I have a love/hate relationship with thread. I need the variety, really, because there is nothing more frustrating that having to drive to the store in the middle of a project just because I didn’t have enough thread. I want to have it when I need it, but that means I need a bunch on hand. And I need a way to keep them easily accessible and inventoried.
It’s always been a struggle. I used to just keep them in plastic boxes, but then that just gets out of control and it’s hard to tell what I have. Later I kept them in drawers. That system worked okay, divvied up by color and tucked away out of sight. But sometimes I wouldn’t notice that I’d used the last of the ecru or that I was dangerously low on the always-necessary black. Then one day I stumbled onto a new organization idea.
I’d had this little shelf sitting around for the longest time before realizing that it was totally usable! The thing had hung on my grandparents’ living room wall for years, but when my grandpa died, furnishings were weeded out and I snagged this shelf without a purpose in mind. I just liked the look of it, even when it was still wood-toned. But I had no idea what to do with it, so it sat there for (I’m ashamed to say) years. Until I realized it was good for piling thread into.
Leftover white enamel was used to paint it and I filled the diamonds with color. I love the way it brings something bright to the wall and makes it easy for me to keep track of which colors I have plenty of and which ones I need.
How do you organize your thread?
P.S. Someday I want my fabric organized like this.
