One of The Best Things I’ve Ever Bought. Whoa: A Purchase I Don’t Regret!

I bought this about 10 years ago, I think. I’d kind of semi-wanted it for years before that but couldn’t really figure out how I’d use it. Plus it was kind of spendy--$19.99? $29.99? Some amount that seemed steep for something I wasn’t sure I’d ever use.

But then there was a 50%-off coupon, and you know how that goes:  it’s Saturday. The coupon expires in an hour. You’re wandering, dazed, up and down the aisles, trying to find something you want, determined that you ARE going to use that damn coupon even if the only thing remotely useful you can find is a single spool of thread. Hence = me in the thread section.
And I saw these and thought, “Thank you, jesus:  something I don’t hate.”
‘Cause you know some days are like that:  everything you see in the store makes you want to poke out your eyeballs to keep from having to look at such ugly, useless, cheaply-made crap.
It’s been the most useful thing I’ve ever bought. Seriously. Right up there with estrogen and 52 pair of cheap reading glasses.

Now, I have drawers and drawers of embroidery floss, all organized by color. But sometimes that whole “organized by color” thang is a little deceiving. There are some colors that could conceivably go in with the browns, but they could also almost go in with the peaches. In fact, I have a drawer labeled: “Peaches & Salmons & Cinnamons & Other Edibles,”

because I really don’t know what I’d call some of those colors. So instead of hunting through those drawers for the right color for something, I can pull out the book, check out the colors, pick the one I want and then go find it. By looking at the sample in the book, surrounded by its brethren, I can tell where I have it stored.
But that’s not the most useful thing! I can use this book to match things other than thread. Say I’m working on something purple, and I want to appliqué green on it, but I’m not sure what shade of green will POP on that particular purple. I could go out the storage building and pull out all my green fabric and audition it, but it’s way easier to pull out the book and lay the purple next to all the greens. If I find one that’s perfect, I can take a skein of that thread out to the FE and find a green to match it. Or not. In which case I can take a piece of that thread to the fabric store. Or, if I’m really feeling industrious, use it to help me match a dye batch.


Having all the colors laid out like that makes it easy to lay a piece of fabric alongside them and look at the possibilities. It’s right there next to the floss, easy to reach. It keeps me from having to have all my fabrics or all my threads all neatly organized. Oh, sure, it would be fabulous to have a system like the one for quilting thread that’s in the newest issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Studios—I mean, “WOW!”—a custom-designed thread rack!—but that’s not going to happen. I keep regular sewing thread in three drawers:  neutrals (includes colors for jeans), hots, and cools. Here’s the hots:

Not much thread, as I don’t do a ton of machine sewing.
Here’s another drawer of floss:

I dream of having an actual embroidery floss case, with a little bin for each color, just like Michael Aaron McAllister--I’d be so very happy!
Check out his studio and floss organizer. Whoa.
Of course, I’d use only about a dozen of them. #166 green, #552 purple. You know. I have a drawer full of browns and tans, but how often do I even THINK about those colors? Eh.
If you love color and ever use any thread or fabric for anything at all, I really recommend getting one of these. You know that coupon is burning a hole in your wallet right this minute, anyway.