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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Warning! Long post. Floss storage

Good Morning!

I want to start this post with a big thank you for all the wonderful comments on the craft room. I am overwhelmed by the response and touched that some want more pictures. A special thanks has to go out to Daffycat as she posted about it on her blog which led people to mine. Thank you so much!

I had a lot of requests for more pictures and a lot of the requests I had were regarding my floss storage. I have kept my DMC in those nuts and bolt containers that most people use in their garage for 13 years or so. The reason I went to this method is because I have a ton of floss. At one time Hy-Vee food stores carried DMC. One day, Hy-Vee decided they weren't going to carry it anymore. They dumped it all in a big old box and slapped a 5 cents/skein price tag on it and put it in their dollar sale. Right about then I happened by and asked how much for the entire box. I think I paid $10.00 for the whole kit and kaboodle! Then I didn't know what to do with my find so I separated out all the different colors and put them in a ziploc baggie and then into grocery bags. But that made it hard to find a color when I was looking for it. I was complaining telling Dan about my problem one day and he suggested using the nut and bolt containers. So off we went to the store where we bought 7 of them for around $10.00/piece. Later when DMC added more colors we bought a smaller version as we couldn't find the size we had used before. I kept all of these containers in a closet and was quite happy with my system except for the fact that it took up a lot of valuable closet storage space. When we started planning the re-do of the basement room my plan was to still keep it in the closet. But when I started putting everything away....I found I didn't have as much room as what I needed for storage if I did that. I had also added the DMC varigated threads to my stash by this time and needed another storage container. I searched high and low for one the same size as my other ones. I even asked for your help in locating one the same size. Apparently, when I bought the original 7, I must have bought every one they produced because NO ONE had a container with the same dimensions as what I needed. I could find taller ones, shorter ones, and ones with fewer drawers but not 14.5w x 14h x 6.5d. That beast doesn't exist in my world anymore. What you will find is this . It's 18 inches tall and the drawers when you pull them out are slightly shorter than my original ones but they still work. They are also more expensive than they used to be. I thought about buying all new cabinets but decided I didn't want to spend the money when I had 7 perfectly good cabinets already. So I bought one of the 18 inch tall cabinets and decided to make it work. And if I had kept it all in the closet it would have been fine but I wanted that storage space freed up so I decided to just stack them on the floor of the craft room. First I tried them vertically, that was a bad idea. It was very wobbly, you had to lay on your stomach on the floor to see what was in the bottom drawers and when you place them on something to raise them up, being the vertically challenged person that I am, I couldn't see the top drawers. So I stacked them on the floor horizontally. Better, more stable but still laying on the floor to get to them. Dan suggested putting boxes underneath them and that would have worked but they were still too low for my liking. Then I thought, well, they are made for hanging so I'll just hang them. There are 2 problems with that idea. One being the number of holes you would put in your wall and the other, I am a balanced kinda person and with that one 18" cabinet it wasn't going to be a nice rectangular shape on the wall. After much discussion, Dan and I decided building a box that would hang on the wall allowing the cabinets to just slide into the box made the most sense. Fewer holes in the wall, stable, easy to see and it would pretty it up too! BUT, we still have that dumb 18" cabinet throwing a wrench in the works. After much thought we came up with the idea of putting a box inside the box to raise up some of the drawers and make everything all nice and even. And this is the result.


Some of you might have died from boredom right now and I apologize for the lengthy writing but I wanted to go over the process we went through to arrive at our final design to save you from having to think it all through yourselves should you decide to try something like this.

Here is a closeup version of the drawers.

As you can see, I have labeled each drawer with it's number and each drawer holds 5-6 skeins comfortably. Here is a picture of how the floss fits in the drawer.


In the nook we built I keep my containers for Kreinik threads. They fit perfectly in the little plastic organizers which fit perfectly in the nook.



