How to Organize Your Quilting & Sewing Tools at Home

Say goodbye to the messy cookie tin solution! We’ll help you come up with organizing solutions that would make even the likes of Marie Kondo proud.

 Organizing helps you be more productive and less overwhelmed, and it also stops you from losing things and buying more than what you need. These six crafty tricks are here to help you get the mess sorted so you can start focusing on the crafts you love.

  

1.  Go Vertical: Hang Your Mats and Tools on the Wall

 There’s a reason woodworking workshops and car mechanic garages usually have a vertical wall with major tools on display. Hanging your tools is not just for burly fellas working in the auto body shop!

 Having your sewing tools hanging on the wall is a genius solution with plenty of benefits:

 

●     You can see where all your tools are at a glance

●     Likewise, you can see which tools are missing at a glance

●     Everything is out of the way, yet out in the open

●     You save valuable drawer space

●     Big items like cutting mats and rulers can be layered to save space

●     You don’t have to dig through a cumbersome stack to find something

You can use wall hangers or nails with hangers or clips to hang cutting mats. You can also use an adjustable pegboard wall to hang any size or shape of tools. The Home Depot has a handy article on hanging pegboards.

 

1.  Get a Sturdy Spool Rack

 Your spools don’t have to stay in a pile. The best way to store your spools is on a spool rack. This way, they’re always conveniently in reach, won’t get lost in a messy basket, and can store any number of threads. Most spool racks can be hung on the wall or displayed on a shelf.

 Not to mention — a spool rack is also a fantastic decoration for a sewing room.

 

 2.  Set Aside Your “Cabbage Patch”

 Any sewer knows the incredible amount of fabric scraps that can accumulate over time. Centuries ago, sewers started to refer to these scraps as “cabbage,” and many sewers like the popular Bernadette Banner now call their pile of loose scraps their “cabbage patch.”

 Don’t let your workshop drown in cabbage — but don’t waste your valuable fabric, either! Cabbage can be used for stuffing or when you need a tiny piece of material for quilting or mending. Get a chest or basket and start collecting your cabbage for reuse.

  

3.  Tackle Boxes Tackle Sewing Supplies

 

If we had one interior design tip for organizing tools, it would be this: use long, flat drawers rather than deep drawers so you can see all your little items and they don’t get buried.

 The perfect drawers for this are a tackle box. Tackle boxes are designed for carrying lots of small, sharp items that shouldn’t be mixed up. Your sewing supplies are the same; you don’t want these tiny things mixed up, buried, or crushed.

 You can also find specially-made tool boxes for your crafting supplies, but tackle boxes work wonders. Just make sure it hasn’t actually stored tackle in it before, or else your future crafting and quilting projects might turn out a little fishy.

 

4.  Use Bookshelves for Table Legs

 We love this idea from Maybe She Made It. You’re going to want all your tools as close as possible to you as you work, so you should have plenty of storage within arms’ reach. Their solution? Using bookshelves as table legs!

 Another benefit to this solution is that you can also make your table as wide as you want. When it comes to a drafting table, the wider the better. Whenever you put together a large craft like a curtain, tapestry, or quilt kit, you’ll be able to lay the bulk of it out. It makes pinning and piecing much, much easier when you have a big table.

 

5.  Use Bolts Like a Fabric Store

 There’s a reason fabric stores have all their fabric neatly stored on bolts. Truth is, bolts are not just great for maximizing storage space and keeping your fabric visible and accessible: they’re also cheap and easy.

 When you make bolts at home, you can make any size you want, too. You can wrap the fabric around a miniature piece of cardboard and stack it on a bookshelf. You don’t have to have large yard bolts; you can cut your cardboard to any size or shape you have space for.

  

Have Fun Getting Organized

 Having a clean, organized craft space is going to accelerate your creativity and productivity more than you thought possible. Have fun getting organized and thanks for checking out our tips.