized mess.

I hope you find something that works for you!

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:04 am
by Dazbo666
Plastic bobbins, numbered and sorted into plastic project boxes.

For any project(s) in progress I normally have the relevant bobbins put on to a craft ring, or have some thread sorted onto a card organiser.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 6:09 am
by Sarah Gixxer
Mine are all on numbered card bobbins in plastic boxes - one box for DMC, one box for Anchor, Madeira and satins and a separate box for the colours used on my HAED (of which there are 90). For smaller projects I do at the same time, I put the project materials including the fabric, required bobbins and working copy of the chart in a separate ziplock bag while I'm working on it.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:44 am
by maggs
All my DMC floss is kept in four/five boxes pre wound on card bobbins. My spare skiens of floss are kept in seperate bags.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 10:18 pm
by crafterglen
I have my complete set of DMC colours wound on large cards and they all fit into 2 A4 boxes, if you look back a few months here you will see some pictures of how others keep theirs too. For the project I am doing at the moment then I take out all the cards I need and keep them in a Lock and Lock tub, safe and secure and very portable.
Happy Stitching

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:05 am
by varsity
My main stash of threads are kept on card numbered order. But using threads on a project I found the thread organiser purchased from Sew it All a real boon! Apart from different coloured organisers for different projects there is a thread cutter at the top which is great especially when travelling!!

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:04 pm
by freelady
My threads are on paper bobbins in either the normal thread storage boxes or some boxes I got from a diy shop. They are in number order, different brands in different boxes.

The threads for my current projects are in number order in a separate box for each one. When I do smaller things, I just put the threads in a plastic bag. I don't do many smaller things.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 10:04 am
by harryandbanditsmum
mine are all on cardboard bobbins in plastic organiser boxes.
I have one collection of DMC threads and a part collection of Anchor threads :D

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 12:18 pm
by lacemaker2004
I'm a bobbin girl too. The DMC and the Anchor are stored separately, Anchor in those boxes with dividers and the DMC in an antique thread cabinet. The rest of my threads it depends. Things that are odd sized like RBG or perle cotton are stored in plastic ziplocks, divided by type, size or use. My lacemaking threads are: cottons in little ziplocks and silks in plastic boxes. All of these are then stored in a an antique bridle box. Once my husband moves out though and the finished basement is cleaned then I'm going to move the threads down to the basement where it is a bit more humid and will help keep them from getting brittle.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:38 pm
by natural_isis
I keep those not in use in plastic ziploc bags (from the beading aisle in Walmart) arranged in numerical order in photo boxes. The bags are about 3x5 or 4X6 (not sure which) and hold both skeins and bobbins very well. they also fit just right in the photo boxes. The colors currently being used in projects are wound on bobbins and put into one of the plastic divided cases that many of you are familiar with. I was able to get smaller ones of these as well for the projects that I have that don't have many colors. Once the project is finished the bobbins can go back into their appropriate bags to be used in a future project. I tried several methods before this, but this one works very well for me. I must add that I find myself buying much less floss (now that I can actually find what I already have. :oops:

Note: While typing this my husband commented that a much shorter answer would be "6 or 7 times a week." Men! Do they not realize the therapeutic effect of playing with one's stash?

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 7:50 pm
by Branlaadee
Ugh..I hate bobbins. I refuse to bobbinate any floss anymore.

I have been using the floss-a-way bags. I put little stitckers with the name or number on the edge of the bag. I store them all in a photo box. What I did with my photo box is cut a piece of poster board about 2 inches wider than the box, bent the ends an inch in, and glued the posterboard down the middle of the box, width wise. So each box has 2 sections of baggies.

