When you are organizing your thread stash, there are three things to consider. Think about:
- how you will organize your stash
- where you will put it
- what you’ll do with project leftovers
Today we’ll talk about each of these in turn.
Organizing Threads
To my mind the most important concern in organizing your threads is how you will organize them. There are two basic methods by color or by thread/texture.
If you organize by color all your threads in one color, no matter the size, manufacturer, or texture, will go in one place. This works beautifully if you this about color first when picking threads.
The other choice is to think about texture first. This means that all threads with the same texture, say overdyed pearl cottons, will go together. If you are this kind of stitcher, you’ll say things like “This is a great animal, it should use a furry thread.” You also might see a particular item, maybe a rooster and immediately think “Wouldn’t his tail be great in ribbon?”
These things make you a texture person.
Whichever you are organize your threads that way, you’ll be happier.
Containers for Stash
I am not a person who likes everything uniform, much to the consternation of others in my family. I like the thrown-together look of my different, mostly thrift shop, containers. As a result I have different cabinets with drawers for storage, open containers, baskets, containers with lids, and even a vintage sugar jar.
My prime storage areas are the cabinets. These consist of two unmatching card catalogue “chunks,” a tall set of drawers from Hobby Lobby, a set of six deep drawers of my grandfather, and three assorted small cabinets. One thread or type of thread (hand-dyed silks) goes in each drawer. In some cases several threads from the same company are in one drawer (as in Rainbow Gallery matte threads). This gives me spaces for almost three dozen threads.
The next set of storage is open containers that I keep in the chest of drawers. These are mostly IKEA storage. It’s easy to find the threads in them.
Once all that is used up, I go to the closed but more portable storage. This includes cigar boxes, plastic boxes, and some metal tins I bought at a garage sale. These tend to go on top of the other storage.
I have a friend who buys a particular plastic storage container at The Container Store every month or two. She is gradually putting all her Rainbow Gallery threads in them. She also saves empty cards and puts other threads on them.
It’s easy to find some great and more uniform storage methods like this, but it just isn’t my style.
Storing Leftovers
I’m terrible at this. As I finish a project, leftover threads get put into holding containers. These can be empty project bags, or some stash bags I keep in my office. They tend to stay in these until everything is overflowing (not a good idea).
Then I take some time, usually several days, to organize and put away everything.
The first step in this is to go through everything in the holding bags and split it up by the location of the storage. Since my threads are in three distinct places, this allows me to go through those containers quickly. Unhappily often this is where I stop for awhile.
At some point I take one of these containers and put everything away. I’ll do this at some point with everything.
Sometimes I have odd bits of thread or the end of a package. These go in a special container my scrap bag and they are used for Scrap Bag Needlepoint projects and places where I need a different thread for a small area.
My thread storage is very idiosyncratic, but I hope it gives you ideas and inspiration!
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
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