I was blown away by this stunning assortment of stored floss in a post from Wild Olive earlier this week –it’s just so beautiful!
Mollie stores her floss in skeins and organizes the by color in flat boxes that match the basic colors of the flosses in each box. That alone makes the organization lovely, but she went one step further. she used the DMC color card, which is organized by color, to divide the flosses.
You might be wondering if you can use this idea if you aren’t storing floss. Yes you can. You’ll still need the colored boxes and the DMC chart, plus a way to make an index.
Here’s how
Number the boxes with a Sharpie according to the columns of the DMC chart.
Pull out all the threads you want to organize.
For each thread, find its closest match on the color card. Put the thread in that box.
Make a chart with three columns. For each skein record the color number, the box color, and the box number.
When you’re done, order this by thread number and store it on your computer.
How to use the boxes
When you need a specific thread number, consult your index, organized by number, to find which box your color is in.
When you are looking for a color to match, just pull out the correctly colored box to narrow down your thread choices.
I’m wishing I had open shelves and plenty of money to do this!
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
Any ideas where the colored boxes can be purchased?? TIA
In don’t. but I’d love to know. Can anyone help?
Keep stitching,
Janet
I too would like to know where to purchase the colored boxes. I’m going to check the Container Store. When I find out I will let you all know
They are photo storage boxes that come in a clear/white case. I saw them at Michael’s last Christmas and purchased 2 when they were 50% off. Didn’t figure out how to use them to organize my stash so I returned them. Now I’m slapping my forehead! Check Michael’s coupons before you buy!!
If you read the original blog post, at the end Mollie says she found the boxes at Michaels.
I am lucky to have 3 narrow cabinets (each about 16 inches wide X 40 inches high with 5 draws) and I have divided each drawer in half. I store my threads, first by brand, than by color number or name……I store the treads in snack bags, each bag labeled with color # or name.