Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Thread System

How do you arrange your thread?  Is it convenient?  My daughter has hers in a cupboard on the other side of the room (at least it was when I was last there).  I have seen studios where a spool of thread does not appear out in polite company.  I have seen studios where spools of thread line the walls.  I even built myself a thread holder 30 years ago that held my Coats and Clark spools on the wall above my sewing machine.  I didn't need much then for clothing construction so it wasn't very big, but I had a 4' x 8' cutting table.  Now I have no cutting table because the ironing board will do, but I have become a thread-aholic with no wall space.

My thread is organized by type (cotton, polyester, silk) and to some extent by brand (Isacord, Bottom Line).  They reside in thread boxes purchased at big box stores.  Unfortunately, one box does not fit all so I have four or five boxes of differing sizes.  I know where everything is, usually, but these boxes are a pain to get into when I am engulfed in a quilt leaking out everywhere from under the sewing machine.  I continue to check out storage options whenever I am out.  Will there ever be a perfect system?

My biggest complaint is that there is no way to store bobbins with their individual thread spools.  The spool holders in boxes designed for thread are too fat to hold a bobbin.  Even the cute, folding, wooden spool holders at Joann's have no place to put a bobbin with the appropriate thread.  Besides, I have no room for one of those.  Thus, in addition to finding my thread, I have to hunt through my bobbin donuts, which I try to separate by donut color denoting thread type, but those sneaky bobbins are gregarious with all thread cultures and get mixed up anyhow.

I haven't solved all the storage problems, but I designed a thread holder for temporary use, which sits on the ironing board next to the sewing machine.  It holds thread and bobbin together so I can easily find what I need for the current project.  Of course, this holder is too tall for any of the plastic boxes, but I may be able to work on that.  Back to the drawing board!  For Isacord cones you can purchase a base, which locks the cones down and fits nicely by twos in a storage box, but can come out to play when desired.

My temporary thread system
Do you have any great ideas for storing thread spools and bobbins together?  I am open!

Sew a happy seam this week.

10 comments:

  1. I keep my bobbins with the thread using a rubber band like this: http://threadsmagazine.assets.tauntonnet.com/assets/uploads/posts/24482/BobbinsRubberBands_lg.jpg Added bonus, it tends to keep the thread from unraveling off the bobbin.

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    1. Great idea. I'll have to get some rubber bands. Thank you.

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  2. I just use three different bobbin towers (the kind that look almost like little trees with the "branches" on each level that hug a bobbin). Two are for cotton thread bobbins, divided by the 50 wt. and the 40 wt. bobbins. The third is for my non-cottons. That division works great for me. Each tower can hold 30 bobbins. They're usually sufficient for me.

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    1. Those look nice, and you can see everything easily. Thanks.

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  3. I keep mine in the double side plastic container and for the bigger threads in the wide containers and keep in a cabinet. I live in a very dusty area and also a lot of humidity because we keep the evaporator cooler on all summer so I keep everything behind doors. I have a lot of threads too. But it works for me.

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    1. Yes, those are nice. I keep my Bottom Line and silk in one of those, I may have to invest in another.

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  4. I've a large set of drawers that are coloured and all my threads have been placed in the appropriate colour drawer. My bobbins are kept in small boxes in each drawer. It's not a perfect system but it works for me, so far

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    1. I love that idea, but no space. I just took out the dresser to give myself more room.

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  5. I keep my cones and bobbins of one color in a baggie. Then, I tuck the cool colors in one box, the warms in another, and the neutrals go in a little card filing cabinet thing that has two drawers. The boxes stay in a cupboard. Works for me!

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    1. Thanks for sharing. I am loving all the neat ways that people have come up with to solve this thread problem.

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