Saturday 31 March 2012

Rainbow Threads

My old flat used to be walking distance from three sewing/fabric shops, two craft & haberdashery market stalls, a craft superstore and a cake shop with a whole wall full of pretty ribbons. Lots of places for me to buy thread when I ran out of a certain colour... or to dash to for emergency supplies when a deadline was looming.

My new home town just has one small sewing shop, so I've got to look a bit further afield to source lots of the crafty bits and pieces I use for my projects and I'm going to have to make sure I stock up on things more so I don't run out of crucial supplies at critical moments.

To help me shop for embroidery thread online, last week I ordered a DMC embroidery thread shade card so I can pick the colours I want and then order skeins as and when I need them.


The colour guide is a super duper practical object - it's made up of swatches of all the threads so you can match colours really accurately - but it is also soooooo gorgeous.

Just look at all those colours!


It is quite hard to resist making an "oooh" noise every time I fold it out, and also very hard to resist ordering extra colours I don't need simply because they look so lovely.

The sparkly threads are particularly tempting... I may actually have to invent some projects purely to justify buying some of these shades!


12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, yummy threads! I always find DMC threads particularly irresistable, and love the metallic ones too :)

moleymakes said...

Oh I have the same problem with knitting yarn. All those gorgeous colours ...

I'm sure it's all done on purpose to make us bankrupt :)

Janet said...

I know exactly what you mean Laura. They are just so lovely. I have a sample card like that for bead colors and it is so tempting to just frame it and hang it on the wall. Have a lovely day.

Clare said...

How pretty! You could almost frame it and hand it on the wall!

Jumbleberries xx

Swirlyarts said...

I have some cards like this for sewing threads but I got mine from my local scrapstore and they came from a local knicker factory :) I'm finding ways to upcycle mine!

Unknown said...

I bought the DMC thread chart a couple of weeks ago, and I'm the same, I want an excuse to buy the metallic ones, and the variated ones, just need to get our thinking caps on... (I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

http://yousewshould.blogspot.com

Tumus said...

I use my DMC thread chart to find colors I don't have yet. I've even organized my thread boxes to match the color chart which is somewhat helpful but not necessary.

The verigated ones look amazing in cross stitch work or embroidery of flower petals. It's almost like "self-shading" thread. Very cool, you should pick up a few skeins when you get a chance.

LittlemouseLilly said...

the glow in the dark thread is really great if they still do it.

I am a DMC girl too :)

Ana said...

I've got a shade card for Kona quilting cottons, and I know exactly what you mean about opening it up and going 'oooh'.

Bugs and Fishes said...

I tried to buy an Anchor shade chart too but they seem to have discontinued them for some weird reason. I hope they bring them back soon...

Tumus - I will definitely have to try the variegated thread sometime. Thinking up projects to use certain supplies can be a good way to spark new project ideas, I shall have to get my thinking cap on for some of these yummy threads :)

Anonymous said...

Hello. Just wondering where you got your shade card from. I have been looking through Google, Etsy and eBay and can only find printed charts, and I want a 'proper' one with samples! :¬)

Bugs and Fishes said...

Hiya - sorry for the late reply! Unfortunately I think they may have been discontinued, which seems very odd to me as they are so useful :(