Stashes

A conversation began in All Stitched Up! issue #337 about thread storage and the myriad ways to tame and store that which is so integral to our time with needle and thread.

The article – Threads, Threads, Everywhere… – sparked a flurry of emails from the Inspirations Community who joined in on the conversation to let us know the many and varied ways in which they’ve managed to tame those sometimes untameable lengths of thread.

There were those who favoured ‘complicated’ systems of winding, packaging, recording and storing threads prior to use. Whilst others preferred the ‘pull them from a bird’s nest of threads’ kind of approach.

A recent email from Terry, which we’ll share in an upcoming issue of ASU, posed a question about thread storage that had us pondering the ‘problem’ all over again. This in turn reminded us about our fabric stash that could use a little attention, and the beads that are currently crying out to be sorted and stored, and… well you get the idea!

Sometimes our stashes are organised, colour coded, labelled works of art. Whilst at other times they leave a lot to be desired!

Since taking over The Bobbin Tree, our ‘stash’ has grown exponentially, and given it’s a retail space ‘leaving a lot to be desired’ isn’t an option! Yet somehow, we’ve found the process of sorting, storing and displaying The Bobbin Tree stash a whole lot easier and more enjoyable than tackling our own personal supply of all things needle and thread.

Sure, the items in store are all new, which makes the process easier from the outset, but we think the thing that’s made the biggest difference is ensuring that everything has a space. Then once that’s achieved, all we have to do is make sure that everything is in its space and voila, job done! 

The Bobbin Tree by Inspirations has inspired us to tackle our personal stashes in a whole new light. We’ve come to realise that no matter the method we use to sort and store our stitching reserves, everything needs a place, and everything needs to be in its place. Considering the ‘visual merchandising’ of our stash is also something we’ll consider as beautiful things deserve to be stored, and perhaps even displayed, beautifully. 

Creating a space we’d be happy to invite others into would also give us cause to make certain ‘leaving a lot to be desired’ isn’t the way in which we’d describe our stash.

Now if we could just ‘borrow’ the shop staff from The Bobbin Tree by Inspirations. Naomi would organise everything into categories quickly and efficiently, Jacquie would sort, fold and store our fabric by colourway, Monique would carefully work out what gaps we had in our own personal store, and Sue would find and gather whatever Monique thought we needed!