(*this embroidery floss organizer tutorial post contains Affiliate Links)
I have been working on organizing my craft room and wanted to store my embroidery floss in a pretty way. I was inspired by a couple of pictures on Instagram and loved how some creative people were not only storing their floss so it wouldn’t become a tangled mess, but had it out on display. I decided to make a framed DIY embroidery floss organizer so I would have somewhere to have my own embroidery floss rainbow.
I made my embroidery floss organizer to fit a little wall in the corner of my craft room, so keep that in mind when I share my dimensions- there is no real right or wrong size.
I used 1″ X 4″ boards to make the main body of the frame- not only did I have them on hand, but they are the perfect size for the clothespins I found. I used 1″ X 2″ boards to frame out the organizer. So, if you were going to purchase wood for this embroidery floss organizer project, you would probably spend $5 or less.
In addition to the wood you will also need clothespins, nails and paint. I found my clothespins at Walmart and the nails at Home Depot (you can probably find the nails at Walmart as well). But you can find similar clothespins and nails on Amazon. (affiliate links) I used acrylic paint I had on hand.
Cutting your Embroidery Floss Organizer:
6- 18″ pieces from the 1″X4″
2- 18″ pieces from the 1″X2″
2- 22 3/8″ pieces from the 1″X2″- measure the 6 1″X4″+ 2 1″X2″ together to get this length
*again, these are just the dimensions I used so it would fit the space I had, there’s nothing special about them.
Assembling your Embroidery Floss Organizer:
1- Paint all your wood pieces (I did not do this, and I wish I had, it’s much easier to paint them when they aren’t nailed together.
2- Line up the 1″X4″ pieces. I wanted to have a lip on the back of the frame, so I lined my boards on top of a thin piece of wood so it would be raised up a little bit- paint stir sticks would be perfect for this.
3. Line the top and bottom 1″X2″ pieces and nail into place.
4. Line up the sides of the frame and nail into each of the six boards.
Once your boards are all secure, it’s time to add the nails for hanging the clothespins. Make sure you have your clothespins on hand to determine exactly how they will fit on the board before you put any nails in. I started 1/2″ in from the side of the frame and then added 1 nail every 1″. I put the nails in 1/2″ down from the top of the 1″X4″ board before I checked how my clothespins would fit, only to find out that I should have put them 5/8″ down.
You can see on the top row where I had to take them out and move the nails down. I left the rest of the nails in place, although they are hanging a little higher on the board than I probably would have liked. So, don’t do like me- use your clothespins and determine how you want them to fit on the board- and THEN add the nails. It’s going to take a while. My board holds 108 skeins of floss.
To wrap the floss, I first wrote the color number on the bottom of the clothes pin. Then I pinched the end of the floss with the pin and wrapped away. When you get to the end of the skein, you can push the ends of the clothespin and it will open just enough to slip the loose end of the floss in to hold it in place.
I use the bottom row of my floss embroidery organizer to hold my pearl cotton. You can see that I need to get some reds but I’m pretty set on blues and greens. And obviously gray is a favorite too. Ha Ha.
If you have any questions – don’t hesitate to ask!
xoxo,
Amy
cghundley
February 23, 2017 at 5:21 pmTerrific idea and
looks so colorful
hanging on the wall.
Carla from Utah
Mihaela
August 4, 2018 at 4:49 pmThank you for sharing your beautiful & very practical idea!
StampwithBernie
August 4, 2018 at 4:51 pmI really like this–convenient and beautiful.
Jennifer
August 4, 2018 at 4:52 pmLove this. But I'm a little worried that my threads might get dusty left uncovered. Thoughts?
Unknown
February 2, 2019 at 4:08 amI was sitting here searching for embroidery floss storage all over the internet and came across your site. What a great idea and so darn pretty. Now I want to do this and I have just one question….what size is the clothpin? I checked Walmart and Amazon and darn so many different sizes of clothespins out there, had me laughing silly here. What length are the clothespins? For decades now it has been plastic bags which I can stand anymore and those tiny cardboard thingies……grrrr, drove me nuts at times. Now on to clothes pins hanging on my wall and becoming a showpiece ……Thank you a ton for sharing this with me and everyone else here.
Happy Holidays to you and a joyous New Year!Sherry
Please use this email account as the other one got hijacked and had to be closed………it is: [email protected]
Bailey Shirley
February 2, 2019 at 4:09 amLove this idea and it’s such a pretty/useful way to store all of your threads. The clothespins, were they just regular laundry sized pins or did you use a smaller size?