Disposable freezer containers are great for organizing. Use them for:
- Use the small containers to keep your sewing machine feet and other small tools in one place.
- Keeping your small paper piecing supplies in one place. Use it for your Add a Quarter ruler, tweezers, 18mm rotary cutter, extra blades, small mat, seam ripper, small scissors, etc.
- If you have specialty thread with matching bobbins, keep them separated from your regular supplies in one of these containers.
- Keep a permanent class supply box so you never have to search at the last minute. Put in it a short ruler, rotary cutter, extra blades, seam ripper, thread nipper, pins and pin cushion (or magnet), package of sewing machine needles, an extra light bulb for your machine, a disposable camera, spare thread and at least one filled bobbin. Use an old eyeglasses case for your rotary cutter.
- Small quilt embellishments, like beads, sequins, ribbons, etc an be sorted into empty spice jars or baby food jars and kept in one place with one of these containers. Put the things you use with these embellishments (like specialty thread and needles, sharp scissors) in the same container.
- Storing cut freezer paper, press-n-seal or omnigrip
- Storing cut pieces of fusible interfacing or embroidery stabilzers
- Small templates and rulers
- Sorting your scraps by size and/or color
Rubbermaid makes a large fishing tackle box which works well as a sewing box. The divided trays are
great for thread. glue in the separators
Some have a clear covered box on the top for smaller items and
notions. The bottom holds larger thread, gloves for machine quilting,
and packages of needles. The closure is more secure than sewing
boxes. It is very organized and portable for taking to classes and
retreats.- use the little fishing tackle boxes for individual
projects
and carry thread needle and a little scissors inside. This has two
shelves and is about two and a half inches high and 3 x 7 inches
wide.
Pizza boxes (clean) work great for storing UFOs. They stack nicely and keep blocks flat and neat. Most pizza places will sell them for 50 cents or if you are a regular may even give you a couple. They are also nice to carry projects to and from classes
plastic boxes with small compartments for storing children's
matchbook cars can be bought at WalMart. Use them to store thread.
These clear plastic boxes are just like the more expensive thread
boxes you can purchase in a quilt shop. They are two sided with a
handle and a hinged lid on each side of the box. These boxes can hold
at least 48 spools of thread with only one per compartment and more
if
the spools are long and thin like the Metler spools. Cost around
$4.00 per box and they are in the toy dept. Thread stays dust free
and does not get tangled plus you can see your thread. Purchase
several and you can sort your thread by type then by color.
cabinet using manilla folders/ organize the odds and ends of patterns, templates, booklets, small stencils and such in a drawer file -holds my extra scissors, pinking shears, and smaller rulers.
chalk line with white chalk for marking grids on quilt tops. (takes
2 people but it's fast!)
- Bicycle clips that quilters use to 'tie up' their quilt while
machine quilting
paper clips instead of pins
New Leaf plastic dots, sold on a roll in a small box at office supply stores. They are great for putting on your index finger and thumb to pull needles through when hand quilting. There are about 60 on the roll for a couple of bucks.
Make a sewing table by using a door. If you purchase 2 dressers to
lay the door on, you can put a large cutting mat on top and have a 36
by
80 cutting area.
- an expanding file from the office supply to keep cut pieces of
stabilizers and inter facings used for appliqué and fusing.
purchase fiber board from hardware store, for creating design wall
foundation that you can stick pins into. Cover it with fleece. You
can also purchase the foam board for design wall at the same stores
- put all of the patterns that you print from the net into manila
file
folders from office supply store and then put them into pattern file
boxes from the fabric store
- use the empty plastic 35mm film containers for pins. The clear
containers are better.
You can see what's inside. The black ones are a guessing game.
rubber finger cots from office supply stores to pull the needle
through when handquilting.
tacky finger grip stuff from office supply stores.......for free
motion quilting
freezer tape to mark templates, pieces, and blocks for order
placement.
large frig magnet to keep my needles and pins on when
quilting/sewing.
- gardening gloves with nubs --use while machine quilting - cut off
the tips of plastic gloves and use them to pull your needle through
when hand quilting.
- disposable rubber gloves for machine quilting
- an unused glue gun for ironing
- water soluble glue sticks
- hair clips make great binding clips - usually can get them cheaply
at a dollar store
- hangers. After washing/pressing long lengths of fabric fold them
from cut end to cut end to 20" width or so, then clip the selvage
side
with a skirt hanger and hang crease-free in a closet. If you have
lots of fairly long pieces of fabric designated for one project, hang
them together on a skirt or regular hanger as well
- flat wooden pants hanger to hold cutting mats. It keeps them flat
and easy to find as well.
- Take a skirt hanger and clip your project on it and loop a little
tackle box on the hook.
traveling roll up jewelry case w/ clear pockets. The pockets are a
perfect size for keeping applique thread. In the zipper top, you can
keep needles, thimble, tape & marking pens.
print out templates from EQ, then take them to photocopy shop and
have
them laminated.
Then cut round each one and put a piece of masking tape on the back
to
make them non-slip.
rubberized shelf liner...use it to keep thread from rolling around
in your cart. Use it under your foot pedal to keep it from slipping.
make applique templates by laying a photocopied page of templates
down onto a piece of plastic laminating sheet. You can buy a box of
laminating pages at Costco/office or supply stores.
