Today I thought I would share with you some great tips I’ve found here and there as well as discovered on my own.
Self-finishing: If you have used the self-finishing items that use sheets of adhesive, such as the Lee leather products, you probably don’t stockpile them. If you do, beware, the adhesive can give up if you don’t use it.
I was finishing up my Two Sisters shifts to be a wallet front. I peeled off the protective sheet and there was no adhesive. Nothing. I was as if it had never been there.
You can fix this problem. Insert the needlepoint as if the adhesive were there. Use Turbo Tacky Glue to glue the sides to your needlepoint.
Ribbons for finishing: I found the great idea of Brenda’s lovely blog. She was looking for an easy way to store ribbon for finishing. She came upon an easy solution — pants hangers! Read and see what she did in her post.
Does anyone have a great reuse for scarf hangers? I need one.
Melita’s Needle Storage: Maybe you don’t have nearly as many different needles as Melita. But you probably have several sizes and types. Take a tip from her post and use a floss organizer.
Another use for a floss organizer: A couple of shops I knew, both now closed, used floss organizers to store Kreinik spools. It’s a great and relatively compact way to organize them.
Reuse thread spools and cards: I know more than one person who uses empty Kreinik spools and Rainbow Gallery cards to store other threads. This use for Kreinik spools is so common that you can buy them on the Kreinik website.
Organize your charts and project packs: I was looking for something earlier this week in the unorganized pile of charts. As I searched I realized that I have many charts on the same subject or by the same designer. My pile is messy and I have to haul out the whole thing to find stuff. I’m going to fix that by using three-ring binders. I’ll punch holes in the text and use index tabs to separate each one. I’ll add labels to the spines.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Pat says
In place of punching holes in your charts, consider putting them in page protectors. This way, the charts can still be kept in binders, but they won’t be subject to tearing.
Anne Jaques says
I live in Hawaii part of each year and have found that my needles and scissors get rust spots. I end up buying more needles. Any advise on how to save my needles and scissors? I thought of oil but dismissed the idea because of it getting on the canvas and threads. Thank you for your thoughts and help.
Janet M Perry says
It’s pretty dry where I live, so I’m only going by what I have seen elsewhere. I think I have seen blocks of felt that are impregnated with oil. Not so much that it gets on your hands but enough to keep rust for forming on the needles. That might work.
For scissors I’m wondering it titanium scissors might work better.
Does anyone else4 have some ideas?
Keep stitching,
Janet