Jan 032016
 

Day 1 of Patchwork Posse’s 30 Days of Sewing Room Organizing is thread storage. Easy enough, I already have my thread in drawers. But it occurred to me that my system could stand a fresh sorting-out. So I did.

threaddrawers1

Main thread drawer system. I dusted and rearranged the drawers, putting the heavy ones on the bottom. This rack is sold for holding papers for crafting, and it isn’t really rugged enough for thread, but I’ve used it for 4-5 years now and it hasn’t fallen apart yet [knock on wood]. The coil of plastic tubing underneath is waiting to be cut up to make bobbin clips.

 

threaddrawers2

I bought this particular drawer set because the drawers are the perfect height to hold my favorite thread, Essentials cotton from Connecting Thread. I buy more whenever it’s on sale, but after sorting my threads I think I may have enough for awhile – there are two more drawers this full.

 

threadbaggies

This drawer shows how I keep the bobbins with the thread they were wound from – at least for this thread. Snack baggies! Only catch is, these are Pfaff bobbins and I now have a Janome. So far I’ve used other threads in it, but I may have to start writing on the baggies to keep the bobbins straight.

 

 

threadbox

Also in one of the drawers was this box of hand quilting thread. I haven’t touched any of them in about 15 years, but I might take it up again one of these days. But secure in this thread box they didn’t need to be in the drawers so I stashed them on my shelves. That freed up a drawer that I put at the top of the set and use for a catch-all. It holds a few odd spools that don’t fit the system, plus a drop spot for whatever I’m currently using.

 

 

threaddrawers3

I bought this drawer set from Michaels when on sale, and ended up putting thread in it. Maybe someday I can reduce the thread stash and use these drawers for something else. Like more tops waiting for quilting.

 

 

threaddrawers4

These drawers don’t hold as many spools as the plastic ones. This thread I bought at a Ricky Tims Seminar about three years ago – and haven’t used yet. Surely I’ve got a project somewhere I can try them on!

 

 

threadracks

My old thread system is represented here – June Taylor wood racks. I like these (easy to see the thread) but found it hard to keep the bobbins with the threads. With taller pegs the bobbins could sit under the spools, but it didn’t work well on these racks. All these threads went into drawers.

 

 

threadracks empty

I emptied the racks (which will be put back to use someday), and got rid of the ratty old box they’d been sitting in.

 

 

drawers labelled

Then, in a final fit of organizing energy, I dug out my label-maker and labeled the plastic drawers.

Good thing both sets are on wheels – I still need to find a permanent home for them both in my studio.

 January 3, 2016  Posted by at 10:01 am Organizing and Decluttering