ALL ABOUT ORGANIZING THE THREADS!!!!

This is what happens if we do not come up with a good and effective way to organize, store, and use our threads for those different projects that 'we' manage to get ourselves into!!!!!
I believe I am, also, now a thread-a-cholic--along with the fabric, yarn, books, on and on!!!
I love color--
and thread comes in all types and all colors--
therefore I have lots of types in lots of colors!!!!!

First there is the thread, that come in balls--

they are in these containers that I believe I got at Joann's--

these boxes are not clear, but work fine for this kind of thread--
 
Then we have the smaller balls of threads,
these are the Valdani brand--

and I have them all in these boxes--

these are clear in color and I just love them--
I have 5 that are full right now of the Valdani threads--
but I will need a 6th one and maybe a 7th one cause where I get these from the
TheRaspberryRabbits.blogspot.com, Shell has gotten in a lot of new colors!!!!

Then we have the regular embroidery floss--
most of you use DMC--
I fell in love with Cosmo's thread a year or so ago--
I was getting a few at a time--
then I got some extra money and decided to order the whole set--
then I had a real headache for awhile--
cause I did not want the Cosmo's to end up like  my DMC--

and actually this is a 'good' mess--
usually my thread really did look like that thread mess at the top of this post!!!
and I hated, did I tell you that I hated, to wind the thread on all those little cards--
plus when you got to the end of the card the thread had those creases in it--????
Soooo--after much thought this is how I have my Cosmo's thread organized--

Ahh--Di you use them to hold your doll and bears????
No, sillies--the thread is in those boxes under the bears and doll--

See!!!!
again, these are clear boxes--

and I have these organized by color groups in a box or two--
I did not go by numbers per say--
if there was two different number lots, even lots of numbers in between--
if they were of the same color family, they went in a section of the box--

I believe I got these  boxes at--stuff4scrapbooking.com
I put the leftover floss right back into each compartment where the rest of the skein is!!!
so neat and tidy!!!!

and then we have the other threads for counted cross stitch mostly--
again what and now to organize them--
and here they are--

My little table that I sit at to do the counted cross stitching is in front of where these are hanging--
this is how they are done--

I have color groups on smaller round rings--
then I put the groups together on larger round rings and hang them from the wood bar you seen in the first picture--
Then when I decide on a project to stitch I use one of these cards--

and I list the project--
then list the color and put a strand or two of the threads thorough the holes on the cards--
I also group them by whether they are Weeks Dye works or Crescent colors or what--
then when the project is finished, I will cut the cards between the different brands and put them with those brands, then if I run out of a color I can check the cards to see if there is any left from a project!!!
Now, how do I know if I have one of these colors in 'stock' when I order new patterns--
I use this little box--

and looky at what is in the box--

there are those rings again with cards attached this time--
these cards are cut in half file cards that came with the holes in them--

and the cards are done so that I can turn to the 'B's' page and see what colors/names I have in stock!!!


I know all this sounds like some work and it is--
but in the end I love this system--it works for me!!!!
and my threads are all neat and handy---
And yes, like I said it did take some time setting it all up--
but now it saves me soooo much time as every thing has a home and a system!!!

I hope this may help someone who is having a hard time trying to find a system too--
yep, you can borrow, use, share, my ideas here--
and ==
happy stitching, you all!!!!
Smiles, Di