Instant regret-embroidery floss organization

Decided today would be the day to organize my embroidery floss! Instant regret, I dont have enough room in the bins. Sigh.


Did find some really old DMC floss (no judgment) (laying next to a new label)

Wish me luck! :four_leaf_clover:

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I always have high hopes of organizing my floss and I fail miserably at it. Good luck! I have faith in you!

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Ugh, I know the feeling!

I tried the box-with dividers method, but like you, I needed more space. (Also, I don’t like the little creases I get in the floss when I wind it around those flat “spools”… I feel like the floss tangles more when I’m stitching.)

Tried a plastic-pockets-in-a binder method, but the floss fell out and again, I ran out of space. Tried a plastic-bags-on-large-metal-rings method, but it was crazy unwieldy.

My current (terrible!) system is this: I have one gallon-size Ziplock bag for each color group (red/pink/purple, brown/tan, black/white/gray, green, blue, and yellow/orange). I keep all of those bags in a shoebox-size container along with my needles and smaller hoops.

But I hate it! At my local recycled-art-supplies shop, they have their floss in an over-the-door shoe rack. I might try that… but I have a feeling it would be hard to access the colors when I’m working on a project, if I have to keep jumping up to get a new color. I’m stymied! Glad I’m not the only one…

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I hate the folds from little spools too! Currently using the “shove everything in one giant bag” method because nothing works anyway… the Desolation & Despair method? Heh.

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So glad I’m in good company!

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Oooh, maybe we should invent something. We could make a mint if it works…because nothing works! :rofl:

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I smell a million dollar idea!

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That’s exactly how I store mine, too.

I have a couple of the multi-hole floss minders, but only enough for a single project, not the whole collection. I have a bunch of small zip bags, but they’re a nuisance.

I did make myself a nice needle book, with a pocket for scissors and a tiny pincushion. When I take a project with me, I put everything in a gallon zip bag. So classy! But it fits in my purse and I can see everything.

I suppose that if I did kits, I’d have to know color numbers, but since I just make it up as I go along, I can just pick any color I like.

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lololol. I feel the pain.

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Okay, let’s brainstorm storage.

How about a bunch of sheer fabric* pockets on a backing that could hang on a wall/door or roll up for storage. Maybe 12 pockets per unit, and units snap or button together or can be put in a binder.
*the floss would stay in fabric pockets better than plastic, and fabric would hold up longer.

Same units could be used for jewelry storage or displaying small collectibles.

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If you had a plastic window in each sheer pocket, then you could see the exact colour

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I use little snack baggies with zip lock tops…the horizontal ones. Nothing else has worked for me. I have only a shoebox of floss and I group like colors if I don’t have many skeins. Finally solved my tangle issues.

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I need to configure a way to take the floss out of its packaging and have it feed thru a small hole so you can pull it to the length you need, snip it, and have it stay untangled. Like a clear shoe rack with a grommet in the bottom to feed the thread.

The best storage thing I have was given to me years ago…you loop the thread onto a ring thing and then just pull what you need…everything folds inside so is kept clean and free from tangles…I will get a picture because I have never seen anything like it and would love more cards…

I found something similar!!!

My favorite thread organizer

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That is so cool!

I’m struggling to come up with even a consistent system. I have one of those compartmentalized floss boxes with threads on bobbin cards (sorted by feeling more than anything), one big ziploc bag with wound bobbin cards, and one with very helter skeins that gets worse and worse. Plus a few ziploc bags holding the threaded bobbins for the few large projects I really really want to tackle some day… and it doesn’t even all live in the same space.

Coming back to that thing @AIMR posted, that is so cool indeed! My first thought was can’t we make that? Especially Linda she has the storage already, I’d assume just cutting up a file folder into strips and punching the holes. May need to get a 1/3 inch or something square or round hole punch.

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Absolutely we could make that! Get a legal size zipped binder, some acrylic, and a square punch

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Oooh, I have one of those things that punches holes for spiral-bound notebooks. (Bind-It-All? Cinch?) Bet that would work well!

Do the threads get tangled when you pull them out, though?

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hmmm…I bet I could print that on my 3D printer that I’ve mentioned about 10,000 times since I got it.
Be easy to design, but I bet there’s one on Thingiverse… Yes, something very similar.

But even more interesting, somebody has designed an adapter for a sewing machine bobbin winder that holds floss cards for easy winding…

I guess there’s different preferences for floss storage. I like mine protected but visible, some like to let it flow free, others wrapped up and tucked away.

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Sounds intriguing!