Up until recently, all of my cross stitch supplies were “organised” in one large storage box.
Cross stitch floss was in a tangled messy ball. Cross stitch patterns were folded up in one large pile. And everything was hidden beneath multiple cross stitch books.
This suited me fine while I was working on various cross stitch kits. But now that I’m working on my own cross stitch calendar from a pattern and not a complete kit, it took me forever and a day to find the different coloured threads I needed.
In case I’m not the only one with this problem, here are the simple cross stitch organisation ideas I’ve come up with for storing both cross stitch floss and patterns… safe to say I will NEVER go back to that tangled ball of mess I had before!
How To Organise Cross Stitch Floss: Simple Ideas You Can Do Today
Compartment Boxes / Mini Drawers
Compartment boxes or mini drawers (like this set by Really Useful Box) are useful for storing your threads by colour.
The drawers / compartments are big enough for at least ten skeins of floss, and because the compartments are clear, you can easily see where all your different coloured threads are.
As I have a fair sized stash of cross stitch threads, I also had to separate some of my colours into lights and darks such as light pinks and dark pinks.
To make it even easier for me to go straight for the colours I need, I organised the drawers into the colours of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink and purple with “boring” colours like creams, tans, browns and greys at the bottom (organised from light to dark).
Plastic Zip Wallets
For those of you with duplicate skeins and a much larger stash than me, another way to organise your cross stitch floss is with plastic zip wallets and storage boxes.
Simply add a sticky label to each wallet to note the skein number and order the wallets by number within storage boxes for easy skein hunting!
Thread Organiser Cards
If you’re working on a large cross stitch project, or you’re travelling with your cross stitch and don’t want to carry bulky skeins around with you, then thread organiser cards like these ones are perfect for you.
Simply tie a bunch of thread to the card, make a note of each skein number on it and you’re good to go!
Bobbin Boxes
If you’re like me, then you probably also have a bunch of leftover cross stitch floss from previous projects, which are no longer in their skeins.
I used an old bobbin box I had lying around for these, which I’ve also organised by the colours of the rainbow and have popped this box on top of the compartment drawers.
DIY Cross Stitch Floss Organisers
Another way to organise your cross stitch floss (particularly if they’re no longer part of a skein) is with organisers you can tie your floss around.
Although you can buy them, you could also make your own by cutting out small rectangles from old cereal or cardboard boxes.
The great thing about this organisation method is that the card won’t be bulky and so you can easily fit a lot of thread in a compartment box like these ones.
Cross Stitch Pattern Storage Ideas
Ringbinders & Folders
The simplest way to store your cross stitch patterns is with ringbinders and folders.
If you’ve got lots of patterns, you could even go as far as making each ringbinder or folder a different theme (e.g. all your cake cross stitch patterns in one and all your travel-inspired patterns in another).
You could also store finished cross stitch pictures in your ringbinders as well to keep them flat and protected in the plastic wallets.
Plastic Zip Wallets and Clip Hangers
Something else I’ve seen others do is hanging plastic zip wallets full of cross stitch patterns from small clip hangers, which is a great way of repurposing hangers if you get given them when buying new clothes!
We hope you find these ideas helpful!
Do you know of any other simple cross stitch organisation ideas? Let us know in the comments…
Was this helpful? Share it around now!
Leave a reply