I have needle issues. I am picky about what I use- some I like to use for wool embroidery, different ones when I am using cotton floss. I always seems to be dropping or misplacing them and then can’t find them again. I get so distracted if I have to go looking for more needles or threading and unthreading them constantly. In the middle of working on one of the babies this morning, I’d had it. I needed a better system.
My idea was to have a strip pincushion. I could stick all the right type of needles into it at the beginning of a project. I could pre-thread several so I wouldn’t be starting and stopping the flow. I’d have a place to store my needles that were threaded with a color I was finished with, until next time I needed it.
A while ago, I bought a piece of 100% wool felt at Joanns fabric, but it is really too soft and I hadn’t figured out how to use it for anything. I cut a strip, 18″ long and 2 inches wide. I cut that into pieces 6 inches x 1 inch and piled them up.
I stitched them together with a fairly heavy pearl cotton- very tightly. I wanted it to be dense. And here we go-
phew! Success!  It is about 3/4 of an inch thick. You could make this out of any scrap wool and I think scrap pieces of felted sweaters would be perfect. This way of storing the needles has an added benefit- the needles won’t get lost into it like they often do in standard pin cushions. Now back to work!
This baby is finished now, but it is wet and rainy outside today, so I will take more photos tomorrow.
Tell me more about wool embroidery floss. Where do I get it and how is it to work with compared to cotton floss? I’ve never heard of it or used it before. Thank you!
I have an old floss storage folder that had a large magnetic strip upon which you would place your threaded needles. That’s another idea you could use! BTW – I know you like pincushions – go see the latest one I made at my blog.
Mimi, you are so inspiring to me! Thanks. Geri
aha, that’s a solution! My needles get lost all the time too…into the pincushions. And it’s not my fault, it’s my childrens! They like to ‘play’ with my pincushions and sort the coloured plastic headed pins (like I see on your pincushion!), and next thing is: they push the needles in it so you can’t see them anymore (if I’m lucky I can pull them out by the thread, if there is no thread, there is no needle anymore…sigh)