Cross-Stitch Patterns | Supplies | Instruction

Cross Stitching Photos

If you’re a weekend crafter like me, you probably have a lot of crafting odds and ends laying around that get all jumbled together depending on what project you’re working on at the moment.

Over the years, I have found several ways to organize my craft and sewing supplies in a way that I can actually find them again when I need them. As I went through the process of organizing them, I was able to identify items I no longer needed and separate the remaining items into logical groups. As a result, I now have all my supplies limited to one corner of a room and well organized. Now I can find things when I need them.

When I first started sorting through all my supplies everything was thrown together in a lot of cardboard boxes up in a hard-to-reach closet. The first thing I did was dump each box into a big pile and start sorting. My piles were: lace, trim, buttons, quilting supplies, cross stitch supplies, ribbon roses, fabric scraps, craft books, and misc.

I first discarded the odds and ends I knew I’d never use again. I then bought two very large Rubbermaid containers (great for stacking) to store my supplies in. You may need more depending on how many supplies you have accumulated. I also bought some gallon-sized Ziploc bags.

I sorted through all the lace and trim and put lace in one Ziploc bag and trim in another. The ribbon roses went in another. I put all the buttons in a plastic container with different compartments–sorted by color. All these items, plus other misc. like styrofoam balls, contact paper, plastic canvas, went into one Rubbermaid container.

All my quilting and cross stitch supplies (mostly fabric scraps and cross stitch fabric) went into the second container.

All my unfinished projects went into a cardboard box, and all my yarn for plastic canvas projects went into another.

The containers and boxes stack on top of each other and fit nicely underneath a small square “craft table” I have set up in the corner of my home office. It’s all out of the way and everything is easily identified.

On top of the table I keep little projects I’m working on, like cross stitch, or photo albums for working on scrapbooks. My embroidery thread is organized by DMC number in plastic containers made for storing embroidery thread. These containers are also stacked on the table.

My sewing machine thread is organized on a small wooden board with small spindles you can buy that is designed to hold spools of thread. My sewing machine sits on the floor next to the craft table while not in use.

Next to my craft table is a stand-alone cupboard that is sold as a pantry cupboard that you can probably find at Walmart for about $100. In the cupboard I store a lot of multipurpose items like my glue guns, all kinds of glue, paper, scissors, and all of my scrapbooking supplies. This cupboard works great for items other family members also use a lot, like tape and scissors. My paper cutter and long stapler are stored on top of the cabinet.

I also have several bookcases in my office, and I use a couple of shelves on one of them for organizing my craft and sewing books. The books are organized by craft type.

All of my small sewing supplies I keep in a couple of small sewing baskets that I can move with me from room to room. In these I keep sewing needles, embroidery scissors, measuring tape, pins, seam ripper, etc.

Hopefully these ideas will help you get in the mood to start organizing your own craft and sewing supplies. It’s so much more enjoyable to work on projects when you know what you have and where everything is.

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the author of What’s for Dinner?, an e-cookbook containing more than 250 quick easy dinner ideas. For more recipes, gardening, organizing tips, home decorating, holiday hints, and more, visit Creative Homemaking at http://www.creativehomemaking.com.

Not Your Mama’s Stitching $9.93 A one-of-a-kind contemporary guide to trendy stitching We take stitching where it’ s never been and offer up projects that are absolutely hip and will leave friends and coworkers green with envy. Designs range from the ridiculously simple to the sublimely complex for adorning homes, clothes, and accessories. This is the only resource where readers can learn a variety of stitching crafts that are enjoying a huge resurgence, including embroidery, crewel, punchneedle embroidery, and cross-stitch. Created for savvy crafters who want to skip tedious explanations and get right to cool projects, this book features a fun two-color design, easy-to-follow instructions, variations for customizing items, and a 16-page four-color section with photos of all the projects. Kate Shoup Welsh (Indianapolis, IN), a devoted beader and stitcher, has written or cowritten several books, including Not Your Mama’ s Beading (0-471-97380-7). She has also cowritten and starred in a movie and worked as a sports editor.

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Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art $18.23 One of today’’s most innovative quilt artists reveals her trademark techniques in published form for the first time–complete with step-by-step exercises. C. June Barnes’’s unique method of creating quilts in neutral fabric and then dyeing them has revolutionized quilt art. Similarly, her work on texture and particularly distortion (through shrinkage) of the surface has taken quilt design to a new level. She discusses it all here, from coloring to embellishing, plus fun projects. Fantastically illustrated with photos of the finished pieces, as well as drawings and illustrations of the methods, this is a book no quilter should be without!

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SWING SIENNA FRAME F/2-4X6 PHOTOS,BLACK $22.46 Sienna frames are made with a rich aristo-grain bonded leather finely crafted with simple, contrast stitching, and a textured fabric back.

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