Floss Organizing System ??

Well now I'm replying to my own post.....please forgive, but I found a better one on a different search...this one os smaller but more movable from the same company...

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You do know that you can buy the DMC numbers preprinted..... C

That's what I'm using. Unfortunately the little critters refuse to put themselves on the bobbins and insist that I assist them. Then they decide to gravitate too far to the left or right.

I'm getting there. I'm nearly done with green and then there's only a few more browns, beiges and gray, plus of course black and white which I might just keep in a baggie. That will depend on just how tired I am of winding.

Are you starting to see how nice they look though ? At least it is a one time job ! Keep going. There are three whites now aren't there ? So they should be on bobbins RDH

Yes--they do look nice and I can finally see exactly what I've got.

Some friend!! You really had to remind me of the three whites didn't you? lol

Now go on and tell me there are 4 blacks and I'll catch you and floss you.

I really find it easier to label with a sharp-pointed Sharpy, *before* I put the floss on the skein. There is a gizmo for winding the floss, but I find it quicker to do it by hand.

Gill

Three of the Darice boxes that I bought came with a bobbin winder. I tried it and found that doing it by hand is way quicker. I also can wind by hand anywhere, anytime and in any upright position. I'm now the proud owner of three useless bobbin winders. If they were going to give me a freebie I wish they had given me some extra plastic bobbins. I bought all the ones they had in Michaels the day I was there but I ran out and rather then wait for more to come in I'm just using the cardboard ones that came in the boxes, but they aren't nearly as good. I think I'll buy a few more packages to keep in stash and as I use up a color I'll use the plastic ones for replacement.

Come to think about it I'll bet I could wind them lying down and possibly in my sleep after doing this for the last few days. lol

You don't have to finish it today.... C

Yes I do!!! Not that I'm compulsive or anything like that !!! For real, I'm kind of sick of seeing the whole mess on top of the counter. It stares at me with it's little round eyes and keeps whispering--finish me, finish me. There's also the fact that friends of mind call me a "neat freak." I wonder why ???? lol

I have a whole bunch of skeins unwound. I don't actually wind my skeins on bobbins until after I've used them the first time. Then winding becomes part of putting the floss away when the project's done. I find it more bearable that way.

Elizabeth

That's most probably what I'll do from here on in. I started this project because space is a problem for me and the bobbins are more compact.

I hope to just replace a color on a bobbin as it's used up. I'm finding lots of duplicates because I was always too lazy to go through all the skeins to find a color and just bought a new one. I'm more careful with the specialty threads first because they're so much more expensive, but mostly because they aren't available in any local shop and need to be special ordered.

Lucille

I leave a spit of thread on the bobbin before replacing. I still have a clump of unwound, extra skeins of thread to go through and that remnant thread on the bobbin makes spotting the extra skein quicker before I buy still yet another duplicate.

I like the new extra-fine point sharpies for labelling the bobbins although with practice getting the tiny stickers on gets better..

Anyone else remember decades ago the "all the DMC colors" ads on the backs of the stitching magazines? My husband bought for me and it came not as full skeins of DMC but as a couple of yards of each color wound in numerical order (unlabeled) on one large card. I was so incredibly paranoid I was going to get them out of sequence, tangled, etc. At least he was thinking of my interests with the gift, but I was rather grinning-and-bearing-it trying to get through all the bobbin winding without error or having a color shoplifted by a conniving kitty. Pre-internet days without easy access to DMC color charts online. I was really thrilled having all the DMC colors (particularly with some of the patterns in those days calling for hundreds of colors at one time and sometimes only a strand or two) but wound up with a lot of duplicate skeins because I couldn't remember which bobbins were full skeins and which might only be a tiny bit of a color.

Mentioning the ads made me think of maybe mid 90s when DMC added several new colours. I have always thought of them as 'mutant' colours, they never look right, don't think I have used any of them. I bought them only because there was a deal on buying the complete pack and I think one gets somewhat anal about having the collection totally complete !

Which ones were those? There's a really disgusting moss green I was glad to see go in the clearance bin. . .

They are the last ones they added - I don't think there have been more.

I think the ad did blare "includes new 90+ newcolors".

Just a handful of years back there were new colors added to DMC line (filled in some missing purple, blue and green shades predominantly) -- most of these new ones were numbered in the 100s and I think there were about 3 assorted numbered ones. The lack of the blue/green/purple shades was why Marilyn created here Needlepaints threads.

Outside the U.S. they discontinued one color number (here in US Just CrossStitch magazine created a panic in one of their opening pages) and that's why one of the skeins now has normal number and discontinued number in parentheses. At least that's the last I heard.

I do. I ordered it and suggested that bobbining it was within DH's (that's D for Dumb) capabilities.

I don't know if he was being obstreperous because he didn't want to do anything to help me or if he really was too dense to read the instructions (which said "start with white" and numbers follow in ascending order), but he started at the 3799 end and didn't label the bobbins. Fortunately, he gave up after a couple dozen.

A few years ago, Kim from Fabrics2U was offering a special, her DD would bobbin your floss for a couple cents a skein. I got her DD to do it right and even to match up the unlabelled bobbins to the color chart to label them. Best money I ever spent. :)

I know this is a super-old thread but I'm jumping into it anyway.

I used to use the bobbins which were great for space-saving but frankly a P ITA to sit there winding them. Now I use the Floss Away ziplocs, I write th e DMC number on the top edge. But I don't store them on the rings which I f ind rather cumbersome to store. Instead I 'file' the ziplocs in clear stack able shoe-type boxes (perfect width), in numerical order, and the boxes are marked on the fronts with the run of color numbers inside. At the end of t he DMCs, I have a "miscellaneous" section of other brands, etc. When I star t a project, I go through and pull the colors I need, and I loop those zipl ocs onto a ring to easily carry around with the project. When I'm done I ju st re-file them. Also when I run out of a color, I pull the empty bag and p ut it in my purse to remind me to buy more.

I do keep a DMC color card too, the colors checked off that I have, which I also carry with me so I can pick up missing ones, esp. if there's a good s ale somewhere.

Just my two cents, FWIW. Cindi

funny how things come around..... I recently bought some Floss-Away bags and just completed putting my Anchors threads in them. I got some smaller rings from Home Depot and have 10 bags on each ring; stored in a plastic box; shoved under the bed. Now I have to sort and 'bag-away' my DMC threads...

Rich