This month our friends at Aurifil have asked the artisans to share their tips and tricks for thread organisation. I honestly thought long and hard about this challenge - and whether I'd actually submit a post this month.
Do you watch reels on instagram of beautiful sewing rooms. Fabulously organised shelves of fabrics with scraps organised in smaller tubs. A place for rotary cutters and a place for rulers. A beautiful peg board with my threads hanging in a visually appealing way. Everything looking neat and pretty and having a place where it belongs.
My sewing room feels like it's the opposite of the instagram reals. Hah! It's not very organised and right now, it's especially messy. But you know what? My threads are all organised, in their own way. And best of all, it works for me.
Lets begin with the 50wt and 40 wt threads (with a few 28wt thrown in for good measure).
I keep the colourful ones in a large clear plastic tub (with a lid). I don't use a lot of different colours in my general sewing, but years ago, when I first discovered Aurifil thread in the gorgeous
Aurifil Thread Storage Cases, I had to buy a bunch of them.
I keep the neutral/everyday colours in an easier to access basket. I don't usually sew with white thread, unless my quilt has a lot of white in it. I keep the cones in there too. My new Juki will be more accepting of cones with it's thread spool holder, than my previous machines.
I tend towards light grey, cream or a greenish colour. These three are my favourite
Aurifil 50wt cotton threads and my most used colours for piecing.
Next we move onto my favourite thread weight which is the 12wt cotton. In saying this, I recently had the pleasure of working with some of the new 8wt thread by Aurifil and it is an absolute delight! Keep an eye out for all of the artisan projects using 8wt thread, in the coming weeks.
I fell in love with 12wt a few years ago when I really got into big stitch hand quilting. It is the thread which I've used on all of my hand quilted quilts for the past few years. Sometimes I even used it for hand embroidery (think quilt labels) or machine stitching for extra delicious texture on a project.
The reasons I love this 12wt thread so much are then easy needle threading, a beautiful range of colours, gorgeous sheen and thread strength. I can hand quilt and then still pull the knots through to bury within my batting without fear of the thread snapping.
I tend to use all different colours in my hand quilting because they all work so well with my scrappy quilts. I have a couple of boxes of designer collections which I like to keep seperate from the big plastic tub - mainly to keep them looking pretty and organised. How gorgeous is this
Glorious Kantha set Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy!?!?
I have a collection of Aurifloss which I bought for myself, a few years ago, when I used to do a lot more embroidery. All of the little wooden spools sit so nicely in this basket - although I have to pull out the spools of thread to see which is which.
Last but not least is my small collection of Aurifil 80wt cotton thread. These are my needle-turn applique heroes. I keep these in a small fabric basket which normally lives in the top drawer of my side table beside my sewing chair. It's the drawer that holds all of the extra packets of needles, glue sticks, frixion pens and assorted bits & pieces for the sewing room.
I have this beautiful set of Aurifil
80wt thread by Aussie designer Sarah Fielke, which I like to keep in it's box, so that it stays nicely organised. This was a set which I received last year from Aurifil for an artisan project. I have since used almost every colour when appliqueing a scrappy EPP quilt (I'll share once it's published in Homespun magazine, later in the year).
So there we have it - this is how I organise my Aurifil thread. I keep it sorted by thread weight, by set and sometimes by neutral/colour.
Now it's your turn to let us know, how do you organise your thread?
Do you have a beautifully organised system?
Do you keep thread sorted by weight / colour?
Well I have a lot of old Sylko threads, some mine but most inherited from my Mother and I kepp them in the sewing box which I also inherited from Mum. Machine embroidery threads are stored by colour in Ferrero Rocher clear plastic boxes. Hand embroidery threads are also stored by colour in plastic boxes. Works for me. x
ReplyDeleteOne of my sewing friends loves Ferrero Rocher chocolates and collects the plastic boxes as her excuse to eat them. Sounds like a great way to store your threads - whatever works, right? Enjoy your week :)
DeleteWhat a beautiful thread collection! My threads live in a drawer of my sewing machine cabinet specifically designed to hold Auriful spools. I try to keep them grouped by colour, but they sometimes rearrange themselves randomly…. Gail at the cozy quilter.
ReplyDeleteYou made me laugh! Yes, they do sometimes rearrange themselves randomly. They must do it through the night while we sleep :)
DeleteBeautifully organized? Maybe not, but I do like to keep my threads separated by weight, like you do. I like your idea of separating the neutrals out. I'm also always curious what people like to machine piece with, so I'm going to look up your colors. Thanks so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWhatever works for us, right? Now I just wish the rest of my sewing space was as organised as my thread collection. Hah!
DeleteI like to see what everyone else uses too. It will be lots of fun seeing everyone's thread organisation challenge this month.
What a lovely collection you have. I have a set of small drawers beside my sewing machine that my Dad made dividers for, so my threads are kept in some sort of order. I use heaps of colours for machine blanket stitch appliqué. Sadly, I cannot buy Aurifil locally, so have very little.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great way to stay organised Janice. Aurifil isn't easy to find in Australia, but if you're interested in checking it out, Amitie in VIC have it available.
DeleteI've been in your sewing room and it is very organised and oh so pretty with all the colours everywhere, I think I need me some Aurifil threads in the 80 weight and 12 weight I just need to find where to buy them
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's been a while and the room is in desperate need of re-organising... or just more flat surfaces. Hah!
DeleteWow! What a beautiful collection of thread! I have a small selection of Aurifil which I keep in three colour coordinated baskets in my sewing cupboard-away from sunlight! While some sewing rooms show thread racks with beautiful rows of thread, I’ve heard sunlight deteriorates it!
ReplyDeleteI'd not heard about sunlight affecting thread, but it makes absolute sense. I guess it's like keeping fabric on shelves in direct sunlight - after a while they develop fade lines. Hope you have a fab week!
DeleteI think your sewing room looks pretty good when I see it on zoom...........I would hate to be insta perfect anyway..........love the pics of all the threads......
ReplyDeleteThanks Chooky. The sewing room is just off the kitchen/dining room so it ends up being the place where everything goes when I ask anyone to clear off the table.
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