Friday, October 12, 2012

Bobbin Storage

How do you store your bobbins?  When you do a fair amount of free-motion quilting, you collect a lot of bobbins! I have been struggling with this for some time and have tried various methods.

I've tried these rings. They hold the bobbins okay, but they are awkward to store

I've tried putting these little bands on to keep them from unwinding

I've tried these hard plastic cases, but the top isn't on securely and the bobbin threads tangle

Tried these mini thread holders but the thread got hopelessly tangled and if you put the little bands on you can't see the color very well. 
 Then I found these somewhat softer plastic bobbin boxes at JoAnn's.
You can clearly see the bobbin colors and the lid snaps securely.

 The inside is a semi-soft foam that hold the bobbins securely, but allows for different sized bobbins.

The threads are less apt to unwind and are held securely in place.
They are a little pricey at about $7.50 each, but JoAnn's has such wonderful coupons, that your can usually get them at a fair price. I now have three of them, one for each of my machines. So far they work great.  How do you store your bobbins?

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

10 comments:

  1. I generally store mine in a tangled mess. I have the blue plastic ring, the hard plastic box and even some in recycled Altoids tins. They do tend to tangle. I think I have one of those last boxes too..but I bought it when I bought something else and it got "lost" in the excitement.
    i will have to find it and put it to work.
    (p.s. no JoAnn's close so I can't get them there. )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the heads up. I will look for this container. I currently have the clear hard plastic one :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pat, this is a great topic. I use the ring but still get tangles. The Joann's box looks cool, I will save my next coupon and check it out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I throw all mine in a little plastic box and use Bobbin Keepers to keep them from unraveling: http://dixonproducts.com/bobbin-keeper-2006.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. I've been tying mine to the spool with a piece of ribbon so that I know which bobbin goes with which spool. I haven't really had too much of a tangled mess, but sometimes I put a little piece of scotch tape on the bobbin to keep the thread sort of in place.

    ReplyDelete
  6. oh yeah, tangled mess? GUILTY! I love this idea - I think I was sold when you mentioned the soft foam... that's great! for holding them and for different sizes just like you said! thanks for sharing! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow! funny that you blogged this out - since just last week I spent about 2 hours looking for a new bobbin storage system. I was using a dritz box - but it was knocked off my table and spelled all over - plus then it broke. Sighhhh - I didn't chose the ring because it didn't have a cover. I think I'll take your recommendation and try this one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've been looking for a new solution. Years ago I had a bobbin box that worked perfectly, but it didn't travel with me on the last move. I'm going to be looking for one of those.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Connecting threads has a neat looking bobbin holder that stacks. Havent tried one but looks like it might work. That case from JoAnne's looks like it would work well too. I currently have the ring thing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I recently bought a couple of Clover Bobbin Towers to store my bobbins in. I like how they work and that you can detatch one lvl if you go on a meeting or on a course where you dont need all your bobbins etc. I have tried the plastic boxes before as well as the ring. I wasnt really happy with either of them even if the ring worked better than the box imo. ;)

    ReplyDelete