Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A New Year... A New Opportunity To Get Organized!

How to create your own Spool And Ribbon Organizer!

HOW TO-
I dont know about everyone else but I have a ton of "art material" just laying around my studio. Toby, my cat loves to make off with a spool of thread or ribbon as a stand in for a mousey- not cool! So I decided to get organized this year! The first thing was to put my thread up so I could see them all, they wouldnt unravel in a box, and most important, the cat wouldnt "hunt" them down anymore! They sell shelves relitivly similar to the one above but the advantage to making your own it you can add anything you want to suite your needs. For example, I have a lot of small cubby space but if I didnt I may add some cubbys to the side of my unit.

In my case I used scrap MDF board that I pulled out of the trash bin at my job. You could use any thing from cardboard to foam board to oak! BE CREATIVE!



<--- This is a techinal drawing of the shelf I created with mesurements(I draw this kind of stuff at my day job) You dont have to use these dimentions- make the shelf work for YOUR needs! *The dowel rods I used were 3/4" where the ones in the drawing look more like 1/2".

After the pieces were cut (compliments to Darrell Taylor- wood shop manager for cutting my pieces! I wouldnt brave the saw) I glued them together with Elmers wood glue. If you want somthing fancier- nail or screw them together.













I then cut 2 3/4" dowel rods into 2" pieces and supper glued them 2" appart. **If you want somthing thats is super sturdy try drilling holes and gluing the pegs into the holes. Lastly, I fasened 2 D-rings to the back of my shelf so I could hang it up and out of my way.

You may paint your or stian it- I havent gotten that far yet!

Here are some other links that have premade organizers for some ideas.....
(Fun ribbon storing ideas!)
http://www.madcropper.com/ribbon-storage-101-by-candice-palmer/

(peg boards and ribbons)
http://hedgehog-ink.blogspot.com/2008/10/my-ribbon-storage-solutions.html

(Ribbons and a shoe box)
http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/package/0,21861,1558003-1018240,00.html#

(metal coat hangers)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eclipse_etc/480571951

(creative storage ideas)
http://thedomesticdiva.wordpress.com/2007/08/29/sewing-room-organization-challenge-part-iv-laces-trims-and-ribbons/

(ribbon shelves)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24692130@N07/3148810252/in/photostream/

(typical thread rack- with a "twist")
http://www.romwoodworking.com/shopping/thread_organizers/

***Please feel free to add and good ideas and links to this post!!
Happy organizing!
:D

4 comments:

  1. What a super article Christine!
    glad I followed your post on the storque article.
    I am now off to check out all the other links you have so kindly posted!
    (because my 'ribbon box' fell on me today and 10,000 ribbons went all over the place - and are now hanging out of every side of it!)

    kind regards,
    Annette
    www.dragonhouseofyuen.blogspot.com

    ps I did techie drawing in my day job years ago!

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  2. This is great, thank you for the post!

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  3. What a great spool holder. Thanks for posting.

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  4. super super cute!

    makes me whish i worked with ribbon! :)

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