How to Separate Embroidery Floss

When you buy a cross stitch kit, your embroidery floss comes all together and you'll need to separate the colors. This can be a time consuming job, especially if the kit contains multiple shades of the same color. However, if you follow these simple steps, it will lessen your frustration and simplify the task of separating the embroidery floss.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Embroidery floss

1. Cut slits in the cardboard that comes in the package. This keeps your embroidery floss separated once you have completed the task.

2. Number the slits. The colors are numbered so after you have separated them once, you won't have to worry about it again. The numbers are on the chart you will use, so this is the most efficient way to organize by color.

3. Put all of the similar colors together. Start with the easiest. If there is only one shade of white and black, separate them first. Put them in the slits marked with their number, for example, if white is 1 and black is 10, put all of the white floss in No. 1 and all the black floss in No. 10.

4. Work with the colors that have a few shades next. For example, you may have three shades of green: light green, green and dark green. You should be able to determine which is which, separate them and put them into the slits.

5. Try to determine the harder colors last. If you have five shades of blue, you will want to put that off until you have determined where the other colors go. You then may need to compare the colors to the color picture on the front of your package to figure out which shade of blue is which. Don't fret; it will come together. From your own knowledge of colors and the picture, you soon will know which blue is which.

6. Complete the process and be sure when you put your cross stitch away the embroidery floss stays in the slots. Once you have separated the embroidery floss you don't want to have to go through it again.

7. Store the floss. When your project is complete, you will have embroidery floss left over. Again, you don't want to have to separate the floss another time. Therefore, you should gather your left over embroidery floss and store it.