This is the easiest, cheapest, and safest way to just about eliminate tangles and knots as you stitch.
Whether you store your floss on bobbins or carefully pull a length from a skein, the fiber will have bends and creases and this is the root cause of tangles and knots.
The secret is a bit of water.
Here it is in pictures …
Six strands of floss from a bobbin.
A single strand of floss from the six strands taken from the bobbin.
The same single strand after the “water treatment.”
Six strands of floss pulled from a skein.
A single strand of floss pulled from the six strands which was pulled from the skein.
The same single strand after the “water treatment.”
I use a 35mm film canister stuffed with a sponge and filled with water. Any water-tight container will work.
I simply press lightly on the strand of floss as I run it under my thumb on the top of the sponge.
Two tips from my many mistakes over the years:
1. Even if you are SURE the container is water-tight, put it in a separate plastic bag before you store it near your needlework or chart. Just in case it leaks. Like mine did when it was in a tote bag with a cardboard portfolio holding my working chart-in-progress … an orange cardboard portfolio. Which of course left an orange spot on my linen. Not near the edge. Crying did not help. But I did eventually get the stain out. That’s another story.
2. At some point the sponge may develop some mold. Not good. So let it dry out every once in a while or swap out the sponge.
And one other thing … the floss does not have to be wet when you stitch with it. If it dries out but is still straight, go with it.
Oh, and another thing … I have used this method of preventing tangles on over-dyed floss and silk. Call me crazy but I did. No problems with dye running or fibers shrinking or any other nightmare. With that said, follow my tip at your own risk!
Now go take just one more stitch!
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