Remember earlier when I said I had a lot of floss? I only keep 5-6 skeins in the cabinets. That still left me with a ton of floss still in those baggies. I decided that I needed a better way to store the overflow that made it easy to see what I had and what I didn't should I ever use all the skeins of a particular color in the drawers. This is what I came up with. Still in baggies, but with acid free mat board added to make them stand up and now they are in numerical order also. I keep up to 10 skeins of each color in the baggies. I have 2 of these bins in the closet.




The overflow of the overflow, in other words, those colors that I just have a crap load of... is still in baggies in a grocery sack and I use it to give away to people. I'm never going to use it so I might as well help other stitcher's when they need it. I'm never sure though if they want it or not as it is older floss. Nothing wrong with it but I worry people won't want it and use it. What do you think?


Are you still with me?? I hope so! Hang in there, I'm almost done.

Now I have to confess that when it comes to my overdyed floss storage, I haven't come up with a great solution. In fact haven't come up with any solution. Yet. A couple of friends of mine have suggested a system that they use and I think I will try to find it. My only problem is it seems to be getting harder and harder to find and I don't want to spend tons right now to make sure I have plenty for the future when I don't need a lot of it at the moment. I've considered doing something similar to what I've done with my overflow DMC and I've thought about having Dan build me a spinner. Still mulling it all over. If you have any brilliant ideas for storing overdyeds please let me know. For now, this is my method.


Not a great solution as you can see. Are you horrified?? I am! I'm open to suggestions on this one folks!

That pretty much covers my floss storage and since this is so long I will leave it with just the floss storage and post more on the craft room in a day or two. If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me and I'll do my best to answer them.

I'm off to help a mother this morning whose son has just been diagnosed with Celiac disease. My daughter was diagnosed a little over a year ago and I wish I had had someone to walk me through the grocery store and point out what she could and couldn't eat, so when my sister asked me if I would mind I said I'd be happy to help. I'm not an expert but I'm better than nothing!

Thanks again everyone for all the lovely comments and stay tuned if you are interested for more of the craft room.

Have a great day!

21 comments:

Deb said...

Julie, you didn't lose me for a second with your really great description of what you did in your room. I've got a great suggestion for you overdyed threads and I'll send you an email because I don't want to run on and on here. But thanks for all the information. I'm redoing my craft room right now, and I'm going to have a unit built like this too as you are right, those cabinets take up valuable space.

Cari said...

Holey Smokes Julie... I'd just like to come shopping at your house!! Just kidding...I already have it all. (LOL or not) I store my floss in floss bags in shoe size plastic containers. Then put all that in the closet. So far, so good. Love your room though. I'm getting ready to do some house rework so I'm enjoying all of your ideas. Have a great week!!

Simone said...

Wow, you sure have a lot of DMC! Looks like you have a store of your own ;) Don't worry about giving the older skeins away. I'm sure every stitcher would love to receive them. I know I would...
You could hang your overdyeds on a board with nails, the same way they are displayed in the LNS. Just an idea...

Daffycat said...

You are welcome, Julie. When I saw your lovely new stitchy place I just had to invite everyone over!

Thanks for the extra pictures...your floss storage is really cool.

Shelleen said...

I loved reading about your storage and thought what a great idea!

Kellie said...

Your DMC storage is perfect. I love the "out of the box" thinking that you did to make, well...a box. :)
That was a perfect way to include the cabinets you already have without having to invest in all new ones. I am looking for a new way to store overdyeds too. I am thinking about the Annie's Keepers, but I am not sure. One of the comments in your post has me thinking this may be a system that is hard to find in the long term.

Keep showing us more. I love to see how other stitchers/crafters organize. :)

Have a great weekend!

mbroider said...

Daffycat got me here:) and i have read so many of your previous posts too. Did you say long posts?I love the way you write!!

Take care
Sharmila

Juels said...

Older skeins of floss are just fine. If you get really old (like 40+ years), usually listed as vintage, check the paper covers (I'm talking cotton here). Some of the older glue can discolor the skeins. You can tell as the paper covers will be stiff and brittle to the touch.
I had some I bought on ebay listed as "vintage" and had this problem. I took off the labels, and washed the skeins in a mild soap in a basin, rinsed, rinsed again in vinegar, and a final water-only rinse. The vinegar rinse sat a while. Helped, but there are still areas of glue residue. Will try this process again at a later date. I only tried to save these skeins as this particular type of thread is no longer made (broder special or cotton broder) in certain sizes.
Sorry, I digress. I have embroidery thread from when I was in college (25+ years) and it is fine. I bet those to whom you give your older skeins to are thrilled! How thoughtful of you to do this for someone.

