Saturday, November 21, 2009

New tools for the toolbox


I have some new tools for my embroidery/smocking toolbox. Thread charts for both DMC and Anchor flosses. I had always wanted one and when I saw Michie' Mooney post about the DMC chart on her blog, I took the plunge. I purchased the DMC chart first. When it came, I liked it so much, used it right away and declared right then I had to have the Anchor as well.



I prefer the way the Anchor card is set up, but am delighted to have both. It looks like a rainbow. And as I said, I have already used them on a project I have to keep secret for now. But it was such a delight. It doesn't take much to make me happy. (Contrary to what my husband and children might say.)

They are a bit pricey I guess, but so worth it in my opinion. I purchased the DMC card directly from them, but the Anchor card I could only find from a vendor on ebay. I paid about $25 for the DMC card and about $35 for the Anchor one.


Again a bit pricey, but very worth it. I can not tell you the number of times I have dug through my floss boxes, pulling out a half dozen or so at a time, trying to match colors to fabric. Above is how I store my floss.


In Floss Away bags. I started using these bags about 26 years ago, when I took my first smocking class at the Heirloom Shop in Pensacola FL. At the time, one of the few ways I had seen to store floss was by winding it on those bobbins. This wasn't going to work. First I had three tiny children, this process had disaster written all over it. Plus I didn't want my floss to have those kinks in it. Floss Away used to have storage boxes as well. Well I filled those two buddies up in a hurry.



When I could no longer stuff another single floss bag into the boxes I had, I found these scrapbooking storage boxes at Oriental Trading. The boxes measure 11 1/8" x 5 1/4" x 12 1/2", and come with dividers. I am able to get three rows of floss bags into each box. I have four of them, each of them labeled with the kind of floss. I haven't done the box that has the DMC Broder Medici yet. And that shot is as close as you are getting to  the inside of my stash closet. I don't tell everything I know.
I hope you are stitching on something beautiful.

6 comments:

  1. Interesting organization hint. Thanks.

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  2. Great idea! Thank you! I want those charts now.

    Now...back to smocking Tinkerbell for me.

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  3. Thanks guys. Everyone has their own system and this one works for me.
    Goosegirl, Tinkerbell, how cute will that be!

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  4. Very nice organizations tools. I need to have my whole life organized!

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  5. I have had the DMC chart for ages. Bought one years ago when it was set up a tad differently. Basically like pieces of the thread so you can lay them on the fabric. I kept it when the new one came out as it is still good to use that way. I need the anchor one but I do not have much anchor floss. I really want to start getting all the Lecien floss... sigh...

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  6. I high appreciate this post. It’s hard to find the good from the bad sometimes, but I think you’ve nailed it! would you mind updating your blog with more information? pop over to this web-site

    ReplyDelete

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