A Garden of Colors!
     Released September 25, 2009

by Judy McNuttI have a 10 spool thread rack for my machine, but sometimes I use colors more than once.  I’ve bought some small stemmed reusable garden row stakes and marked them with numbers. Then when I need to reuse a color, I insert the appropriately numbered stake in the spool - fewer mix up’s with colors!

Thread organizing

9 Comments »

1. Looks like a really nifty way to keep track of what goes where. I may try this one myself. I usually lined the spools up on the table next to me and left a space where a thread was to be used a second time. Not exactly foolproof, but it worked most of the time.

   Comment by quiltist — September 25, 2009 @ 2:25 pm

2. Great idea, thanks.

   Comment by pat — September 25, 2009 @ 8:18 pm

3. Great idea! I’m gonna try it

   Comment by Diane — September 26, 2009 @ 8:10 am

4. What do the numbers refer to, the numbers in a list, surely not the thread #!

   When I have a large number of colors in a design, I print a picture of it (template?) and write the actual thread # and use arrows to point to the specific section of the design.

   Both ways work-I just don’t have room for a lot of spools by my machine.

   Comment by Ginny Roby — September 26, 2009 @ 12:47 pm

5. Thank you for a great idea, I too usually just line up my thread, this will help keep them in order and keep my nerves from fraying.

   Comment by Claudia in Alabama — September 26, 2009 @ 2:22 pm

6. This will work nicely for my 4-needle embroidery machine, too, for when I have more colours than needles available in a design. (I reserve colour changes for Needle #4, as it’s easiest to rethread the one on the end of the row.) Great tip!

   Comment by Elfie B. Taylor — September 27, 2009 @ 3:11 pm

7. My handy hubby made be a long board with dowels spaced far enough apart to accomodate the largest spool I might use. I line up my colors on the dowels in the order I need them. I also print out the list of colors to double check as I go along. This board has space for eight colors, but I think I will ask him to make another one for larger projects.

   Comment by Beth — September 28, 2009 @ 10:47 am

8. Great idea. I use Styrofoam egg carton for my line ups and leave a space for the thread that will be reused. I will give yours a try as well …..Thanks for the tip..Frances

   Comment by Frances — September 28, 2009 @ 12:50 pm

9. Ginny - yes indeed, the numbers relate to the order of the color changes, not the thread numbers.

   Comment by Judy — October 1, 2009 @ 9:40 pm

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