black

Originally posted 2008-04-16 06:18:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Rita, a stitcher in New Jersey, sent me an email yeterday. She asked:

how about
giving some tips on best ways to store your “stash” of extra threads?
Do you advise doing it by color? What method of storing works best?
Do you recommend those little Floss away bags on a ring?

I often get asked this question, so here’s what I do. If you have another way to roganize your stash, let us know in a comment.

For a long time, I kept threads wherever I could, mostly in the garage. This is not an ideal place to keep stuff as it’s damp and usually less insulated than the rest of the house. Then, we were cleaning the garage and my DH found some threads, then more threads, then more threads.

He was not a happy camper and I had to get organized.

At that point, the stash went into my closet and behind the couch in the family room. In the closet it lived in some sets of wire shelves and in various other containers, including a chunk of card catalog.

When my eldest daughter left home, the threads, the books, and some of the canvases moved to her room, where they still are.

I keep threads sorted by type in baskets, cigar boxes, little IKEA drawers and cabinets, like the card catalog.

When I need a thread for a project, I pull it and put the threads into reinforced zippered project bags, similar to these ones from The Container Store. I get mine from Needle in a Haystackwhere they have an additional sizes as well.

I don’t use flosaway bags, because I don’t much like storing my threads in plastic. If I have a skein which, when cut, doesn’t have a label, I use thread drops, which are card stock in a teardrop shape from Access Commodities. I also get these at Needle in a Haystack. I transfer all the information on the tag to the card and loop on the thread.

I m bad about putting away threads so I almost always have a basket, bag or tote with threads waiting to go back into the stash.

How to Organize
The big question is how to organize your threads. Once you have containers the question is do you organize by color or by thread type? I think the answer really depends on how you think about thread.

I tend to think in textures first. I know this is the thread I want, then the question is, do I have that color. So sorting by thread type works for me.

If you think color first and then by looking at what you have think about texture, then sorting your stash by color would work best for you.

Organizing the Other Stuff

I think every stitcher should have a tool kit near the stitching chair which has the things you find useful when you stitch. Mine has my laying tool, brushes, and clips to hold larger canvases.

I also keep my needles in clear plastic cases. I did notice on my trip, that it can be hard to fins them since the case is clear. I have a red TicTac case, which I’m going to empty and put the needles into tonight. It’s kind of like the black wallet in the black purse idea, by having the case be a different color, I should find it more easily.

I have many pairs of scissors, but not as many as I’d like. So one, with one of my beaded point protectors, goes into each of the current project bags. The protectors guard both the scissor points and my bags.

My canvases are in many places (I need to get a grip on this part). In progress pieces are in bags in a basket by my stitching chair. Projects on hiatus are in one drawer in my closet, small unstarted projects in the same drawer and larger projects in another drawer. And there are even some canvases upstairs with the books and threads.

One thing I try to do is take a day annually to sort through my stash and get rid of things I’m not going to stitch. If you have a guild chapter with auctions, this is a great way to donate. If you don’t think about Stitch in Peace, an eBay store who helps with stash reduction.

I hope you all get some ideas for organizing and that you’ll share your tips with the rest of us.

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Organizing your Stash

Needlepoint Stitch Sampler Book Now Available

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Books,Nuts About Needlepoint

canary sapphire heart needlepoint stitch sampler, designed by Janet Perry

just one of five new samplers in my new ebook

This cheerful yellow sapphire heart is the canary sapphire sampler from my new st itch sampler ebook, premiering today. The sapphires has over 80 stitches to mix and match to make unique needlepoint hearts.

Collected and newly charted, you’ll find stitches from older designers such as Genny Morrow and Chottie Anderson as well as ones designed by today’s top teachers such as Brenda Hart and Tony Minieri. The hearts are a perfect little canvas for you to try out color schemes, threads, and stitches. This book helps you every step of the way.

You’ll learn about threads, find three ways to create a color scheme for your heart and will be able to discover any stitch used in any of the samplers and get it’s chart easily. I designed it in a two column format with a minimum of text so that it is compact and easy to use. It’s a great reference for any stitcher.

The book, with color pictures of all five hearts is available now as a ebook in PDF format. Click the button to buy it via PayPal. If you want the book, but prefer not to use PayPal, please email me.

As a special introductory offer you can get both The Sapphires and Heart Sampler at a for just $1 more. Click the button below to purchase

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Needlepoint Stitch Sampler Book Now Available

Black and White Canvas – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

needlepoint mini patchwork star on black and white zweigart canvas, designed by janet perry

black & white canvas in action

As I stitched this little quilt block on Zweigart’s black and white canvas one word kept coming to mind — hard.

This canvas is tweeded. One direction has black threads, the other white. While the individual threads are the same as mono canvas, the woven effect is not and therein lies the problem. As you an see from the picture the white threads are more prominent.

While that is not a bad thing for the finished effect it makes stitching and counting extremely difficult. I felt as if the holes in the canvas “melted” into the white threads. And, although I counted threads and the stitches are correct, much of the time I felt as if my stitches were not true.

Add to this the problem that you can’t put a dark cloth or a light cloth under it to see and you have a canvas not for the faint of heart.

Even so, the finished effect is wonderful, so I would seek out painted canvases thaat use it as the background.

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Black and White Canvas – Product Review

Black Metallic Canvas – Product Review

by NutsAboutNeedlepoint

in Nuts About Needlepoint

orange sapphire heart stitches for needlepoint sampler on black metallic canvas, designed by Janet Perry

I must admit, I’ve had this canvas in my stash waiting for the right project for awhile. This orange heart, from the upcoming sapphires ebook, was just perfect.

On the up side, the results are stunning. The opal metallic in the canvas is much more apparent on the black and really sets of the design. While the white/opal combination makes for a subtle background, this is dramatic.

On the down side, I thought this was harder to stitch than plain black canvas. The metallic threads made it more difficult to see the holes. I mostly had to work in bright light. I also found that the black showed through with lighter-colored threads, such as in the middle block of the second from bottom row, but not with thicker threads, such as the velours.

One other thing to remember, the metallic threads are only in the weft (horizontal) threads. While this is true of all metallic canvas, it’s especially apparent with the black. Careful planning of your project is needed to take advantage of this. In this case I wanted the metallic threads to be vertical, so the canvas was turned 90 degrees.

All in all, I think the look outweighs the difficulties and I will be using it again.

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