A quick start to the week here, with a little “hack” for embroidery floss organization!
This is a terrific idea from Brenda, a reader who sent along some photos of how she’s been keeping her collection of DMC floss organized for some 30 years.
If you have a large collection of floss – say, a complete set of DMC – this would work great!
What we have here are plastic comb binding strips, with a tiny dowel cut to the width of a hanging file folder inserted in them. The skeins are hung on the comb ring (the rings retract to open). And the dowel is placed in a file folder box.
Brenda used pre-printed number labels that used to be sold for DMC, but you can always make your own labels on your computer or even hand-write them and cut them out of label paper.
You could also use a plastic file folder box (like the one that I used for the Annie’s Keepers floss organization system), to hang the combs, too. This would give you a handy carrying case.
For those who might have a plethora of hanging file folders lying about, I thought about the option of removing the metal slide hangers that are inside each side of a hanging file sleeve, to use in place of dowels to hold the combs. I’m not sure how great an idea that would be, as the metal slides are often sharp, and they might cut into the floss. It’s something worth checking if you have extra hanging file folders about.
Binding combs are sold at any office supply stores. You can generally find them in packages of 100 for around $8.00 – $10.00, which gives you lots of comb binders for hanging lots of floss!
Incidentally, you can hang more than one skein on each comb tooth, too, so when you have multiple skeins of the same color, you can put more than one (how many depends on the size of the binding comb) on each tooth.
I think this is a brilliant idea! It’s a compact way to store a hole collection of floss skeins neatly, so that they hang. Using a box that can close keeps the dust out. I’d probably opt for plastic over cardboard, depending on how long the floss would be stored and the climate conditions.
Other Articles on Floss Organization
If you’re looking for more ideas on how to organize and store floss, you might enjoy these articles:
Floss organization in cabinets
Organizing embroidery threads for large projects
Organizing thread using Annie’s Keepers
Thread Drops on Rings
Organizing a Whole Set of Silk in Binders
