4 Methods for Re-Winding Embroidery Floss With Pros + Cons Explained
Does this look like a real-life picture of your embroidery floss collection?
If, so — this post is for you!
As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. Thank you for your kind support!
In this post, I review the 4 best methods for wrapping your embroidery floss and why they’ll work for you. I also review the pros and cons for using floss straight from the skein versus the various re-winding options. Keep reading to find out which method will work best for you and your organizational style - from low effort to the true anal retentive!
Take Control of Your Floss
When I got serious about my embroidery journey, one major item I struggled with in the beginning was how to organize my floss collection. And to be fair, I’m still working on it! I know I’m not the only person that struggles with this, and my hope is that by reading this post, you will be able to decide which method is best for you.
Considerations
One major topic to consider when making the choice to organize your floss involves examining how you typically work. Below I examine some questions about the way you embroider. If you’re new to embroidery, take your best guess as to what you imagine you will be doing.
Do you travel with your projects? If so, you would probably prefer a storage method that makes it easy to take your floss on the go, and then to also re-organize once you’re back home. If you’re amenable to re-winding your floss, I recommend doing so to prevent tangling. Re-winding also takes up the least amount of space, which is usually a commodity on-the-go.
Do you typically work from patterns that require specific colors? If this is you, I would recommend grouping your floss by color group, then by specific color based on DMC’s Thread Guide, or an Anchor floss guide, depending on which floss brand you use. This way of working will require more organization and upkeep in the long-run.
Do you create your own unique designs and choose floss based on color group? This describes the way I work as an original embroidery artist, and because of this, I’ve decided to organize my floss in a way that is somewhat of a middle ground between the previous 2 methods described. I organize my floss by color group and leave it at that.
After considering how you typically work, the second major item for consideration is whether to leave your floss on the skein or to re-wind it.
To Re-Wind, or Not To Re-Wind, That is the Question
I don’t know what it is about skeins, but we just don’t get along! Once I finally figured out the correct way to pull the floss, it got better . . . but not by much! Somehow I still manage to get my skeins into a huge knotted mess. And let me tell ya - much cursing is usually involved.
If you’re trying to decide whether to re-wind your floss or not, here are the pros and cons as I see them.
To Re-Wind
Pros
Less tangling when taking floss on-the-go; Floss on bobbins can be thrown into a Ziploc bag or put onto a binder ring (although you can also not re-wind your floss and take them on-the-go using the bag method, discussed later on)
Easier to organize neatly because the floss is more contained, as opposed to a loose skein, which can become unraveled and unruly over time
Easier to see all color options in one glance
Cons
Takes time to re-wind the floss
Requires additional supplies such as bobbins, popsicle sticks, clothespins, or stitch bows to wind the floss onto
Not To Re-Wind
Pros
Zero time spent re-winding, duh!
Can be taken on-the-go as well, but I recommend putting the skeins into Ziploc bags or using Floss-A-Way bags with a binder ring to avoid tangling
Cons
Floss tangles more easily
Storage methods are more limited
More difficult to see color options, as you will likely have to sift through a bin or drawer to see all your colors
For those who like to work straight from the skein as-is – more power to ya! But for those of us who can make a skein turn into a knot just by looking at it, I recommend re-winding. Yes, it takes some time to do so, but it’s so totally worth it in the end. If you do choose to re-wind your floss, keep reading to learn about the different re-winding options.
4 Floss Re-Winding Methods
Bobbins
This is my preferred method, mainly because I can 3-D print bobbins at home. And this is great because I need A LOT of them! This method is great for those who travel with their projects, as you can put them directly onto binder rings. I can keep my floss organized for each project I’m working on by using multiple rings.
Clothespins
This method is super cute, and if I hadn’t already decided on bobbins a long time ago, I would choose this as my next favorite method. The main advantage for this method is that the clothespins can hold the loose end of your floss so you will never get tangled floss. However, they are bulkier than a bobbin or popsicle stick. These will not be as easy to take on-the-go, but they do make a beautiful way to display your floss in your craft room. You can either use pushpins to string up the clothespins across a corkboard, or you can use a framed piece of wood with nails organized in rows.
Popsicle Sticks
This method is probably the cheapest re-winding option, and they can also be quite cute. However, there is no real way to fasten the loose ends of your floss, unless you take the extra steps outlined in this post by Wild Olive. Overall, this is a simple, cheap, and effective method for storing floss.
Stitch Bows
This is the priciest method on the list, as not only do you need to purchase the stitch bows, but you will likely also want to purchase the binder pages specific to the stitch bow method. However, if money is an abundant resource for you, this is quite a low effort method for storage. Rather than re-winding the floss onto the bow, you simply straighten out the skein of floss and slip it onto the flexible bow. The bows also have notches for tucking in the loose ends of floss. One drawback, however, is that these have the largest footprint over any of the other methods discussed and will be more difficult to travel with.
Conclusion
All of these floss winding options are viable, but keep in mind, they will directly impact which storage method you choose. In my next post, we discover the various storage methods that will work with your preferred floss re-winding (or non-winding) method!
