Friday, February 18, 2011

Clothes Clips, Styrofoam, Clipboard

Yes, you're reading it right, clothes clips.  And what do clothes clips have to do with stitching?

I don't use hoops, scroll frames or lap stands.  I just stitch in hand and here's how I do it:

With this way of stitching, I can't do without these:
Mini wooden clips that I bought from the bookstore
And when I found these at the supermarket, I almost jump with joy.  Because it's so hard to find these nowadays.  All I see are those plastic clothes clips which I used before but they slip from the fabric.
Regular-sized wooden clips
I laughed when I saw in the label "Strong Lumber Clip" because the words "strong" and "lumber" is, for me, synonymous to muscles and masculine, so much the opposite of "cross stitch" which brings to mind the word "feminine" and "slender or nurturing hands".  Sorry for the babble :D

Now what about the styrofoam?... 

I use plenty of needles when I cross stitch because I don't like the process of re-threading a needle everytime I change colors.  And before, I just stick the needle to the bobbin like this:
Then I saw in the forums that some people use this Pako Needle Organizer 

and they said that it's a big help specially when you're dealing with confetti stitches.  So, I thought that I will need it when I start doing my HAED (Heaven And Earth) and Golden Kite patterns.  But everybody knows how much colors a HAED or Golden Kite chart requires.  So, if I will buy this Pako organizer, I would probably need two.  And it cost around $20 each.  So an idea came to my mind.  Instead, I bought this, again, from the book store:
Styrofoam, 1 inch thick, around $.50
And these are my needle organizers that I cut from it:
Needle organizer for Homebound
Morning Lake needle organizer



I just taped to the styrofoam the symbols page and voila, instant needle organizer.  So there, I was able to save around $40 or more.  And there's still more to use for future projects.

And last but not the least...another thing that I can't stitch without - my clipboard!

I'm so happy when I found this at the Japanese store.  I like that it is bigger than the average clipboard that you can buy from the book stores.  Its size is:  15 inches x 11.5 inches.

This is all for now.  Thanks for dropping by and happy stitching weekend everyone!

13 comments:

Shelley said...

Great ideas! Love the styrofoam.. I might have to try that one out myself. :)

Midge said...

Great idea for the styrofoam.

Unknown said...

love the styrofoam idea Toni :)

i have a new project that has 36 different colors so i really need the organizer. thanks for sharing!

Kim said...

What a brilliant idea Toni! You're so creative, I'm really impressed.
:)

The Currys said...

Great idea about the Styrofoam! Getting ready to start an HAED myself and will see about setting that up!

Bec said...

You are one smart cookie! :)

Love your wooden clips! they are adorable!

Happy Stitching
Bec

Ju Wildman said...

I love the styrofoam idea - anything that saves money like that is always good! I may try this myself :)

Angely Dobbs said...

... me too! I will be trying that Styrofoam organizer for a big project. good initiative Toni! :)

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

The syrofoam is fantastic! I too hate the idea of spending money on anything which isn't actually threads, fabric, beads or charts.

Toni said...

Thanks Jo for your comment. I just saw it now :-)

Lauren - Ambitious Stitches said...

Thank you so much for showing your needle organizer... I'm going to have to do that now!!

Rose said...

HI. I just discovered your blog and I love it. I'm truly amazed at how you are able to finish so many projects. I hope you can share some more cross stitch tips with us. Thank you.

Virpi said...

Thanks for this post. It is really interesting to see how others stitch. You had really good ideas =D