We’re big fans of organization, and in the past we’ve covered everything from organizing fabric to needles, but this post will be slightly different. You see, whilst most of us only stitch one project at a time, that doesn’t mean we only have one project started. Today, we look at how to cope with multiple projects.
 
Depending on who you are, you might think this isn’t a post for you. Maybe you only stitch one thing at once? I was like that once. However then I found this great cross stitch pattern on Etsy, and I just had to buy it. I was excited, I was itching to start, so I had to collect my threads together. That; is where it starts.
 
On average I still only stitch one thing at once, like many of us, but I have a few projects prepped and ready to go. But what’s the best way to actually go about this?

Ask Yourself If You’re Actually Going To Stitch It

We’re going to start with a somewhat painful one. The fact of the matter is that all of us horde cross stitch patterns, but many of us fail to actually start most of them (or I do at least. Please tell me I’m not the only one?).
As a result, it’s important to ask; are you going to stitch it. This might even be something you can postpone to later too. Let’s say you’re stitching a massive piece and you know it will take months; wait until at least halfway through before you start thinking about other projects, otherwise you might have a stack by the time you finish!

Pick Out Your Threads

OK, so you’re devoted to stitching up a second project, or at least you want to get ahead on the planning phase. The first step is to pull out some threads.
There are a few things here that are important.
 
The first is something we talk about a lot; picking good threads. And by that I mean make sure they’re all new threads, you have enough, and there are no issues with color variation. This will avoid you having to deal with the whole dye lot issue, and makes sure your project will be perfect.
 
The second one is once again something we shout about a lot; storage. You’ve picked your threads, and now is the time to make sure they’re stored well. Leaving them out on the side for months getting dusty, sun-damaged, and risking spills (it always happens when you least expect it), is not the way to go. We have a whole bunch of ways to store cross stitch threads, but our suggestion is a thread box. These boxes hold a whole bunch of threads (enough for even the largest of epic projects), can hold other things like needles, and keep everything protected.

Grid It Up

Next, we suggest you grid your fabric. OK, we suggest washing the fabric before you start and then gridding the fabric.
This might seem a little weird at first glance, after all, gridding is only one step before stitching, but we’ve all been there with a new project; we want to get stuck in, not spend an hour gridding it.
 
And that is exactly why we suggest doing it now. Grid it, and forget it. You’ll still be able to get stuck in when you do start the project, but you’ll have a little more enthusiasm for gridding now than you will later in time.
 
There are a whole bunch of ways to grid your cross stitch, but if you plan on putting your project on hold for a while, we would suggest using the non-pen related methods. Washable pens can bleed and disappear over time and whilst this isn’t a permanent issue, it will mean you have to redo the gridding later on. And the only thing worse than gridding is gridding twice.

Cover It

Dirt happens. Cover everything. This might be the threads as we explained about, this might be the pattern, fabric, or anything else. Just make sure it’s covered.

Project Bags

Knowing that you need to cover it, and knowing you need to hold a whole bunch of things together, this is where the project bag comes in.
 
I use to store my “ongoing” projects in a draw. I opened it and I had to fish through the fabric from one project, threads from another, and pattern sheets that you swear shouldn’t even be in there. It was a mess. Sure, they were protected in the draw, but it was an organizational nightmare. Then, a well known online cross stitch store supplied a few to us for free. Game changer.

You can get project bags in a whole raft of different types, sizes, and designs, but the best for us is something clear so we can see which project is which, and comes in multiple sizes. These things hold everything you need, protect it, and keep things together. A real game changer.
 

 
As I said earlier, this might not be something you initially think is relevant to you based on your current stitching trends, but with the above advice, if you do ever prep for another project early, or even have multiple cross stitch projects on the go at once, this should help avoid any pitfalls!
 
Happy stitching!
Lord Libidan