Embroidery To-Go, How to Travel with Your Projects

Hi, friends!

One of my favorite aspects of embroidery is how mobile it is. It’s an easy craft to pick up and pack up whenever you need to! As someone who has traveled quite a lot with my supplies, here are some tips that I recommend. 

What You Need

First, begin by gathering all of your basic materials for any project. I’d recommend following my base “recipe” for any embroidery project, outlined in my Getting Started series. Depending on how far you are in your project, you may carry more or less of these materials at a time. For example, if you’ve already begun stitching, you can probably leave your transfer pencil and design at home since you would have already completed the transferring process at this point. 

In addition to all your base materials, I would recommend bringing back ups of thread and needles. You should carry double (sometimes triple) the amount of thread with you. Since you’ll be on the move, you want to make sure that you have all the necessary colors with back ups. You don’t want to run out or have to make a trip to the craft store in the middle of your project. 

With this same thought in mind, I would recommend bringing a back-up needle just in case your current needle breaks or you misplace it. Always bring more than you think you’ll need to be safe. The good news is embroidery supplies are very lightweight and compact so, it shouldn’t be a nuisance to carry. 

Keeping Things Together

Packed tote bag embroidery supplies

The simple answer is to throw everything into a purse or bag, but, like most things in life, it’s not that simple. If you did that, things would get lost or tangled or dirty. Your needles and scissors would poke tiny holes into your bag, and the fabric in your hoop would be at risk for warping or losing its shape. We don’t want any of that. All that will give you is a headache and will make traveling with your projects more stressful.

My advice would be to package all your materials together in a zip-up bag or even a container. There are many thread-organizer boxes, but also using little boxes or tins that you have laying around can work. I also like using little reusable zip-pouches. In a pinch, even a gallon-sized ziploc baggie can work. It’s generally large enough to contain your hoop in addition to all of your other loose materials. It doesn’t have to be fancy to be functional! 

By placing your materials in something like a pouch or container provides a protective barrier. It will keep everything together and will prevent that “headache” of misplacing or dulling your materials when they’re just swirling around a tote bag. While ziploc baggies and pouches work, they are still malleable. Keep this in mind as you plan your travel. If you’re going on a longer trip where your materials are at risk for being squished, maybe a container is better as it will protect your project more. If you’re just going to a coffee shop or a friend’s house, using a baggie or pouch should be fine because the transportation journey is shorter. 

Hot Tips For Flying & Road Tripping with Supplies

1. For flying, I would recommend carrying your materials in your carry-on bag. This way, you can work on your projects on the plane or in the terminal. But also because you can keep an eye on your materials to make sure there is no damage. I like to use a tin to carry my supplies so that they don’t get smooshed!
2. Keep in mind that you are traveling with needles and scissors. I have only ever been stopped once by the TSA about my embroidery supplies, and while they investigated, they did not take my scissors. The reason being is that my scissor length was less than 4 inches from the pivot point. Small scissors that meet these requirements are allowed. Most embroidery scissors meet these parameters, but it’s always smart to double check that yours aren’t too long before you leave.
   

   Clever Poppy Monstera Needle Minder

3. Consider using a “needle-minder” to keep track of your needles! Needle-minders are basically pins with a magnetic backing so that your needles will adhere to to keep from rolling away. There are so many cute ones for purchase on Etsy!
4. When stitching on a plane, there will be some discard thread from when you come to the end of a stitch. Since you will have limited access to a trash receptacle during your flight, I like to carry a small snack baggie with me so I can discard my thread scraps until I have access to a real trash can. Not only will this keep your space tidy, but it is respectful to the flight attendants and guests around you. Flight attendants do come around on most flights to collect trash, and being able to hand them a sealed bag of your scraps will make cleaning up easier for them. Additionally, this keeps thread from falling onto the floor or potentially into the personal space of other guests around you. This advice can also apply to road trips. With limited access to trash cans, keep a small baggie with you to discard all of your thread scraps. This will keep your car tidy and will be easy to throw away whenever you need to.

However you choose to travel–by planes, trains, or cars–bring your embroidery projects along for the ride!