Mardi Gras Cupcake Cross Stitch Pattern

If you’ve been around the cross stitch community for long, you might have come across the word ORT. It’s commonly used as a acronym for “old ratty thread,” but what it means is the little leftover bits of thread when you’ve finished a project.

If you have a little thread still on your needle when you’re done stitching, that’s and ORT.

Of course you can just throw that little bit of thread away, regardless of whether it’s a usable length. And I’m sure a lot of people do.

(I’m not one of those people, though. I keep my little threads, the extra yarn from weaving in ends on projects, tiny scraps of fabric, etc. and use them as stuffing in projects.)

Why would you want to keep ORTs? I’m sure other people use them as stuffing. You can also just keep them in a jar because they’re pretty. I’ve seen people make Christmas ornaments by putting their ORTs in a glass ball ornament with the year on it. I’m sure there are other options.

One thing you should never do, as this post all about ORTs from Sirious Stitches reminds us, is to put them out for birds. It’s a tangling and choking hazard and the bright colors could actually attract predators.

That post mentions both the stuffing and Christmas ornament idea, and it has lots of cute pictures of other ways to keep/display/use ORTs so they aren’t just cluttering up your workspace. Which I admit mine do from time to time as well, though I do have a dedicated jar for all the threads (sewing machine thread, too), yarn ends, fabric bits and such that I try to load things up in.

How about you? Do you keep your ORTs? Had you even heard of such a thing before today? If you do keep them I’d love to know what you do with them!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches.]