Scissor & Craft Tool Caddy

So here's the dilemma - I have these scissors lots of scissors! Sewing, non-fabric, pinking shears, scrapbooking... And then there's the tools, pliers, wire cutters, wire curlers, a pattern notch cutter... You have that same dilemma too, right?

I needed something to keep them in that was portable, so if I was hand sewing or beading at my work table I could just place them there with me, and yet keep them organized and out of the way when I wasn't using them. So here's what I came up with.

A vast improvement from what I started with.

I know... Crazy!, right?

I started with my scissor assortment, laying out the various sizes. My sewing scissors were the longest. The scrapbooking scissors are shorter, but thicker. 

I made sure the box I selected was taller than my longest pair.

Then decided on the size of the hold that needed, so I measured them at the base of the handle. Then measured out a piece of paper the size of the box.

I drew out a grid of one inch squares on the template, cut paper scraps roughly the size of the holes and placed them on the template to decide on the placement of the holes.

After cutting the holes in the template I used it to transfer the placement to the box itself, and using a craft knife I cut the holes.

 

As I cut the holes I decided I wanted to reinforce it, so I used my template to cut a piece of corrugated plastic that I had the same size as the box. (That stuff's great for purse bottoms too. Collect them after the election, they're abundant and best of all, FREE!)

I cut the corrugated plastic large enough that it fit snugly inside the box, then cut the holes in it using the craft knife.
                   
I tested the caddy before I started covering it just to make sure it would work as I had envisioned, (not all of my bright ideas do!).


I selected the fabric that I wanted to cover it with, measured it out big enough to cover the top and sides. I sewed a zigzag stitch around the edge, then turned it up sewed in a casing.

 I used a thin cord that had as a draw string, put the box in it and pulled it tight to gather the fabric up around what would be the bottom of the caddy.

                                           

Now, how to get the holes in the fabric? I couldn't just simply cut the fabric. I considered doing that and using some Stop Fray on it to prevent unraveling, but decided a better solution would be to sew a button hole at each spot. To do that, I placed the template on the top of the box with the fabric in place and hand sewed an X at each spot with contrasting thread.

  

Once the buttonholes were in and clipped. I permanently tied off the draw string on the bottom. I removed the contrasting thread X's, what I could anyway, you can see small pieces of it were left behind. I probably should have used all white, as the remnants of wouldn't be so noticeable.

 I also added some scalloped ribbon trim to dress it up. (I just whip stitched it in place.)  It holds all of my scissors, craft tools and even my magnifying glass.

 I can just move the whole thing to my work table so if I'm beading or whatever I'm working on I have whatever tool I need at my finger tips without searching around or digging through a pile. 

It freed up space on my little tray. So I could better organize it too. I had this cute vintage green container that held the monster buttonhole attachment to my Grandmother's old Singer. I decided it was the perfect little storage container  for my sewing room. I removed the attachment that it held and filled it with marking pens, awl, screw driver, my measuring stick and other implements of construction. 

What organizing problems have you tackled? I'd love to hear your ideas and solutions.

Thanks for stopping by! :) 

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Organizing Ribbons & Fabric

I've already posted about how I organized my beads, and my sewing patterns. Today I tackled my ribbons and fabric. 

Here are my "after" pictures. I recently read a post by Tiffany at Making the World Cuter, and she said you should start with the best pictures on a blog post. And since I'm still learning, I'll take free advice, especially from seasoned bloggers.


So let's start back at the beginning. This is what my ribbon mess stash used to look like.

Remember that roll of wallpaper that I scored from my mother-in-law's basement? I've already used it to make beads, sewing pattern envelopes, and covered a box to store my patterns in. We can now add ribbon organization to the many uses of the roll of paper. I started out with Oatmeal containers. 

 I had one scrap left from one of the other projects that was large enough for one of the small containers.

I marked out what I needed and cut the paper for covering with a glue stick. (I had previously figured out that school glue didn't stick to this textured wallpaper.)

I knew I wanted a slot in the oats container so I measured and marked it out down one side.

I don't have an X-acto knife. I'm really clumsy and think it would only be a matter of time before I lopped off something unintentional... not to mention painful and messy, so I opted for a serrated steak knife. To aid in cutting the slot I used my trusty sewing awl, (still haven't found a use for it in sewing!), to punch some holes along the cutting lines to serve as a sort of perforation. If you're brave enough to use an X-acto knife you could probably skip this step. 

 With the opening cut down the side of the container, it was time to get the paper ready for gluing. I made two cuts so the part that would have been over the slot would fold to the inside.

 Changing the subject.. have you made pattern weights? Mine are three washers glued together with E-6000 glue. They are the best thing ever!!! I use mine all the time!


So here's the first one all glued down and clamped till the glue takes hold.

 I realized I needed a longer piece for the inside. That first one gave me a little trouble, so on the next ones I made the cuts more generous.

I have a much longer tab here than I had on the last one. I also curled those center tabs the opposite direction from the way they wanted to go, so once inside they would follow the interior curve of the container.

 Here's one all glued, set, and filled with ribbon spools.

 Here's the final product. I can see all of my ribbons at a glance without digging through that messy pile. Much Better!

On to the fabric!

 My fabric stash was getting out of control, so Mr. ShowMe brought a couple of shelving racks up out of the basement for me. The ends of the racks were open so I wove some twine back and forth across the ends and tied it off so the fabric wouldn't fall out.
We drink a LOT of Diet Coke, so I cut apart 12 can cartons to make bolts to wrap the folded fabric around. I cut tall ones (14") for the back of the shelf and shorter ones (8") for the short stacks in front.

I used that system for the top two shelves. The very top of the rack holds shallow tubs for smaller pieces of fabric, fat quarters and the like.

The bottom shelf has some larger pieces that didn't lend themselves to the bolt system, like vintage drapery panels. 

I have one shelf finished. I'm still working on the other. Once I get them both done I'll probably do some color groupings, but for now, I'm just trying to get everything bolted and in place on the shelves.

What organization challenges have you conquered with your craft supplies? I'd love to hear about it!


Thanks for stopping by :)