No, not the kind of floss for your teeth. Which, before I started working with Rebecca of Hugs are Fun, I would have wondered myself. Floss is the term for embroidery thread, used for embroidery and cross stitching. Collecting floss can be quite the passion for needle workers, and organizing it is always a challenge, especially mid-project!

Nice and neatly organized floss is so pleasing!

It’s been almost a year since I met Rebecca, and we started developing the cross stitch kits (available in her shop, or my supply shop Beadeux.) I didn’t want to just tuck the thread into the kits, potentially to end up in a knotty mess.  I came up with a quick holder, inspired by the triangle designs on the kit packaging.  They were made out of 100lb card stock to be nice and sturdy, but being paper, they weren’t meant to last forever.  I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised then they started gaining attention in their own right!

The original floss holders were quite small, less than two inches wide and less than an inch tall.   I wanted to make some full sized versions – 3 different designs.  In usual fashion, that blossomed to 5 (well, 4.5).  I wanted to use up some stock, so they are made out of odds and ends in acrylic and wood – including some fantastic leftover painted wood.  I have to admit, I really like the “dipped” look!

This set was made from opal acrylic, a milky, semi-translucent white

This group of floss organizers was made with scrap wood, including some painted wood from an old project I did. The hard to see one is blue acrylic.

They tied nicely to the fiddly corners in the lotus

If you know my Isette work, you can see some familiar motifs.  The lotus is the exact same one used in my jewelry – just 3 inches tall!  I wanted to see how the not-round or not-straight edges would work for floss tying.  The verdict is it works just fine!

The original peacock design, back in 2008. Space age, or a cheese grater? You decide.

The peacock makes me smile – it’s a cleaned up version of a bubbly peacock I cut in my first batch of laser designs back in 2008.  I only ever made a single pair of earrings with the original design (though I still make a second variation the Peacock.) I simplified the design, made the feather bumps mathematically even and enlarged the outer hole.  The two hole design allows for some interesting tying between the holes, like you can see in the picture.

Peacock floss organizer made from salvaged wood. I love the bubble design!

This is the larger design, hanging quite nicely of the little metal hooks. It would work on pegboard too!

The final two designs are really the same thing, based to the Swoop design, just made two different sizes.  The small version is 2 inches wide (so 4 inches of floss tying space), and the large one is 3 inches wide for bigger projects or more floss.  The concept here was to organize in two tiers instead of tying things into individual holes.  I personally like seeing how the floss colors play together smushed right next to each other.  It also has quite a large handle on the end, all the better for hanging!  Great for peg boards, or hanging off work lights. (And, of course, any free space around the edges is fair game for tying on as well!)

I absolutely love how they turned out, in both wood and opal colored acrylic, and look forward to listing them in Beadeux soon! (When they are up, you can find them in the Floss Organizer section.)

Photos I love but couldn’t figure out how to seamlessly stick them in the post:

I love the look, but semi-translucent-not-quite-white Opal Acrylic is TERRIBLE to photograph

It’s like a rainbow rocket!

Jumble of floss organizers. Or floss holders. Or thread organizer holders. I don’t think people have settled on one name!