Okay. I got to admit, I’m not the most organized person. Terry just walks into my office and shakes his head.
But it’s not really disorganization. It’s more like clutter.
Because my head is cluttered.
Therefore my office/sewing room is cluttered.
I always have two sewing projects going and strewn about in the sewing corner.
Making some mermaids and a heart quilt.
Then there are the websites to update and the community groups I’m involved with. That requires layers of paper.
Plus all those silly day to day things (like paying the bills and cleaning, fortunately since Terry retired I don’t cook anymore)
You get the idea. I’m a busy person! With stacks and stacks of stuff!
But I really want to be be clutter-free.
Especially in my head.
I got this cabinet from Ikea last year. Ikea calls it Alex. I call it Perfect!
And I love love love it.
I keep all of my necessary sewing paraphernalia in there. Like thread and feet and needles and measuring tapes and…..
it would have really been perfect if I could have stored the bobbins on top of the spools of thread. I just like to have them matched up so I can just pull them out without hunting for the right bobbin.
I had this case but the inserts weren’t long enough to put the bobbins on top.
So I told Terry what I really really NEEDED. And (after he was done cooking for a moment) he made it!
Terry cut pegboard to fit the drawerThen cut dowels that were long enough for both the spool of thread and the bobbin.Figured out how far to space the dowelsSanded one end of the dowels down so the bobbin would fit on it. (That’s my sander although I don’t use it often anymore!)Set the dowels up with the right spacingAnd glued them in!Perfect!
Jack was here last week and decided I needed some help with the thread and squeezed every spool he could find in and around the dowels. I think it’s a little better my way!
Jack is being very silly in this picture. Someone forgot to pack his pajamas so he had to wear these way too small ones that I had tucked away. He was very happy to help me with my spools of thread but was not happy that Grandma was making mermaids instead of puppies!I usually have the embroidery unit for the sewing machine here but it’s on the machine right now. It’s very big and cumbersome. Not sure where I should store it. Jack also wanted to know why I had a dinosaur!
Here’s the machine with that embroidery unit! And the instruction booklet. Still need to refer to the manual!Might as well reveal what’s in the drawers! The second one is regular sewing stuff. Those are the spools of thread that Jack tried to squeeze in. He’s such a big helper!This is where I keep all the stuff that goes with the embroidery unit. There’s usually more in there but I’m using it. So much stuff with the new machine! Bobbin thread, embroidery thread, frames, stabilizer. I had NO idea!This is where I keep things for quilting. Graph paper and colored pencils are very important for my quilting process! And yes, it really is that neat!And here’s my “junk” drawer. Where I put those necessary sewing items that do not fit any specific area.
And I hope you noted I still had thread in two of those drawers. So I possibly need a special thread drawer for all of the embroidery thread! And one for the extra thread that didn’t fit in my special thread drawer although Jack tried really hard to cram it in.
And I JUST WENT TO IKEA YESTERDAY! A new Alex for me! More work for Terry!
Yippee!
(But my head is still cluttered!)
4 thoughts on “Let’s get Organized!”
You can’t have just one Alex! Actually, it’s nearly impossible to have just ONE of anything from Ikea – LOL That Terry, what a guy 😉
Hi. I had an idea for using the negative (useless) space at the back of the drawer. If the pegboard was cut shorter in length by the measurement of negative space, you could slide it back and forth with a tiny knob handle at the front of the pegboard thus enabling you to put something easily moved when you want the thread at the back. Something like a nice acrylic box with attachments or whatever. Just a thought to maybe improve your very nice thread storage. Thank you for posting this idea.
And I love love love it.
You can’t have just one Alex! Actually, it’s nearly impossible to have just ONE of anything from Ikea – LOL That Terry, what a guy 😉
I have 5 of them. Each drawer labeled with specific use, and I have fabrics in them as well, sorted by color. Nice idea, thank you.
Hi Kathi, I LOVE all of my Ikea Alex cabinets. I have three now. It really helps keep all my different projects organized!
Hi. I had an idea for using the negative (useless) space at the back of the drawer. If the pegboard was cut shorter in length by the measurement of negative space, you could slide it back and forth with a tiny knob handle at the front of the pegboard thus enabling you to put something easily moved when you want the thread at the back. Something like a nice acrylic box with attachments or whatever. Just a thought to maybe improve your very nice thread storage. Thank you for posting this idea.