CraftMemo

Craftmemo is a free web based inventory system designed by a crafter for crafters. With it you are able to organize and keep track of craft supplies, projects and the suppliers you use. With each item in the inventory you can associate an image which is a nice touch.

With Craftmemo you are able to see what supplies are needed, see what you already have, and calculate the cost of a project. The software will generate a shopping list or full inventory not of just your items but also your suppliers.

I really liked the ability to upload images of craft supplies and completed projects and the ability to generate a shopping list but I am not sure how useful it would be to keep track of threads which is the main thing I want to track. I found it very time consuming entering just a few threads. Take look at these Thread listings to get a sense of the quantity of different threads on the market. When you consider that the ideal would be the ability to track a good quantity of these I am not sure how practical this system would be.

Next to the product price it would be nice if you could record that it is priced either Australian dollars, US dollars, English pounds or Euros. I know I shop all over the world and I think most web savy crafters who would be using this inventory system would too. I could just convert everything to dollars but as anyone who shops internationally soon learns our dollar goes up and down which can make a huge impact on a large purchase. I often wait for our dollar to be strong before placing an order.

You have no way of selecting anything other than a basic colours in a mandatory field. I found this annoying as it would be really nice to be able to record thread colours such as DMC numbers or names or use the manufacturers colour such as Needle Necessities floss 190 Finian’s Rainbow here or be able to leave it blank and use the supplier product ID

However I can see how useful it would be for some crafters and as a way to keep control of your stuff or prevent doubling up on what you buy the shopping list feature is good. While doing the research on this I found another review by Natalie Zee who has provided screenshots and reviews Craft Memo from the point of view of a knitter.

Keeping an inventory can be a challenge. Using Microsoft Excel is one way to organize an inventory. However this way of working quickly becomes very cumbersome. I find what I most often use is these Floss checklists which has an inventory option. I print it out and take a copy shopping with me. This however is also not ideal. There is the Organised expressions for Needleworkers inventory system which I would have long since purchased had a version been available for Macs.

I am not sure CraftMemo is quite so useful to stitchers but I plan to tinker with it and watch how it develops. In the meanwhile I have everything stored in a database using FilemakerPro.