What does William Morris have to do with organizing monograms and stitching samples? Well, I’m sure we could draw some kind of deep, meaningful tie, just by virtue of the fact that it’s embroidery, it’s arts & crafts, threads, fibers, what-have-you.
But the connection between my organizational methods for my upcoming bout of stitching and William Morris is hardly deep or profound or even meaningful.
But it’s one of those things that makes me happy, and because it makes me happy, I thought I’d tell you about it. Maybe this will lead to some further ideas on organizational methods, too.
Here’s the connection with William Morris and my organizational set-up for some current projects. They’re William Morris file folders, and I use them to sort and store the monogram designs I’m tackling.
I love these folders! Every time I look at them, they make me cheery! But I’ve always been a sucker for organizational supplies that are functional and pretty, especially if they have anything remotely to do with textiles.
When these were first given to me, I knew I would save them for something special. And when I started scanning, cleaning up, “vectorizing” my old monogram collections, the folders jumped off the shelf and straight into my hands and declared, “Use Us!”
And so I did.
I’m using my LightPad (I reviewed it a couple weeks ago) to trace the monograms on different weights and types of linen. The linen (which I rinsed and shrank using a hot-cold soaking sequence) is pre-cut to about 8″ squares, the edges are neatened, and then I spray starched the linen before tracing the letters with pencil.
The linen squares fit into the folders with the printed monogram patterns.
This set of transfers and monograms is not to be confused with this set of monogram projects already kitted up, which is hanging in my closet, also waiting for me to tackle.
The letters in the folders will be worked more or less in traditional techniques, with only a few types of stitches and very few colors, so I really don’t have to kit them up the same way that I kitted up the hanging kits. I don’t have to choose a whole color range for the letters, and I don’t intend to work every letter of each alphabet – just a few, in techniques that range from simple to more advanced. (Whew!)
As for embroidery design organization, I don’t organize all my designs in file folders like these. Normally, I use a letter size accordion file for letter-size designs and smaller that I’m currently working with (or plan to, in the near future). Some designs, I have in binders and some in larger, flat boxes. It just depends the types of designs, where I got them, how I intend to use them, how often I access them.
What about you? How do you organize your embroidery designs? Do you have a special system? File folders? Binders? Boxes? Sketchbook? I’d love to hear about it! Feel free to join in the discussion below!
And, by the way, if you are (like me!) a sucker for all things William Morris and you like pretty organizational supplies, the V&A webstore on Amazon stocks these William Morris folders. There are eight in a package, two of each design.
