I’m putting this in “completed projects” because it was quite the undertaking.
First…behold!! The entire solid color collection!
And some glamour shots…
All of the colors are organized in these boxes and stored on my bookshelf:
And the “back ups.” Let me tell you about the back ups. They’re organized by number and put into bunches. So, if I’m looking for an extra 334, I’ll go to the 300s bundle. The ranges of each bundle vary based on the number of back ups.
Here are the bundles:
I had different plans originally, but went with simple cotton string and little paper labels, written in pencil because I thought that looked vintage-y. Why did I go vintage-y? Because of this beauty that didn’t have a proper use yet:
I got it for $25 (!!!) at a thrift shop. It’s numbered and fancy and has a stamp on the bottom. I can’t remember off hand what “brand” it is. Here she is, all expanded and loaded up:
And how did I track which threads I have and how many? I used a printable spreadsheet from Lord Libidan. Here’s an example of a page:
- The owned column is for how many bobbins are in the plastic bins. It is how I tracked which colors I had and how many.
- “CP” = current project. I’ve since stopped using this column because it was annoying when starting and ending new projects.
- “SOS” = stored on skein. These are the skeins in the bundles. So if I run low and need to buy a new color, I can check the spreadsheet and see if I have extra in my storage.
- “SOB” = stored on bobbin. You may notice that the sewing box has some bobbins. This way if I’m looking for a back up color, the spreadsheet will let me know if I’m looking for a skein or bobbin.
Why did I decide to do this? I had a fair amount of floss but then a woman donated a ton of supplies to my work (the library). She said I could use them for work crafts or, if we didn’t have a use for them, we could donate them somewhere or I could take them. (She said she had a cross stitch shop at some point.) I did use a fair amount for library crafts but there was still a ton and they all had the slight “smell.” So, I rescued them, did cycles of airing out and sunshine and got to work organizing. Once I saw that I was only 90 short of a full set (around 500), I made it a goal to finish the set. It felt very much like this:
My collection is considered complete (to me), but i am missing some discontinued or rare colors. I’m not counting that against me. I also am not counting etoile or variegated or metallic, etc.
I know we can use substitutes, but it is SO NICE having the colors. I cross stitch a lot and I hated prepping new projects because it was so much work digging through my colors (which were organized by color), figuring out substitutions, figuring out which ones I needed to buy. It was a lot of work and I hated doing it when I really just wanted to stitch, especially small projects.
And now?! It takes maybe 5 minutes. Just pull and go and I love it so much and it brings me so much joy.
If you’ve read all of this or cheered me on in my journey, thank you! I’m glad it’s finally done.
MAY I be the first to congratulate you on having one of our amazing featured projects this week! 
chills
Glad you could come along for the ride!