January FlossTube: Capturing the Year with a Thread Journal

This year I want to embroider more. Now as a full time embroidery artist, that might sound silly, but running my small business actually means I don't embroider all that much. Since it's just me, I have to do it all- from writing emails, creating content, packaging kits, ordering supplies, teaching workshops, etc. There are some weeks when I only touch a needle and thread if I teach a workshop.

For 2026, I decided I wanted to change that. One of my goals is to spend some time each week embroidering just for fun. Not for a workshop sample or a possible kit or book project- just for the joy of embroidering. That's why I decided to start a thread journal. I've never been a big on diaries, but I figured, finding one thing from each day to embroider could be a fun way to reflect on the day and be able to look back.

MCreativeJ Thread Journal Project

How to Start Your Own Thread Journal

If you're interested in starting your own thread journal, here's how. You can start at any time- it doesn't have to be the start of the year like me. Your thread journal could be for a week, a month, a year, or however long in time you want to capture.

Thread Journal Supplies

• fabric

• embroidery thread

• embroidery needle

• embroidery hoop

• a transfer pen (I'm using a heat erasable one) or water soluble transfer paper

• embroidery scissors

  
  

How to Get Started Thread Journaling

1. First, I figured out what sort of shape I wanted my thread journal to take. You could leave yours in an embroidery hoop, on a piece of fabric like mine, or stitch it on to a piece of clothing, a tablecloth, a quilt. The possibilities are endless.

My thread journal is a piece of fabric, I stitched the buttonhole stitch around the outer edge of the fabric to prevent it from fraying throughout the year to come. Depending upon your chosen fabric, you may or may not need to do something similar.

2. Set aside time. Maybe it's at the end of each day. Maybe it's after you finish a book. Maybe it's when you try a new recipe. Depending upon what your thread journal is about, your reflection point might look different. Reflect and choose a design/ icon/ word/ color that most represents the remembrance you are trying to capture or represent.

My thread journal is about my daily life, so I set aside a few minutes each evening to look back on the day and decide on what image I want to represent what happened that day. I will admit, I don't embroider my designs every day. Instead, I keep a list in my Notes app and after a few days or at the end of the week, I draw my designs and then embroider them.

3. Next, transfer the design. I use a heat erasable pen to draw directly onto my fabric. If this sounds daunting to you, you could find a design online and print or trace it onto a water soluble stabilizer to transfer it to your fabric.

I chose to have my designs fill in organically, but you might want your designs to display in a specific order. Other thread journals I've seen have included:

• The fabric is in the hoop, split the year into pie shapes and each month a sliver of the pie is filled with designs

• Designs are stitched in horizontal rows so you can see what order things happen in

• Designs are stitched in vertical columns to track each month

• The thread journal is a book and each month has it's own page or spread of pages

4. Now the best part, embroider! Choose thread colors and embroidery stitches to bring your design to life and fill in the thread journal.

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