Slowly, very slowly, I have been organizing my sewing room. I have sorted through fabric, books and interfacing. Old patterns have been donated and my cutting table is now in the middle of the room. My sewing room won't win any design contests, but it is becoming more and more functional. But one area that had me stymied was organizing my floss. I was fortunate a number of years ago to win a complete set of Presencia Floss at a SAGA convention. I was thrilled beyond belief, and I use that floss now more than ever as I am designing patterns for Pink Hollybush. But how to organize it so that it stays clean, organized and accessible? So, I turned to Pinterest of course, and this is what I found! You could go with the clothespin plan which is what Heather Jones did:
It looks lovely, but I just don't have that much patience! Allison at Little Lovelies explains how to use a DMC thread winder and an electric drill to make the job go quicker, but I had no interest in winding - even with a drill!
Pat at Bird Nest on the Ground uses baggies and a filing system.
So while I admit this would be quicker than winding, I don't need to be that organized! Besides having each color in a separate bag doesn't help me when I am designing, or trying to match a floss to a fabric. I need to be able to get the floss out and spread it around!
Anna Maria Horner has gone so far as to decorate her sewing room with floss!
It looks pretty, and it would be easily available, but what do you do with partial skeins? What about dust and cobwebs? My friend Kelli uses the Stitchbow system from DMC. The skeins are each placed on a plastic "bow" and the bows are slipped into a binder that goes into a 3 ring notebook. The system protects the floss and easily enables you to know what you have, but if you are trying to design and want to pull the different colors out to compare them, again it can be challenging.
In the end, I went with the wonderful solution I found at Wild Olive: photo boxes and a plastic container!
4 inch by 6 inch boxes neatly keep the skeins together, and each box fits into one larger container that you can just grab. I grouped skeins by color and in about an hour they were all neatly organized and put away. I went with the clear boxes so I can see what is what and just pull out the ones I need. Its easy and that's what I need if I hope to keep it organized going forward! And here is my neat and tidy photo box all put together!
Its not glamorous, or fancy, but it gets the job done! You can find the photo organizing boxes in different sizes at both Michaels and JoAnns. And in case you ever wondered how DMC floss is made, you might enjoy this video! Happy Organizing!