It’s all well and good to organize your stash and have it happily living in its new home, but we do actually stitch with the stuff and therefore have to transport it to other locations.
That means two kinds of organization solutions. The first is for an individual project. The second is how you transport that project and whatever else you need. Tomorrow we’ll talk about putting together your traveling needlepoint tool kit.
When you stitch a needlepoint you have, canvas (probably on some kind of frame), threads, needles, and possibly some instructions or stitch books. Having some kind of container that can close is good for keeping all this stuff.
I like clear or translucent reinforced plastic bags that zip shut. There are other solutions, such as Ashland Sky bags (reviewed here) or Lantern Moon’s snap bags (reviewed here). But I keep buying the same plastic bags, usually in about 8.5×11″ size, probably because i can find them easily at the Japanese Dollar Store.
I have two other reasons for buying this size. First most of my projects are small, so the frame will fit (more about this in a moment). Second my cats can’t chew through them, although they have managed to use a bit of undone stitching near the zipper to pull out all of the thread and make the hole bigger and the bag unusable. Un reinforced plastic doesn’t cut it; it gets holes.
I like to keep everything together, so it’s easily portable. So the bag should be big enough to fit the canvas on the frame. If it’s not you should be careful about transport.
Needle magnets can hold the needle to the frame or you can use the unworked margin of canvas (never store your needle into an area that will be stitched; it can rust and permanently stain the canvas). Add threads, and instructions (folded if need be) and go.
Each project in the rotation lives in its bag. When I’m done with a project the finished canvas et al go back to the studio in the bag and everything gets emptied and put away.
If another project isn’t going into the bag, it goes into an open bin on top of a bookcase.
But I rarely travel with just my needlepoint, so I need totes. Lately I’ve been giving lots of thought to these because most I find don’t work. Unlike knitters we don’t need lots of pockets (although sone are nice), but what we need is something that opens wide enough to hold the project book and mounted needlepoint. I have pretty much found anything narrower than a 12″ opening is less useful. I also like totes with shoulder straps, they are easier to carry. Now I have cobbler add these to my bags.
They are best if made from leather, canvas, rip-stop nylon, or other heavy duty material. And always put a luggage tag on them.
I use my totes all the time and not just when I’m going out. I’ll transport things from studio to TV room in them and back.
You don’t have to spend lots of money on either project bags or totes, but just be sure the money you spend is on things that work for you.
Related posts:
- Stitch a Gift Totes and Project Bags
- Timeless Totes Self-finishing Clutch – Product Review
- Got Some Leftover Plastic Canvas and Need a Fast Gift?
- Organizing When You Don’t Have the Space
- New Needlepoint Projects – October 2009
More:
How Do you Organize your Current Projects & TOtes?
