If you’re overwhelmed by your floss collection, these printable floss organizer cards make it easier to find colours fast and spend more time stitching.
- Pull one strand at a time (without the skein turning into a mess)
- No bobbin kinks, keeps floss smoother
- Easy to keep sorted by DMC number
- Stores neatly as a compact “thread book” on rings or in a binder
- Great for full collections and project sets (WIPs)
Get the flossbook style DMC Floss Organizer Cards, it’s kept my threads in line for over 30 years!
New here and just want to know what a floss organizer card actually is? It’s a card printed with the DMC colour, number and a swatch. You attach your floss to the numbered slot on the card so your whole collection sits in number order (or in shade order, if you go for the colour-order set). Bound together on a ring or ribbon, the set becomes a “flossbook” you can flip through like the pages of a book.
That’s the short version. The longer version (how I worked it out from a cereal box thirty years ago and never looked back) is below.
The Beginning
It all started when I spotted commercial thread cards at Lincraft about 30 years ago! I’d go there every payday to pick up just a few more skeins of floss, so you can imagine that the cards were out of my budget!
I was working on stitching up my little girl’s name, and the threads were getting out of control!
So I decided to make my own floss cards from a cereal box. It worked a treat!
I loved being able to pull out a single strand of any colour, no more pulling floss out of the skein and cutting it, pulling two strands and tucking the other strands back into the skein somehow. I was pretty broke remember, so I didn’t want to waste a single strand!
DMC floss organizer cards vs bobbins
When visiting my mum in Brisbane (we were living in Rockhampton at the time), I saw her using bobbins. I considered them of course – but then I saw the knot of loose threads in her bobbin box and how the floss kinked. Any temptation I had to switch to bobbins quickly left me, and I’ve never considered them since.
(When I was making this new floss organizer card set, Mum decided to pass on on her bobbin boxes to me and I filled up some gaps in my set – I unbobbined and carded them! The floss cards make such kinks – see the pic below. Luckily they seemed to improve when I braided the floss.)
But of course by this time I was hooked on (dare I say Lost In) cross stitch, so my thread collection kept building. I bought a huge sheet of card from the stationers – probably about 250gsm weight – measured out cards, cut them out with a craft knife, punched holes with a standard hole punch. I got as many cards as I could from that sheet and they were long! So I sewed up a bag to keep them – that was my first floss book!
For a project, I’d simply make a small project card and transfer the colours to the card, then move them back into my floss book when the project was done.
When I had more than one WIP (who doesn’t), if I needed to I’d split the braid – the work of a minute.
You’ll see these card collections called all sorts of thingsm like floss cards, thread cards, floss organizer cards, a flossbook – but they’re all the same idea: your threads, wound and sorted, easy to see and easy to use.
if you’re looking for more on floss organisation, this post might help.
Why It’s Called a Flossbook
Once the cards are bound together, the whole thing flips open like a little book: a flossbook. Every colour on its own page, in order, a printed swatch to check against, and the working length ready to pull.
It’s the difference between hunting through a tangled box and just… turning to the page you need.
Why make printable floss organizer cards?
When DMC released 35 new colours in 2017, starting at colour #1, I thought – I’ll just make a new card.
That made me take an honest look at my old faithful set. It was frankly, tatty. I’d redone the set a few times as my stash grew (see the stickers?), and it was very well worn, despite being protected in its calico case all those years.
I thought about cutting up a new sheet of card but the idea just didn’t appeal – I wanted something more, something that would make it less likely I’d mix up colours when moving from a project card back into the main floss book, something a bit easier to manage. Those long cards were a bit unwieldy!
Ideally it would be a colour card and storage card in one! No such thing existed – believe me, I looked!
But I’d worked in communications for over 30 years so have reasonable design skills. Why not make cards that I could print? I designed them to fit on standard paper, and did a few trial runs. Kirsty was fully on board so she scanned the DMC thread card and added the colour swatches to the cards.
The cards from this post, ready to print
These are the same cards we use for our own stash: a printable set covering every DMC shade, ready to print, trim and punch at home. They come in number order, or grab the colour-order set if you’d rather sort by shade.
Next: Make Them Last
My first set of cards did pretty well for 30 years. But we could do better now – technology, right? My printer doesn’t cope well with more than about 220gsm (60 pound) paper, so I thought of making a kind of paper sandwich to make the final card thicker. I printed onto sticker paper, stuck that to the card, and then we laminated it.
It was perfect! Thin enough so it’s not bulky, firm enough so it holds its own weight when fully loaded, and bright!
Then Into Trimming and Punching
Yes, it takes some time, but so does bobbinating, and then cutting thread off the bobbins every time you use them, and dealing with the orphans if you don’t use all six strands.
We sat and chatted while we laminated, trimmed and punched – several cups of tea were had!
My DMC Thread Book
Today, my floss organizer cards are neatly organized into what I like to call a ‘thread book,’ held together with 3 plastic shower curtain rings so it’s easy to flip the cards, just like the pages of a book.
What I mostly love about it is that there’s just so much less waste with floss organizer cards! Every time I pull that single thread off a card, I feel it’s like a gift from my past self!
Get our floss organizer card system in our shop. It’s compact, even when full, and it’s received rave reviews for its efficiency.
No more kinks in the floss like you get with bobbins, no more floss orphans, and no more tangled messes.
Stop Buying Duplicate DMC Floss
This printable mini-book is a pocket-sized DMC inventory you can carry in your project bag. Mark what you own and what you still need, then check it at a glance in the shop, no more scrolling through notes on your phone. Trusted by hundreds of stitchers (and counting!) Instant download, print as many copies as you like.
The Future
I’m pretty set with how our floss organizer cards work now, but I’m always thinking of little extras.
Next up? A custom bag to store them stylishly, and maybe even a pattern for it (if others are interested).
Creating your own DMC Floss Organizer Cards isn’t just about neat threads, it’s about making it faster to get stitching so that you have more time for stitching!
I’d love to hear about your organizational hacks or see the creative ways you’ve kept your threads in order.
What is a floss organizer?
A floss organizer is any system that keeps your embroidery floss sorted and easy to use, for example cards, bobbins, boxes, binder pages, or thread drops. The best floss organizer is the one that helps you find colours quickly and stops your floss turning into a tangled mess.
Are floss organizer cards better than bobbins?
It depends on what bugs you most. Bobbins are great for compact storage, but they can kink floss and it’s easy for ends to loosen. Floss organizer cards keep the floss in longer lengths, which many stitchers find quicker to use and kinder on the thread, especially if you like pulling one strand at a time.
Do floss organizer cards stop tangles?
They help a lot. A floss organizer card keeps each colour wrapped neatly, with the end secured, so it doesn’t unwind and knot itself up in storage.
Can I pull one strand at a time from floss organizer cards?
Yes, and that’s one of the main reasons people love them. If the card is wrapped neatly and the end is easy to find, you can pull off a single strand without unraveling the whole lot.
What’s a good floss organizer for a large DMC collection?
Number order works best for many stitchers, though colour order has a strong camp too. Cards stored on rings or in a binder are popular because you can flip through and see colours quickly.
What paper/card should I use for printable floss organizer cards?
A thicker card stock holds up better. If you want them to last, laminating helps a lot (especially if you stitch in humid areas or your cards get handled constantly). Some stitchers also punch holes and reinforce them (or laminate before punching).
Leave a Reply