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Well I am in a real tizzy over how to store and use mine

Bearing in mind that I am not a HAED case and currently usually stitch medium to small sized projects from either kits or charts, I currently use the larger plastic boxes that you can take the cross-wise dividers out of and just lay the skeins in, sorted into colours, DMC and Anchor separate but together if you get my meaning. It is not very satisfactory but as I don't have (and can't see me getting) the whole set of colours it generally will do for what I want.

I am not too keen on the stitchbows or the bobbins although I do bobbinate skeins that have been started and the label is in danger of getting lost (but i am not too keen on the kinks). I have just bought some floss away bags which I thought I would use for works in progress as I don't like the thread organisers that you get with kits, and thought the bags might be a bit more usable. I'm not sure I want to use them for storage though as I like to be able see all my shades of the same colour at the same time.

There doesn't seem to be the perfect system for me

Do you have the floss bags that have a hole? You could put all your bags on a jump ring ring or two. Then you can see what colors you have. Or something like Ricks floss book book system to keep the rings a little more tidy.
I am a mix of stitchbow, bags, and floss cards for projects I fly with and precut thread for.

And yes Rick... floss management seems to be a hobby in itself.. lots of options and takes a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for you. And then a year later.. you try something new.

Yes, one hole and I could punch another. Thanks for your encouragement Maggie - I think I might try it out with one set of colours and see what it looks like

I'm laughing. Wally World is selling the perfect size plastic box for the poly bags I'm using. Only $2.47@.
I bought 2 but probably should go buy a few more, especially if I plan to stick with this hobby.
Look how perfect its size is.

nice posting...

I store them in floss awaybags, and than in a drawer


These are the bags I am using with current projects, the other bags are underneath in boxes.

I just posted about this on the HAED board, so I'll copy what I wrote over to here too..

I store my floss on bobbins in a plastic case. This is my master set. For each project that I work on, I make a set of project cards..


(clicky to see big and detailed)

On the cards I put a single length of floss - 12 inches - (occasionally 2 if I know it's a color I'm going to be using a LOT of right away, but not if it's something I won't need till much later) and work from there. I have 20 colors per page, needing 5 cards for the average HAED. I could have put floss on both sides of the page, and done more on each side, cutting it down to just 2 project cards instead, which I will do next time so that they can both fit into a single sleeve, facing opposite directions.

I work from these cards, and my bobbins are tucked away safely out of the way. I pull a single strand of each color when I need it, and extras are returned to their places using a crochet hook to loop them back through the holes easily. When I need a color that I find I've run out of on the floss card, I pull my bobbin cases out and instead of replenishing just that one color, I replenish all empty holes, as well as any that are down to just 1 or 2 strands. This way I am not constantly having to do this - sometimes I go days without needing to replenish anything.

I find this the easiest way to stay on top of things without ransacking my bobbinated floss. Most HAED patterns use a lot of colors, but just a little bit of each, except for a few colors that are used in quantity. So I see no point in buying a full skein of each color for each project - that would get expensive fast, not to mention that you would end up with multiple partially used skeins. Just look through your floss before starting a project and make sure that you have more of the colors that need multiple skeins, and perhaps buy another skein of any colors that are used a lot, but you don't need to buy a full skein of each color just to use it for 100 stitches in a pattern!

I also put mine on bobbins. I like things being neat and organized so it's good for me (i have 2 of those plastic boxes with floss & currently three rings with project specific floss on them). I can totally see how everyone's other organizational tips work for them though. I try not to have more than 2 projects going on at any one time so I'm not "stealing" bobbins from other projects though.

I put mine on bobbins and then into a plastic divider case. Then as if that weren't enough I put the plastic cases into an empty night stand in the guest bedroom. I couldn't believe how well the drawers and plastic cases fit together. I have a 1970's white french empire set of furniture in the guest bedroom and the night stands have four nice shallow drawers each.

I wish I was that organized with the rest of my crafts

I use the floss away zip top mini bags. I then organize them on large (6") binder rings in numerical order. When I'm beginning a new chart, I pull the colors I need and put them on smaller (1"-2") binder rings. I find this system works well and it's pretty inexpensive. The downside is that the bottoms of the zip top bags tend to split after awhile. I then take some tape and reinforce them.

