Embroidery floss organising! Getting back into the swing of things!

I'm finding it ridiculously hard to get back into the swing of things.

With the hubby back at work, potty training the twins and just keeping on top of the house work, I have no umph for anything else.

I have lots of ideas; I just have no umph to do them. So I thought I would start of small, sorting out my craft stash, beginning with my embroidery floss.

Whilst I haven’t been doing embroidery for long, I’m already familiar with the pitfalls and issues surrounding embroidery floss.

They are ridiculously easy to get tangled up in to one huge knot which is impossible to un do.

Whilst the vast range of colours available is wonderful, I think it can be slightly overwhelming when choosing colours for your latest project.

A few times I’ve been stood in front of the racks of floss at the local haberdashery and been completely daunted by the options available. Who knew there were so many greens!

I do 2 things to help me get the right floss if I need extra.

Firstly, whenever I buy a new floss, before winding it around the bobbin, I make a note of its number on the bobbin.

This is great for buying the exact same shade by the same manufacturer. It also comes in handy if you use a conversion tool, widely available on the internet, you can use the number to find the same shade from another floss manufacturer.

Secondly, I attach a small piece of floss to the bobbin.

You can see with these here just how similar in colour these two are.

 Whilst the difference might be slight if you are finishing off a project, the difference will show.

By taking the bobbin with me to the store, I have a piece of floss which I can compare to those available in the store. Very handy if they don’t carry the same brand and have no conversion list available.

Another thing I have learnt the hard way is to secure the floss around one of these cardboard bobbins as soon as possible. 

This helps to prevent them getting tangled, and with the number recorded on the bobbin, I don’t need to worry about those paper cuffs coming off and having no idea what number floss I have!

‘Treat’ yourself to one of these.

Not sure what they are called, Ahren calls them a cranker, so that is what I shall go with. A cranker saves you so much time when winding the floss on to a bobbin, and helps get it on there all nice and neat.

I store most of my floss in a plastic tray box; the rest is stored in an old biscuit tin. I don’t want them getting dusty or faded by the sun light.

So, now I have sorted my embroidery floss, on to the rest of my craft stash!

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