Keeping track of all the colours

I have not embroidered much in my life, but when my mother i law showed me a book she had bought, featuring various animal motifs, I was hooked. The book was in French, but it didn’t matter as the patterns were easy to follow. I searched the net, and eventually found an American net shop selling this and several other absolutely fantastic books (see “The French Needle” under My Favourite Net Shops). I bought several books, and they did not disappoint me. In particular, I fell in love with a book with patterns of Beatrix Potter’s pictures.

When I started to sew, I soon discovered that things got very messy, and it was difficult to find the right colour. I also had a tendency to loose the wrapping where the colour number was written. Furthermore, I only used one of six strands of thread, so I had a lot of loos threads lying around. It was obvious that something had to be done.

To better organize my sewing projects, I quilted a little folder. It had pockets for each colour, a place for my scissor and a pocket to put the pattern and embroidery. The thread pockets were made so it fitted the floss bobbins, and I could see the colour and colour number. I found the floss bobbins in a British net shop (see “Sewandso” under My Favourite Net Shops), where they also sold boxes to store the floss bobbins, threads and patterns. To decorate the folder, I made one of the patterns in the Beatrix Potter book, of a tailor mouse.

The folder is working well, and I have full control over loose treads, it is easy to find the right colour and it is easy to bring my sewing projects with me while travelling.