Embroidery Thread and Felt ~ What Every Crafter Should Know

If you are new to the world of felt crafting you may have noticed that cross stitching or embroidery thread or floss seems to be the go to choice for most felt crafters. And it’s no wonder  – Skeins of cross stitching thread are readily available in a million color choices are inexpensive and are easy to store and transport. How easy is it to store?  How about over 100 colors in the space of 3″ easy? More on that below.

One of the best things about working with felt is its wide range of colors and ease of use in smaller projects and detail work. But all those small scraps of color can add up to a lot of thread. The cost of embroidery or cross stitching thread can be as much as 80% cheaper than traditional thread spools. (Translated:  16 skeins of cross stitching thread vs. 2 spools of standard thread.)  You may also find yourself working with shades of felt you don’t use often or sewing very small details and don’t see a need to invest in a larger spool to sew.

Traditional spools of thread are round and have a tendency to roll around which, while helpful on a sewing machine is quite annoying when hand crafting. Bobbins lie flat and just beg to be thrown into a project baggie for crafting on the go. Cross stitching thread is has very little sheen or shine to it making it blend easily into dense felt.  The cotton in embroidery thread isn’t as strong as the typical spool threads but this generally doesn’t present a problem.

Cross Stitching or embroidery thread is easy to find. Many big box stores now only carry a few shades of thread but will still carry dozens of shades of  embroidery thread. Since most felt work is hand sewn the aggravation of separating the threads in exchange for a wide selection of easy to locate, portable, space-saving, inexpensive colors seems a small price to pay.

Different thicknesses of  embroidery or cross stitch thread used in running stitches and french knots on felt.

#25 cotton embroidery floss is the most commonly sold type, it comes in six strands of thread twisted into one thick strand. Most sewing projects are done with just 1 or 2 threads separated from the bunch after cutting it to the desired length. Occasionally you will want a thicker thread for a tighter hold, visible stitching or filling in details.

Click HERE for more on stitches and their uses.

For larger products or often used colors standard spool threads are still a better bet because all that untangling of thread can be really time-consuming.

 I have sew all sorts of things using only embroidery thread and felt:

Free DIY Felt Seahorse Hobby Horse Pattern

Play around with the thicknesses and stitch styles for added detail on any project.

Embroidery floss is also available in silk, linen, glittered, metallic and even glow in the dark!

Fish, Clams, and Shrimp from the Gulf Coast Catch Pattern

How to store embroidery thread.

Now that I’ve helped you justify your purchase of 85 skeins of embroidery thread let me give you a word of warning, this whole project can go south if you don’t move that thread to bobbins ASAP. Your 8th grade jewelry box has nothing on the tangled rainbow hell that awaits those who don’t heed my warning.

Luckily, moving the thread to a bobbin is simple although a bit time-consuming…

Slip one cuff off at a time taking care not to distort or twist the thread too much.

Keep the thread in its circle and look for the shortest thread along the top. It should come apart smoothly.

Wrap it around your bobbin repeat this process 84 times while binge watching Netflix programming…

Rein in your threads Bo Peep style with these free printable felt sheep bobbins.

That’s all well and good but how do you store sheep shaped bobbins you ask.

How to store Thread Bobbins.

I store my sheep in a 3″ binder inside deep pocketed pocket pages and I always know where to find them.

One of my favorite things about storing the thread bobbins this way is that they are easy to flip through and hold samples against for the best color matches possible.

When buying pocket pages look for deep pockets to help keep your sheep in line, since they will start to slip put if your binder is held upside down. While winding your bobbins try to make your sheep bellies even and flat so they don’t slip out of the pages as easily.

Happy Crafting

~Andie

Printable Sheep Embroidery Thread Bobbins

There are a ton of advantages to using embroidery thread for felt projects – not only are the skeins of thread inexpensive but they come in a huge variety of colors and are easy to store. The biggest problem with embroidery is its tendency to get tangled once they are stripped of their paper cuffs.

Rein in your threads Bo Peep style with these printable felt sheep bobbins.

I tried printing these on cardstock but found it too flimsy for the larger skeins.

Thin chipboard proved to be the perfect material for this project and I think the natural brown color looks awesome on these little guys.

I won’t lie to you dear reader these a pain to cut out but hopefully you need less than I did.

But come on they are crazy cute right and over 100 sheep later I have no regrets!

While we’re on the subject here’s how to move that thread from skein to bobbin without finding yourself surrounded by tangled threads and tears…not that that happened to me like 25 times or anything.

ANYWAY

Slip one cuff off at a time taking care not to distort or twist the thread too much. Keep the thread in its circle and look for the shortest thread along the top. It should come apart smoothly.

Print at full size

Happy Crafting!

~Andie