Alberta said...

Wow Julie, you certainly have a fabulous craft room to hold all that floss! Lucky you!ansest

Unknown said...

Wow, I am also jealous! You lucky, lucky girl! I am new to stitching and do not have a craft room or even a stitching place (I travel between the sitting and bedroom.) I just have three containers that hold all my stuff (including my current stitching). But that is fine for now . . . maybe one day when I win the lottery! lol

Meari said...

Nevermind! I found it, lol. I love the idea of making a box to attach to the wall and sliding the cabinets in. Your specialty floss container... I have one that looks like that, too - For brands I don't have many of. Hey, it works!

Sandy P said...

Hi, your flos storage is great! I also store my DMC in the bins but I put 4 colors in each one. I have 3 units of them and they aren't the same size so the box may not work but it's worth a try. I store my overdyed and Anchor floss in a 3 ring binders in baseball card pages. Works fairly well. I'm sure you inspired many of us, you have a good Hubby too. Thanks Sandy P.

Kathy A. said...

Wow, that is some floss storage. I love it. Everything so neat and organized. I wish I was that organized. I try but it doesn't come to that!

Terry said...

Found you through Meari's post today. lol

I love what you did with all your floss. Right now I have five or six of the floss storage bins that are at least 25 years old. Most of my floss is that old too lol.

I hope to someday take over my husband's "crap" room and make it my craft room. lol

Love your blog!

Erin said...

I put my overdyed similiar to what u do with your excess, i use half a recipe card to hold up the baggie and put the floss in it, have them organized by number and even have a chart in the box stating which ones I have

Niina said...

I must say I'm more than little jealous about your floss and storage system! I have bunch of DMC floss in big zip lock bag and it is afful to try find that one you are missing!

When I can and remember, I try to buy more from Ebay as it is really expensive here in Finland (about 1,3 dollars per skein) but saddly not all sellers sent to overseas.

I hope someday I will have my craft room!

Anja said...

Hi - I LOVE coming across a thinker and someone who cares about the details and being organised
I have lovely sets of thread that I have bought in anticipation of doing particular projects - all from just the best mag - http://www.jilloxtonxstitch.com/samples.htm
I keep each mag and threads in a set of staggered plastic drawers
My problem with the rest fo the threads is sunlight - your set of boxes are great but would fade over here or at sea as we will be off shore cruising for 5 yrs soon.
We bought a lovely wooden box for the shed recently that has doors which close out the sun
By using the same hooks as the shops you would be able to store all you have for each colour on each hook (no need then for boxes and bags and bog bags)just closing the door for the sun and the dust etc
The word verification wont show so hope this works
also not sure how to send pic so hope you know what i mean

Theresa said...

I have four of the "nuts and bolts containers to store my floss and I love them. I have the numbers on the drawers too and it works well. Theresa

Anonymous said...

for the over dyes I by the picture boxes from micheals and bought the alphabet index cards. I put crescent in one, weeks in another, sampler in another and an assorted on in another. My DMC is in a hand made cabinet. I should post it on my blog, maybe I will sometime this week. Maybe that will help you a bit for ideas.

Anonymous said...

for the over dyes I by the picture boxes from micheals and bought the alphabet index cards. I put crescent in one, weeks in another, sampler in another and an assorted on in another. My DMC is in a hand made cabinet. I should post it on my blog, maybe I will sometime this week. Maybe that will help you a bit for ideas.

Anonymous said...

That's really awesome, I have the same set up, mostly.....mine also are the nuts and bolts storage...used to get mine at Walmart....but was fortunate enough to buy a cabinet in a store that was closing....if you want to see photos please let me know.... I'm new to this, and will need a talk thur on how to post