about shop patterns projects printables extras sponsorship wild olive twitter flickr pinterest subscribe

make: an extra floss holder

When I work on an embroidery project, I don't always use all six strands of floss. Or sometimes I use all six, but misjudged how much I needed, and have a length leftover. Have you experienced this? Of course you have.

Now, embroidery floss isn't very expensive, and if you or I ever really saw how much floss I have here right now, we'd both agree that this post is completely ridiculous, because saving strands and scraps isn't really necessary. But I still think it's prudent, and I can't bear to throw those pieces out. So I end up with this:

Floss Holder

If you notice, there are parts of this that are fairly organized...and parts that are a complete mess. What to do with it from here? I came up with an idea that transformed my snarled strands into this:

Floss Holder

Much tidier!

Floss Holder

Here's what you need:
Small plastic bags (these are found near the jewelry section at craft stores)
Canvas or other sturdy fabric (just a bit)
Binder rings
Double-stick tape

Helpful tools:
Crop-a-Dile (I'll share an alternate method if you don't have one of these)
Binder clips

Floss Holder

1. Stack up the plastic bags. (You can use as many as you want...I used 15.) Cut a piece of fabric that will wrap around the closed end as a binding.

Floss Holder

2. Add some stitching to the fabric if you like, then wrap it around the bags. Holding everything with binder clips makes things a lot easier.

Floss Holder

3. Punch two holes in the binding. (I used the 3/16" setting.) Make sure that you are punching the holes far enough in from the edge.

Before I decided to use my Crop-a-Dile, my plan was to hand sew the binding. With the bags and binding clipped, stitch a few rows of running stitch to hold everything together. This would take a bit of effort to go through all of the bags, so use fewer bags for this method.

Floss Holder

4. Insert the binder rings, then remove the clips. Use double-stick tape to hold the fabric to the front and back bags.

Floss Holder

5. Coil up the floss scraps. (Mine are grouped by similar colors/styles, like metallic, color variations, etc.)

Floss Holder

6. Slide the coils of floss into the bags, and be happy that you're organized AND thrifty!

Floss Holder

The nice part about this is that you can pop open the binder rings and add more bags if you need to! Because, we all know that we're going to have more extra strands that we'll go through right?

Although, I will say that I expect to have fewer get left unused now that I'm keeping to a limited palette for my work. (I say that, but we'll see what my scraps look like!)

26 comments:

  1. This is such a great idea! I always end up with a knotted mess in my sewing box. This would definitely solve that problem. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh.....that is JUST what a corner of my worktable looks like. I will toss short lengths, but not longer ones.

    AND I have all those supplies needed! Even the envelopes! Onward to today's project. Thx so much!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh what a great idea (:

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've been looking at my floss clippings and thinking they needed to be tidied. And, I also have to say that I just realized the genius of your limited palette! That's going to be such a practical advantage!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a brilliant idea. I have all my odd threads stuffed in a bag, in a big tangle. This is so organised! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I keep my scraps on pieces of cardstock with holes punched along the sides. I fold the piece of floss in half, put the loop through the hole, put the ends through the loop, and pull it tight. It stays put, and I can write on the card the color number if needed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great idea! Love this, thanks for being creative :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm bookmarking this because it's an awesome idea and can be used for so many different things!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Brilliant! Would be great for travel, too. Thanks for the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow, love he idea. Must try to make it real now (o:

    ReplyDelete
  11. wow! what a great idea! i'll have to try that! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. That's a very cute and clever idea!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is a great idea! Especially since my house is cat friendly, and for their safety I am completely OCD about thread scraps! My cats and I thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  15. such a genius idea!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Great idea!

    ♥ sécia
    www.petiteinsanities.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is a great idea! I too believe in saving every floss scrap; I think some of mine are from 18 years ago (a scary thought!).

    ReplyDelete
  18. very good idea for someone who doesn't have lots of threads! :) I might use that same idea for something else ;) Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Such a brilliant idea! I can use this method in storing some scrapbooking supplies! :)Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  20. AWESOME!!!

    Thank you so much for sharing!

    ♥Anita
    http://aseknc.blogspot.com/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/aseknc/
    To get through the hardest journey we need take only one step at a time, but we must keep on stepping. - - Chinese Proverb

    ReplyDelete
  21. Suseela12:44 PM

    I love the idea. That is so cool.
    Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  22. 10 out of 10 for this clever idea.
    I'm adding it to my day's ToDo.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Such a great idea! You can use that for so many different things!

    ReplyDelete
  24. What a fantastic idea - I have had the same problem for quite some time now!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Very good idea! Start using it now!

    ReplyDelete

I often reply to comments in the comments...check back if you have a question!