Thanks to all of you who responded to my post with tips about organizing your sewing space! Many of you had more great tips to share in your comments. Keep them coming! A few questions and requests for further tips were generated by that post, so here is a bit more on organizing your Machine Embroidery supplies and answers to some of the questions.
Linda had a good point about placing threads in your “ziploc kit” then potentially needing it for another project and having to dig for that thread. I do keep the “kits” I make up all together in a decorative basket so if I need to borrow an item from one I can get to it easily. If I remove something from a kit, I put a sticky note on the bag indicating what I have removed to make it easier later to put it back in the right place! p.s…For those of us who are “thread-a-holics” it is a bit less of an issue since we often have duplicate colors of thread (aren’t they just so pretty and hard to resist)!
Susan had a question about what to do with cocktail napkins. She says she envisions them only for fancy parties. Susan, these little gems find their way into all sorts of fun places! Cocktail napkins are a great party favor for Showers, both Bridal and Baby, when embroidered with cute motifs. They are fun at card parties, family gatherings, game day (embroiderer your team or funny sayings), graduation parties, girls night out, wine and cheese parties, you name it! I have seen these used at kids parties and incorporated into games by embroidering several different motifs to help the kids split into groups for games! They are also functional as well as a fun party favor since they really do work to keep those water rings off the furniture! The blank canvas can be “dressed up” with formal monogramming or “dressed down” with a quirky motif or saying. You can dye them, stamp them, paint them, embroider them, or use rubber stamps! My guests enjoying taking them home after the party as just a fun little keepsake.
Barb wondered how to keep the USB sticks on which she saves her machine embroidery designs organized. How about a key ring with the slot for a written label? I have purchased these at hardware stores. The USB can be put on the key ring and the label can serve to write what category of designs are held within. They can then be hung from a key rack in your sewing space. You may find a large key ring on which you could store all your USB sticks! I also use DVD’s to store designs. They hold a large amount of data and have more space to label. Another idea would be to number the USB sticks, then keep a spreadsheet listing the designs along with the USB stick number, then you will have your own catalog of your designs and you could search the spreadsheet for a particular design. It would take time to set up initally, but may save you time down the road!
Paula asked how to store stabilizers and Peggy had a great suggestion. She uses a hanging shoe organizer with pockets and hangs it over her sewing room door. She cuts holes in the upper pockets to allow room for the longer rolls to fit. Great idea Peggy! I use a similar item, a gift wrap organizer that hangs on the door. It has roll sized pockets as well as flat pockets for bulk or sheet stabilizers. I also have a long basket in my sewing room in which I store stabilizers. After I take a stabilizer out of it’s original packaging, I either use an elastic band to keep the original label with the roll or I write out the pertinent information about the type of stabilizer on a piece of paper and pin it to the stabilizer. Unlabeled, I can easily confuse types!
I hope you found these hints and tips from all of us helpful. Please share your organizational tips in a reply to this post for all to enjoy!
Happy Stitchin’ !
Sarah
Thank you for posting the replies and thanks SO MUCH for the Victorian Heart design – love it!
The OESD stabilizers I use are in rolls. I unwrap the stabilizer and the directions for its use are on the reverse side of the wrapper. I then roll the wrapper into a tube and insert it into the open end of the stabilizer tube. It is really easy to pull out the rolled wrapper when I need to review the instructions.
I also use a hanging shoe rack for stabilizer, the kind that velcros over the closet rod. I use a sweater hanging rack for my hoops. It also hangs over the closet rod.
I tuck the label inside the roll after opening a new pack. I can always be sure which stabilizer I am using.
I just purchased a new Melco 16 needle machine. I’m setting up a workroom (aka Heaven) in work stations. I know it will take time to be sure I am please with it and don’t plan on hanging anything on the walls until I stop and organize the first batch of projects I am starting. I have looked at scads of craft room designs and have found a few clever ideas I want to try to incorporate in my area….
1. Vinyl gutter for rolls of tulle, ribbon and anything on rolls.
2. Vinyl trellis hung from the ceiling with nice chain. Should be great to hang a few items like wreaths, ornaments and well anything.
