Oh, What Tangled Webs We Weave …

Posted on December 17, 2017 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio Organizing Challenge

. . . When we let our thread supply get out of control!

I’m on a mission to get all my various types of thread reorganized, after riffling through them all year, and not putting any of it away. OK, so maybe it’s been even longer than a year!

I got my longarm thread back under control pretty quickly yesterday. It pretty much has to stay organized because it’s what I use the most of, and I have to know what I have on hand, and what’s missing at any given moment.

I only use a few basic colors for machine piecing, (gray, tan, white, mostly) and it’s all in one little drawer, and I have extra colors on this wall rack. I’ve used up lots of odds and ends this year, trying to whittle down the leftover bits. I also use little leftover bits of longarm thread for piecing, when a cone has so little left on it that I can’t even wind a bobbin.

My appliqué thread needs to be gathered up and put back into the cartons where I store it. Spools get randomly taken out for one project or another, but they don’t find their way back into the storage container — how does that happen?

But the one type of thread that is mostly out of control is my embroidery floss! I gathered all the loose bits I could find and put them all into this bowl — look at this mess!

My goal is to get them neatened up and stored with the rest of my floss into these nice neat containers. It’s horrible that I simply go buy more because I can’t find the color I want! Genius, right?

I’m gearing up to post the Final Countdown challenges at the end of the month, but this is one organizing task I need to do ahead of time, and not wait for.

How about you?

Do you need to join me on this challenge?

Or is your thread already neat and tidy and organized?

Let’s hear about your thread supply. If you have it all neat, I’d like to hear about how you store it, or if you need to get yours under control, how do you plan to go about it?

15 responses to “Oh, What Tangled Webs We Weave …”

  1. Dee says:

    Ok I have thread envy, and I thought I had a lot of thread. Due to space limitations, I have to keep that organized. They are just in clear plastic shoe boxes and sew far that is working. I do have a bobbin buddy that I am really liking and highly recommend it. Your organization is inspiring!

  2. Swooze says:

    I have thread in 4 or 5 places and have done well to sort of keep it near one of those places. Does that count? ?

  3. Susie Q says:

    I have drawers of thread, most is 50 wt. Four or five drawers… plastic tower sort of thing. I have just let it all go as as soon as I get the sewing room painted I am bringing a thread case that was used in a dry goods store about 100 years ago out of storage and will have oooodles of room for thread. Or that is the plan anyway.

  4. Virginia Smith says:

    Thread seem to be the one thing that I prettty much keep a handle on. Sewing thread in a case and bobbins in a case. The odd thread that is the replacement for the sewing thread I keep in the bobbins right with it. Not much quilting thread but it and the bobbins are together. Lots of other organizing needed but area most needed is fabric. Kinda organized but should be a lot better.

  5. Becky says:

    I piece with grays and tans. Since I don’t use white fabric very often, I don’t use white thread much. My cross stitch thread is orangized because that drives me nuts. My waste thread is used to baste hexies. I have cones for machine quilting.

    What I need to straighten are the patterns. I must have 1000 or more. Time to weed out the Old Ones.

  6. Wendy says:

    My thread used to be fairly organized, especially since it was mostly neutral that I used as I pieced. However, now that I’m venturing into machine quilting a bit more, my thread stash has become more colorful and is multiplying. It’s currently in “organized chaos” condition, and I need to deal with it soon. Maybe next year. LOL

  7. Grammi (aka Tonia) says:

    I am pretty good at thread stuff–floss is in color plastic snack bags–I was gifted a large amount and even this attempt took days of sorting and un-tangling. Good organizing my friends.

  8. Jane says:

    Actually my thread is organized pretty well. Though my space is small I have the different kinds stored in different areas and even different ways.
    DMC like you showed are all wound on bobbins and stored in those containers in numerical order. They fit in 5 containers. A separate container was used for linen threads and another for the light effects and specialty Kreinik braided threads.
    For my Gentle Arts Sampler Threads I caroling them in an excellent program by name/number and sort them on a ring in order. It got so large that I had to use to rings for the threads and another ring to hold those rings together. Same with Weeks Dye Works, crescent colors,etc. with usin the excell spread sheet for the speciality threads, I know if I have a skein even if it’s “kitted” with a project or how many of a color I have. Probably way to anal but it helps my not overbuying what I already have. Not a perfect system but it works well enough. Now to get all my quilting tools and supplies as effiently organized!!!

  9. I have a number of clear plastic boxes that once held a certain chocolate, the spools are all arranged in rainbow fashion. My granddaughter loves helping with this. The very small spools of 100 yards are all in one plastic bucket 4” x 5” x 5”. A second bucket holds odd reels. Then I have a large box that holds large cones. All these take up one large drawer in my sewing desk.

  10. Maxine says:

    I love thread but have limited myself this year into buying only when I am in need!But I have a big plastic jug that had pretzels in it before and a project tote that I store my used threads in. Love that picture of Elvis! OMG. he was so handsome!

  11. Thelma says:

    I think you need to give yourself a break on the embroidery floss. What’s one little skein cost, less than 50 cents I’m sure. If you can’t find what you need quickly buy it guilt free, your time is worth more than 50 cents. And that’s my 5 cents worth on this subject. LOL

  12. Danice says:

    Oh, I do need to join you. I also have some of those clear plastic boxes. Wish I had more of them. Lol, haven’t we all went and purchased thread, only to return home and find two spools of that same thread already there? You are doing great on organization.

  13. katie z. says:

    I have drawers in an old treadle machine for my quilting, in a bag for piecing, and in a school supply box for embroidery. I don’t have much of any of them, so that’s it!

  14. randy says:

    final count down….. ???? tell me what to be organizing!!!

  15. I have WAY less cotton thread than you do, even though I only use cotton, except for silk applique, which is all in one spot, because, again, I have way less than you do!

    I have a lot of embroidery floss and perle, but years ago, I had a printer make some punch cards for me. They are about 3 x 6 and have 5 half-inch holes punched down one side, and a 1/4 inch hole in an opposite corner. I tie the thread skeins through the holes and then hang similar colors on binder rings. It really helps, because I can see them all, and they stay together. When I use one, I just tie it back in right then.

    Thanks for helping me realize I have ONE area that is more or less organized! LOL

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