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Spring Clean Your Cross Stitch Stash
- jennifersewell2
- Mar 30
- 6 min read
Spring is very definitely here now. The daffodils are blooming at Warkworth Castle, the blossom is making it’s appearance at Saltwell Park. It’s the perfect time for a little spring cleaning, but this time, we’re talking about your cross stitch stash! So many of you tell me you have half finished projects lying around making you feel like you can’t get on and enjoy the projects you really want to do. Let’s fix that shall we?!
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced stitcher, organising your cross stitch supplies is the perfect way to refresh your crafting space, make stitching easier, and get inspired for your next project. In this post, I’ve brought together a few simple steps to organise your cross stitch stash, tidy up your craft room, and make it easier than ever to start new projects. So, grab your supplies, let’s get organised and make your cross stitch space sparkle!
OK, let's get started!
1. Clear out your crafting space ready for a fresh start
Before diving into the nitty-gritty of sorting, the first thing you need to do is clear out your cross stitch area so can see everything you have.
Clear out: Remove all the WIPs (works in progress) and take everything out of your drawers, baskets, and shelves then lay them out where they can be easily seen. You may be surprised by all the supplies you’ve forgotten about!
Give everything a quick clean: Once you’ve cleared out your supplies, take a few minutes to wipe down your storage shelves and clean your craft room. It’s amazing how much dust threads can cause! A clean, fresh space will instantly make your crafting experience more enjoyable!
2. sort and organise your threads
Nothing clutters your cross-stitch stash faster than tangled, unidentifiable threads! It’s time to untangle those strands and organise your collection.
Goodbye tangled or damaged threads: If your threads are hopelessly tangled or damaged, get rid of them. It’s always better to have a small collection of good-quality threads than a messy pile of unused ones. You don’t want to use old, damaged threads on your latest masterpiece!
Convert skeins to bobbins: Wind any thread still in skeins onto bobbins which are far easier to store in a tidy compact way. You can get card bobbins, however, these do collapse over a fairly short amount of time which just makes your stash messier and you end up throwing a lot out. So acrylic ones are a good long-term solution.
Organise by brand and colour: Using different bobbin boxes for different brands (pop a sticker on the side of the box to tell you which brand it is) and storing your bobbins in the boxes in order of the colour number will save you time when you need to grab a specific shade. Plus, a neat and organised thread stash will inspire more projects! Yes organising them by colour shade makes for a pretty bobbin box, but it makes it awfully difficult when you’re trying to search for a specific thread colour number if they aren’t in number order.
Gather your unidentifiable threads: Pop your unidentifiable threads into another labelled bobbin box. These can be useful to smaller projects where the specific shade of colour isn’t important, or for framing your project.
3. declutter your patterns
Patterns and kits are the heart and soul of cross-stitching, but if you’re like most stitchers, your collection may have grown a little out of control. Now’s the time to go through your patterns and kits and keep only the ones that bring you joy.
Keep what you love: Do you really see yourself stitching that pattern you’ve had for years? If you stitch it, what are you actually going to do with it? If you don’t love it, or have no use for it when stitched, let it go! Keep the ones that make your heart happy and add the rest to the donate/sell pile.
Go digital: If you’ve got loads of physical patterns that you want to keep, consider scanning them or snapping a photo (most phone cameras have a scanning function these days). This way, you can save space and keep your favourites on hand without adding clutter to your shelves. Dropbox is a great free storage option for this which can be accessed on computers, tablets and phones.
Donate or swap: Don’t throw away your old patterns! Share the love by donating them to local libraries, schools or charity shops, or swap them with fellow stitchers in online groups.
4. inspect your fabrics
Your fabric deserves some love too! Take a moment to inspect your cross stitch fabrics and make sure everything is in top shape.
Toss damaged fabric: If you have any fabrics that are stained, faded, or damaged, it’s best to get rid of them. There’s no point in keeping fabric that you can’t use for your next project!
Sort by type and size: Organize your fabrics by type (Aida, linen, etc.) and size. If you have large pieces of fabric, consider cutting them into smaller, more manageable pieces for your future projects.
Gather your scraps: Pop small fabric scraps in a labelled storage box as you can use them for small projects like bookmarks, keychains, or ornaments. You never know when they will come in handy for those cute and quick projects.
5. check your tools and accessories
Let’s not forget about your essential cross stitch tools (your needles, hoops, scissors, needleminders, and needlethreaders). Take a moment to check that everything is still in working order.
Needles: Inspect your needles to ensure they’re not bent or rusty. Replace any dull needles to make your stitching smooth and easy.
Hoops: Check if your embroidery hoops and frames are in good condition. If any of them are broken, now’s the time to bin them.
Scissors: Sharpen your fabric and embroidery scissors, or invest in new pairs if needed. A sharp pair of embroidery scissors is essential for precise snipping!
Needlethreaders: Broken? Chuck ‘em!
Needleminders: If you’re like me your needleminder collection will be steadily growing but they’re also too cute to hide away between uses! So why not display them on some fabric in a hoop? Your adorable little needleminders will be on show and easy to choose from when you want to match your accessories to your project.
6. organise wips
While decluttering it’s likely you’ve stumbled upon lots of half-finished projects, many of which I bet you had forgotten about!
Whittle it down: There’s a reason you haven’t finished a lot of these. It might be that you fell out of love with it or you just loved others more, you just weren’t enjoying it anymore, you decided you didn’t know what you would do with it afterwards, or the occasion you were meant to be doing it for has been and gone (there are so many unfinished birth samplers out there!). Write a list of your WIPS and select a maximum of two big and three small projects to keep. If you don’t love it, you have no use for the completed project, or you’ve not worked on it for over a year, add it to the donate pile!
Organise into clear, labelled project bags: Add each WIP to a separate project bag with everything you need for each project in the bag. That way your materials stay clean and tidy, and you can easily pick up your project and crack on whenever the mood takes you!
Donate: There are lots of people that would love to finish that WIP for you rather than it going to waste. Some would even be happy to send back the completed project! Cross stitch Facebook groups such as Cross stitch friends in the UK are a great place to share the WIPS you have available.
7. Prioritise turning FO's into FFO's!
A FO, or Finished Object' is a project that you have actually completed the stitching of, but haven't fully finished it, ie framed. FFO's are projects that are framed and ready to display or gift.
Create a plan: Write a list of your FOs then write how you would like to finish them and what materials you will need.
Finish them: For some inspiration and advice check out our blogs on framing in picture frames, framing in hoops, and making cross stitch cards.
Get them on show: You've put a lot of hard word into these pieces and they deserve to be displayed with pride. Click here for some display inspiration from real stitchers!
Gift or Donate: Your masterpieces would make wonderful gifts for loved ones, or donate them to charity shops who can sell them to fund their causes.
Spring cleaning your cross stitch stash isn’t just about tidying up, it’s about creating an inspiring, organised space that makes stitching easier and more fun! Whether you’re starting a new project, finishing up a WIP, or organising your supplies for the future, a clean and tidy crafting space will keep your creativity flowing.
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