I just pull the bags when I am ready for a project and put them on a ring. I no longer worry about losing loose pieces of threads to my cats because they all go back in the bag. I no longer worry about the cats knocking over my bobbin box and running off with all my bobbins because they dont care about the baggies. :)

The baggies are also awsome for blended floss. I put a post-it on the inside of each baggy with the chart symbol and the color numbers, and then I put precut lengths of each color in the bag.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:00 pm
by Slinky
natural_isis wrote:Note: While typing this my husband commented that a much shorter answer would be "6 or 7 times a week." Men! Do they not realize the therapeutic effect of playing with one's stash?
@rotfl: @rotfl:

I, too, am a (paper) bobbins-in-a-plastic-box girl. I must have about a dozen or more boxes labelled for a variety of thread types. I take out those I need for a project. Depending on how many I need for that project I use either a large or small plastic bobbin box, or a Ziploc baggie.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:16 pm
by Mabel Figworthy
DH laughs at my "rearranging floss" sessions but I do find them very relaxing :-). I now have three large bobbin boxes of DMC with a few Anchor & Madeira, 4 large bobbin boxes (though with gaps, I hasten to add....) of various silks, one small box of metallics, rayons & satins, one medium box of hand-dyed & variegated stranded cottons and others like Caron Wildflowers, and one medium box of DMC floche (most of it still -- hopefully -- on its way from America). Oh, and one small and one medium box I use as "project boxes", the small one for BoInk and the Silk Alphabet, the medium one for anything else I've got on the go.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:34 pm
by Granny
Another bobbin girl here with the plastic divided bins. My bobbins are plastic, a great improvement over the paper ones. I cut the number from the skein and tape it to the bobbin, over from the hole. I tried the bobbins in separate bin for projects but I much prefer the metal shower rings--14 for a couple of bucks from the plumbing department. I then divide the colors per area being worked and in numerical order for the ring. I have my bins numbered on the outside so I can go directly to the correct one. All my extra skeins, and I have enough for this lifetime and next, are in a much larger bin, in no particular order. That is a next year job. I have only Anchor threads as that was what I used to retail and I ended up with the leftover stock when we went out of business.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 8:52 pm
by meerkat
How do I organize my floss?"

Not as well as everyone else who has replied,that's for sure. I have tried the DMC stitch bows for my DMC, and I don't like them, or the DMC storage box I also purchased a while ago :roll:
My Anchor thread is neatly stored in my sewing box, by colour, it's getting a bit crowded now though, and my speciality threads are in another box with a lid and a drawer,formerly a very pretty, writing set, box. Nothing on bobbins.
Still, it works for me and I do enjoy a sort-out now and again. :)

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:41 am
by Kythe
Well currently my floss is on bobbins in storage boxes. Though it's a bit bulkier than I'd like. What I'd really like to do is keep my floss in a binder. I recently tried these binder inserts that hold floss bobbins. The problem with those was, the bobbins wouldn't stay put and would keep falling out when you turned the page.

Then I thought that perhaps binder inserts for trading cards might work. Since the slots are bigger, perhaps the bobbins wouldn't fall out so easily, and there would be extra room to tuck scraps of thread in there as well. Has anyone ever tried to organize their thread this way? If so, how did it work out for you?

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Sun Aug 30, 2009 4:03 am
by kathryn
I never thought about binders like that, I used to be into TCG's and I know I have many empty pages left over (I just have to dig them out). Best thing is they're cheap, about a quarter per page.

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:58 pm
by rosered
Organizing floss can be a pain at times :D . I found something that works for me-I put all the coordinating numbers such as 200s, 300s,etc each group in a zip loc bag. I bought a over the door shoe holder and each group has its own little pocket. I also store material, some small crafts,and packs of needles in this holder. Yes I still have to go through each zip loc to find the thread I want,but being on the door the thread is out of the way and very easy to locate. :dance:

Re: How do you organize your floss?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:54 pm
by kimkat_tkl
I use the DMC stitchbows and :wub: them (they don't need to be wound like a bobbin does, you just slip the skein on them), however it is quite an expensive system to use (and people either like them or hate them). I keep them in the folder inserts you can get for them, and keep the folders on the set of shelves I have for my cross stitch beside my tv.
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