3. Coffee Cup Mug Tree – scissor storage, key rings with USB’s
4. Fold or wrap all fabric the same size and keep the amount in each piece tagged for the next use.
5. Use over the door shoe storage for window covering. Does 2 jobs in one. Could be embellished or trimmed to dress up!
6. Decide on a decorating color pallet for walls, bins, boxes. Make it a happy place.
Last, my plan is to attempt to clean/straighten/organize at the end of EVERY day.
Many thanks for the beautiful Victorian Heart design……I will use it for something very special for my friend for her birthday…
Thank you so much for your free desings!!
Great ideas for storing stabilizer, when I take the stabilizer out of its original packaging I take it and roll it up and put it inside the tube so it is always with the roll.
I use empty spice bottles to put broken needles and bent pins in. It’s easy to drop them down through the little holes that the spice was dispensed out of.
I love all your organizing ideas. My sewing area is part of our living room and a few drawers in the guest room. I am busy organizing all my sewing areas. I put all of my embroidery designs on an external hard drive. When I need one I copy it to a USB stick. When I’m done I erase the design from the USB stick. It is still on the hard drive. I typed up a list of all my designs and keep it in a notebook. In that notebook I also record the designs I used, the threads, and to whom it was given. I also put all my patterns in individual notebooks (table runners, purses, quilts, etc). A friend has nailed a piece of peg board to the back of the door in her sewing room. From it she hangs scissors, rotary cutters, rulers, hoops, and other notions. That will be my next project. Maybe these ideas will help someone else.
Thanks for your suggestion on the keyring for USB’s.
I store my stabilizers in a large clear covered container, and when using a new one I take wrapper off and roll it inside of roll. My thread is stored on holders that my man made, he took a narrow board about 4 inches wide, drilled holes part way throw and then inserted 3/8″ dowels cut about 4″ long, a dap of wood glue held them in place, the dowels are staggered so spools alternate. Each board then holds about 23 large spools, these are then stacked in stair step way. I then took a labeler and printed out thread number and placed on board for easier finding. With about 400 spools of thread I needed away to store.
I really enjoy reading all the comments that people leave. I store all of my stabilizers in a hanging sweater organizer that I keep in the closet in my sewing room. I also put the label on the inside of the roll so it will always be there.
In storing your stablizers, I use the 3M Cling Tape and use a permanent marker to write on the tape which stablizer it is, also most stablizers (I love Florini stablizers) come with a sheet about that particular stablizer so I roll it up and put in the tube. Walla you never have mixed up stablizers. I have a cabinet & use one Large deep shelf to store them on.
Also I use BuzzXplore V2 to store my patterns on, which is very easy to use and you don’t need a hundred sticks. You can organize your designs into categorize and view all of them in that particular category all on your computer using Buzz….It’s worth the money to invest in this program, it’s been a life saver for me…..
On storing thread, I have one of those 3 drawer plastic roll-around cabinets that I store under my cutting table close to my embroidery machine and store all my threads in it, it also keeps the thread clean and not collecting all that dust that fly’s around. I like putting like colors together not necessarily by thread numbers, I have a seperate drawer for all my Floriani, Maderia, Robinson etc. threads. I don’t know about you all, but I use my color wheel alot to put together my threads when doing a design as I sometimes don’t care for the colors that some of the patterns use & a color wheel helps to solve that problem, I also use the color wheel in picking out material for my quilting…..
Hope some of these help.
Oh, those elusive little USB sticks! I made the little folded pouch from the Projects page of The Quilt Show and stow my precious back-up USB in it. I purposely made the little purse in pink and green so that my husband would not be tempted to use it!
I really enjoyed reading all the tips. I have a tip to share. I recently read an article about attaching wire to the ceiling (closet) to hang rolls of wrapping paper– but I want to try a smaller version for all the rolls of stabilizers I have accumulated over the years. This article indicated two wires–for each end of the wrapping paper. It will be a while before I can try this since I am recupeating from hand surgery. If anyone else tries this, I would love to hear from them.