Updated May 5, 2023.
A major contributor to messy stashes is our piles of unfinished and unstitched projects, I know it is for me.
Once a year, at least, you should go through the piles of this stuff and organize them. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt. One trigger for doing this is not finding a canvas I know I have; for example, by finding the two underbed boxes of stuff I had stored.
Begin by sorting stuff into four piles:
- unstitched canvases
- projects you are actively working on (WIPs)
- started projects you aren’t working on (UFOs)
- projects you don’t want to do anymore
I sorted my unstitched canvases into large and small (small is by far the biggest. The large ones were rolled up and went into a wire wastepaper basket. The smalls got organized by subject and put into my multi-drawer cabinet which is easily accessible for when I want to start a new project.
My WIPs are stored in zippered project bags in my mother-in-law’s hope chest. These projects are on stretcher bars. Some of them, like a present for our parish priest, are long-term, and a few are almost done. I’m hoping that new projects won’t get added to this pile until an old project is done.
The UFOs are more problematic as I don’t want to waste stretcher bars, thumbtacks, and zippered bags on things I won’t be stitching for a while. So I use plastic bags for storage and put threads and canvas into the underbed unit.
The stuff you don’t want anymore are put in boxes to sell by consignment.
I’ve reduced the number of WIPs to ones I can handle and have the small pieces I love somewhere where I can get them fast. Everything is neat and organized.
All in all not a bad day’s work.
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
Well, you certainly finished that in short order. Now that you done with yours, when can I expect you? I’ll put the kettle on. 🙂
I have found that a good way to store unstitched canvases including those for which I have pulled threads is to hang them in plastic bags on skirt hangers in a little used closet. They’re easy to see and don’t require moving for cleaning the floor!
I’m with Nancy about the skirt hangers. I have all of my unstitched canvases on them. Instead of a closet, I stuck a shower rod in an open space under my studio table and it works perfectly!