Organizing your Thread

When running a small business it's very important to keep all your supplies organized. There is nothing worse than getting a big order and not being able to make it because you lost track of a key ingredient. I used to have a lot of trouble keeping track of the colors of thread that I own. Back then, I kept my spools of thread and bobbins separated: spools on racks and bobbins in boxes. But one day I visited a local seamstress/alteration shop in the town where I live.

What? You may think, why does a person who knows how to sew go to a seamstress? Well, my husband bought this new suit for his job. It was more on the expensive side and needed to have the sleeves and pants altered. Not in a million years did I want to touch that! I have heard many a story of failed marriages because a wife messed up her husband's good suit (trying to clean it or fix it up). Just imagine the nightmare of having to tell him that his new dresscoat might fit Junior pretty soon because you took off an inch too many...

So, that's how I ended up at Mary's Alteration shop. When I stepped into the basement of the house where good old Mary has her workshop, I was stunned looking at the walls. They were covered with racks and racks of thread. Each color was matched neatly to a bobbin of the same color sitting underneath the spool. There they hung out together row after row, organized by color, standing at attention like little soldiers - ready for service.

The next day I ran out and bought some spool-racks. Since then, I have been adding more and more colors...It gets a little pricey when you have to buy so many Bernina bobbins, but I think my collection is almost complete at about 100 colors. I only wish I had more wall-space.

Hope this post inspires you to get your supplies organized!