DIY Embroidery Floss Bobbins and Storage Box

Embroidery floss bobbins and storage box made from recycled cereal boxes.

This is another project made from one of my favorite things to recylce, cereal boxes. There are a few other stuff I keep like soap boxes, paper bags, plastic bottles, etc. that I think I could repurpose. Anyway, the cereal boxes I have with me are perfect for making this embroidery floss box and bobbins. Sure, there are lots of bobbins like these for sale and also plastic organizers but I always like to make my own version of things if I can, with materials readily available to me.

This is what my embroidery floss stash looks like after just using about eight skeins so I could only imagine how messy it could be when I get to use more. I might not be trying hard enough to keep them tidy but some may find themselves in a similar situation. I remember my high school days when we have cross stitch projects for our Home Economics class, my materials back then were a lot messier than this. So before I find my threads tangled with each other, I need to have them neatly stored. Also, I find it easier to use when each skein is already wound up in a bobbin.

By the way the brand of the skeins in the plastic bag is Janlynn which I got for a very affordable price from Amazon. I'm just showing these DMC ones for comparison and it might not be seen in the pictures but these are way shinier than the Janlynn brand, also softer and smoother. No surprise there since Janlynn is only half the price of DMC, I still like it for my Kumihimo projects but for embroidery or cross stitch, DMC is the best choice.

To complete this task, I used four of this cereal box, two for the bobbins and two for the storage box. There were strips left that I was planning to use as compartments but they weren't enough so I just used a different material for the compartment boxes which I will show later.

I already have a bobbin which I used as a template to make a hundred more. I drew the shapes on the cardboard and cut them. I realized it too late that since I was planning to cover each side with scrapbook paper, I should have glued the scrapbook paper to both sides of the cardboard box before drawing and cutting each bobbin, that way is much faster.

Well, since I already made that little mistake and I'm done cutting the shapes without the scrapbook paper still, I just did it the long way, I glued the cut out bobbins on to the scrapbook paper and cut each shape again.

Honestly, it took me hours to finish this, lol. So, if you're planning to use not just a plain cereal box but want to cover it with colored or patterned paper, it's easier to glue the paper on to the cereal box first and draw the shapes on the already covered cardboard, so you just need to cut the bobbin shapes just once.

To write the number code of each color, I used washi tape and wrote on it instead of directly on the bobbin so I can replace it when the thread already runs out and I need to use it for a different color. 

I made origami boxes from scrapbook paper to serve as the compartments in my storage box. I find the square origami box the easiest one to make. Here is a video tutorial from Origami Instructions channel on YouTube on how to make an origami box.

I glued eight origami boxes together which are just enough to house all my embroidery floss bobbins. 

Based on the size of the finished compartments, I made the box and the lid from, of course, cereal box and wrapped them with scrapbook paper.

And, it's done. I arranged the bobbins according to the color of the floss for me to find what I need easier. I might be exaggerating a little here to make a point, but it's a big improvement having this storage box from how I used to keep my embroidery floss skeins. Now, I won't have messy and tangled up threads that are hard to work with and so not good to look at.