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I'm really starting to get annoyed with the threads in my blue lanterns design. You see, they're really long and are sorted onto one of those card thread dodgers that you get with kits. Well, for my smaller kits this was perfect, but I have a LOT of threads for this and I have to spend a good hour detangling now. It's driving me NUTS!!!

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions as I really like the thread sorter, it keeps all my threads together.I don't want to have to resort to putting them on bobbins and wind up misplacing one without realising.

I put them on bobbins for the reason you described so well. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear..... Good luck with it.

dearest frustrated angel,

get some scrissors (when you have calmed down ) and some stiff paper or card 9not ordinary paper) and tape. make some little paper wraps around the threads just like the ones that come on the skeins you buy. using stiff card means you can slide them on and off, like a glove really..ordinary paper will just crease and p*** you off. Make them longer, like a cylinder as well...well i call it a straight jacket but i am not sure if that is politically correct these days either way, it keeps the little darlings from attacking each other

angel has demonstrated why it''s called cross stitch

I've left a comment on FB for you.

What I like to do if I have a lot of colours and there is two rows of thread on the card, I take what would be the second row and put each of them in envelopes. It saves some mess.

This is why I don't like kits . . . .

Barb's idea sounds like a good one.. I dunno if I want to go look at facebook.. Tangled threads make me sad
Faith

Aww don't worry Faith, the threads are all detangled now.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I used a card like that once and found that if I used every other hole (and the opposite ones on the other side--zig zag pattern, if that makes sense) my threads tanglesd less. Of course since I started with them in every hole and hand to renumber the holes, things got a little messy with the handwriting on top.

Wandatoo wrote:This is why I don't like kits . . . .

ditto for me--bobbins are far easier to deal with

I use kits regularly and have this happen. detangle the threads, then split them into small sections. Then you can do one of 2 things

1) wind the thread firmly but not too tightly around the card, and tuck the ends in

2) fold the thread length in half (so the end of the thread is pretty much touching the card) then tie a looseish knot in the threads so you can easily undo it.

I've done both and its never been a problem, Ive never gotten them so tightly knotted or wound that I can't undo them. Probably not ideal but it saves you winding them onto bobbins. And you can just unwind the section that had the threads you need in it so the loose threads dont get tangled

Angel wrote:Aww don't worry Faith, the threads are all detangled now.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Yay! All feels right with the world again!
Faith

If bobbins hanging from your thread organizer bother you, don't forget the old standby: small rubber bands!

I make sure the colors I am working on hang free, then I take the remaining colors and fold them over in half. Next I slip a small rubber band around the folded hanks of thread, like you are making a pony tail out of your floss. I don't do it super tightly, just tight enough to hold the threads together. It's really easy, and so far has prevented floss-tastrophies! I prefer this to bobbins, as it keeps everything together in one untangled blob a little more than having dangling bobbins on my organizer card.

Ooooh that's a brilliant idea!I buy hair bands by the hundred, so I've got plenty laying around for my threads ^_^

I do a couple of things to stop that happening.

I fold the floss over before threading it through the holes so less dangles down to get tangled.

If I have a lot of one colour, I only put some through and keep the rest separate until I've used some. That way it isn't too bulky and doesn't keep getting tangled every time I get some out.

I'm glad you got it untangled and hopefully you'll find a solution from all these that'll suit you

My internet didn't load properly the last time so I didn't get the picture. But oy yoy yoy. I'd have to cut those in half. And seeing how tangled they are, it looks like an "innocent" kitty is sleeping back there. lol.

I use the same method as this and don't get too many bad tangles. Whenever I am done with the thread and before I put it away, I will quickly run my fingers through the thread to make sure they aren't tangled the same way you might run your fingers through your hair. Then you detangle as you go and it doesn't get too bad but only takes a few seconds each time.

I have to say I used to get very frustrated but now I just find it easier to quickly wind them onto numbered cardboard bobbins then keep it all together like any other project, works for me.

@Corey.G
hehe yes, his name is Mitzy and he spends most of his time asleep actually..he's on the window ledge, curled up snoring in the sunlight right now ^_^ He manages to get into most of my pictures ^_^

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Thank you. I'm really impressed at all the suggestions, they're really useful.

Yipes! No wonder you were frazzled!

When I was working on Water Tiger II, I had a lot of thread, too. The kit divided the hanks between two long cardboard keepers, not the single one you seem to have to deal with. That might help to begin with. I also transferred a length of each colour onto different and smaller cardboard cards, labelled by symbol. Whenever I ran out of a colour on my "working cards" I would get more from the "stash cards". Not handling the stash cards much meant fewer tangles. I also ran fingers through them periodically to keep them straight, and parking them on the radiator behind my chair meant they just hung down and behaved themselves.