Finally, an organized sewing nook!

For months, I've not liked the looks of the shelf in the craft room. And lately, it's become more disorganized and has been driving me nuts! It has not been very "workable" as a lot of my tools and notions were hidden in a couple of clear storage containers. I had to do this in our condo, as the kitchen table served as my sewing table. I could just pull out what I needed and set to work.

But now, in a bigger space, with more notions and patterns and things, I've needed to do something with all of my sewing stuff.

Here's the before picture:

And here's the after--much better, I think!

I found the collapsible crates at my local Dollar Tree. Only two of the sizes worked for this shelf. At close to three feet wide but only 7-1/2 inches deep, I was limited to the boxes I could fit on there. I'm still happy with the results! Everything has its place. In fact, my patterns which were hidden in a cupboard, are now easily accessible.

Each of the boxes holds the following: top row-- extra notions like extra elastic and maternity panels, second shelf-- thread and bobbins, ribbon, tools (tracing paper, measuring tape, pins, needles, etc.), third shelf-- zippers and quilting/sewing kits, bias tape, lace and eyelet trim, bottom shelf--fusible web/iron-on transfers and two boxes of patterns.

These canning jars add lots of color with the contents they hold. They hold rick-rack, buttons, small embellishments, scrap trim and ribbon, velcro, elastic, snaps and fasteners, and my scissors.

After organizing all of my tools and notions, I had to do something with my fabric! With all of the fabric that a couple of friends recently gave me, I had to find room in one of the built-in cupboards in that room. I moved all of the craft and knitting supplies into another cupboard, and was able to fit all of the fabric (except for the big bolts of satin) into one space!

Take a look...

I organized by color for the most part. There were a few pieces that just didn't fit into a color category, so they are stacked neatly on top of the denim, black and white pieces. The bottom area also holds some flannel and fleece. One box contains current projects (or ones I want to do) and the other one is full of scrap fabric. I'm so excited that I now can work with my stash more easily. Before, most of it was stashed into boxes--no fun!

Hope this gives you some ideas on organizing your stash of sewing supplies. If you already have organized your things, what ideas can you give that I haven't already? I'd love to hear them.:) Happy sewing!