I have started making my own "colour chart" for my dmc threads. I downloaded a shopping list that I got off one site and printed it out then every time I get a new thread then I just sew that colour next to the appropriate code and glue a little to the back of the page to secure it, this is how mine looks so far. It is very bare but I use other makes of floss and dmc is kind of expensive to come by so if I get a sustitute in a cheaper make then I go for that one. This chart makes life easier when reading patterns that are in black and white and also for finding substitutes in a hurry.

p.s, please excuse the pic, it was taken very late at night on my phone.

I am a bobbin person...a bobbinator? I write the DMC number on the bobbin with a Sharpie, and the bobbins are stored in three plastic boxes, in numerical order. When working on projects I will put the bobbins on binder rings, in baggies, or in smaller plastic boxes.

I use bobbins too. I tried the stitch bows but did not like them. Always looking for more of those plastic organizer boxes for the floss.

I have 7 plastic tubs with lids, and inside I keep my bagged floss, each bag labeled with the floss number. I keep my specialty threads in the same sort of box, except it is purple. So far, so good.

I always use bobbins in plastic boxes and just take out the ones I need for a project and put them in a smaller box. I have tried all sorts of other storage solutions and always come back to bobbins

I once had a huge pegboard with metal hooks - one for each color, but that was back when I owned a house and DMC had less colors. Now I have plastic zip-lock bags coded by 100's - not especially efficient but all I have room for at present.

nasreen wrote:I have started making my own "colour chart" for my dmc threads. I downloaded a shopping list that I got off one site and printed it out then every time I get a new thread then I just sew that colour next to the appropriate code and glue a little to the back of the page to secure it, this is how mine looks so far. It is very bare but I use other makes of floss and dmc is kind of expensive to come by so if I get a sustitute in a cheaper make then I go for that one. This chart makes life easier when reading patterns that are in black and white and also for finding substitutes in a hurry.

p.s, please excuse the pic, it was taken very late at night on my phone.

I love this idea! I'm going to try this aswell

I have to start again from scratch so this topic and all of your tips have been very helpful. Thank you for that.
I'll give the bobbins and plastic box a try.

MaggieM1750 wrote:lots of options and takes a bit of trial and error to figure out what works best for you. And then a year later.. you try something new.

I was sure I made up my mind.

Wow! So many great ideas for organization here that work - and they all beat my messy ways...

I am using the "Annie's Keepers" system which is available from Nordic needle and there is tons of information on the Annie's website:

http://www.annieskeepers.com/index.php" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

I love this system.

I am so sick of my bobbins because they keep falling out of the boxes and all the colors are always getting mixed up and it's a pain to fix that and it's a general pia to bobbinate in the first place. I am so over bobbins.

I am keeping one of every DMC color (since I only use DMC) in the keeper box on the storage slides. When I have a project I just unclip the colors I need and put them on project slides or on the big ring (you could also take a couple lengths of each color and put on another set of the clear clips (including blends- one length of each color) and the dmc number and pattern name and symbol labelled on the clear clip. Then put those on one of the Annie's large 6" rings or on the project slides. When you run out you just go back to the master set and replenish your project threads a couple lengths at a time.) She also makes a needle keeper that the project slide can slide onto. It has large spaces that are meant for one needle but can be easily sub divided to accommodate many more needles. So if I am working on a project then I want to change to another project, I first replace the colors to the master and then pull the ones for the next project. So my WIPs will never have thread in them and I will never have a bunch of threads that I can't remember which project they go with which is the case right now of a PAKO thread organizer that I have put a full complement of blends onto it but neglected to label which project it was for! I bought two of the PAKO thread organizers and 4 of the PAKO needle organizers a few years back but I dont' really use them.

Hope that makes sense. I'm not home so I can't take a picture of it.
I can't tell you how much I love this method. Finally.
I did try the bags but it was too messy and unorganized.
I still keep my extra floss in the bags or in envelopes in Michaels photo boxes or small plastic storage boxes. I need to do this because for awhile I was buying thread for every project I kitted up so I have many multiples of certain colors, which now I don't need to do that because of the way I am using my new system.
Now I don't need many multiples I just need to replenish my master set. Whenever a color runs out I just need to buy one of that color.