- 2" wide masking/drafting tape for taping down the backs of quilts
when basting on a table
- 72" straight metal measurer -- longer than a yardstick. It has such
a wonderful long, sturdy, straight edge
- wooden molding strips in different widths to use as a guide for
marking quilting lines
- buy Orvus soap for washing quilts at the farm supply store. You can
get it in big jars that last a long time for a lot cheaper than the
small bottles of quilt soap in the quilt stores.
replacement OTT lite bulbs at Staples and Office Depot for about
$9.
buy the plastic pages that have pockets to store slides at camera
supply stores. Then put embroidery thread into each pocket. Their
plastic will not ruin your thread as will cheap plastic. The pages
have holes to store them in ring binders. No searching for the color
thread or the brand as it is in the proper pocket and you can see it.
full sheets of adhesive backed label paper from the office supply
place.Used on the top of fabrics (instead of freezer paper on the
reverse) for templates for needle turned appliqué
- Contact paper to cover boxes for projects and scraps, different
patterns for different projects
- deli paper. It makes a wonderful stabilizer for machine applique,
or you can trace patterns on it & use it for foundation paper
piecing.
You can run it through your printer
- graph paper
- tracing paper
- brass plated "peep hole" purchased at the hardware store. Use it to
look through while designing watercolor quilts and to check out
blocks
on your design wall. It gives you a different perspective of your
design and appears as though you are further away
- colored pencils
- watercolor pencils (for marking quilt tops)
- Gel Pens
- stamps and fabric inks
- "Sharpie" pens
- "PIGS" a friend calls them - 'Projects in Grocery Sacks'; also
great
for leftover pieces you might want to go back into. jumbo plastic
bags are great
-- you can put your blocks in them.12" blocks lay flat in the jumbo
bags.
- a piece of plywood nailed to the back of your room door. To hang
tools there - rulers, cutters, stencils
- art portfolio that I use to carry my cutting mat for class
- a pumice stone - keep one handy while working on flannel. One swipe
with a pumice stone and all the "pills" are gone! This also works
great on sweaters
- Buy extra fine sandpaper for the undersides of rulers. A hole
punch, a quick dab of clear nail polishand they stick great
- At the hardware store, get a package of sticky-backed sandpaper,
found in the paint dept., and use a hole punch to cut out sandpaper
'dots', to put on rulers to keep them from slipping. sandpaper to
hold fabric while marking
- Someone likes to work while standing, so she had a table built to
fit her standing up. She had saw horses built for the table to sit
on. This
made her table portable and easily taken apart for storage. She has
another
table that fits as a shelf between the legs of the saw horses
- the retractable scissors gadget from the fishing department - you
know, it has a clip on part to keep it handy and then pulls out like
a
tape measure
- rubber door stoppers to tilt your sewing machine table by putting
them under the back of your machine. Tilting really does help ease
the strain between your shoulder blades.
- For a sewing table, use a computer table from the office supply
store. Put your machine into the cut out where the keyboard tray
drops down,
and you have a large surface almost exactly flush with the machine
- electric tape. It's a black plastic with something that sticks on
the back, so you cut a strip and wrap it around my finger to protect
it when quilting.
- Dermacil paper first aid tape...buy it from a notions company and
it's "sewer's tape"
and doesn't tear your pattern when you remove it.
Buy it at the drug store and it cost 1/3 less
- buy clear first aid tape to put on the back of your rulers. These
are thinner than the sandpaper dots.
- 3M Post-it correction and coverup tape from the office supply
stores
to mark rotary cutting rulers since it doesn't leave any sticky
residues.
It's also great for marking on patterns since you can reposition it
without risking ripping the pattern.
- Art supply stores for square and round templates
- plastic tubes Crystal Lite drink mix comes in. ...store different
color of
buttons in each one
- The long tubes used for drapery fabric are also available at the
fabric store for free and can be cut to size to store wall hangings
and delicate fabrics. Again, no wrinkles. Cover the tubes with
muslin and also make muslin bags to store large wall hangings.
- round toothpicks. Use them to help turn the edges when appliquéing
- rubber tubs you get in the hospital, along with the water pitcher,
etc. -- use them to store patterns
- Vet wrap is a stretchy, rubberized crinkled material use as an
under thimble.
- value finders: student plastic report covers in green and red These
are good because you can compare a lot of fabrics at one time. Ruby
and Jade
Beholders
- You can have a transparent document wallet nailed to your plywood
board, and when kept flipped open, can keep value finder, templates,
the angler and various flat things in there - the wallet is kept
"open" with big paper clips.
- metal washers from the hardware store for weights when cutting out
fabric
- discarded x-ray film for template patterns
- the infamous pizza box. 16 or 18 inch ones They're the greatest
for storing
those UFOs!!!!
=============
My Dear FIL is a fly fisherman and I was telling him about a
retractable line
that pins to your shirt that your applique scissors go on so you
always have
them at your finger tips. He said he knew exactly what I was looking
for and
brought one home from the fly fishing shop for me. It actually has
two
retractable cables, but I haven't figured out what to put on the
other one yet.
maybe a seam ripper
==============
vet wrap. Cut pieces about 3" long to wrap around spools of
thread to keep them from tangling, especially the nylon thread. I use
the 4" rolls since we always have it around and I've been using the
same
one for several years without running out. Cut the 3" strip in half
lengthwise and it is more than plenty to wrap around a spool. It
even
works on serger spools since it molds to the shape and sticks to
itself
only. I learned to turn under a small piece or stick a small piece of
paper under the edge where it wraps over so you can find it making it
easier to unroll.
============
drapery sconces and drapery pole to use as a quilt hanger
for a full size quilt
make a suitable hanging sleeve / hanging loops from fabric.
A file or letter holder from an office supply store is great for
holding my rulers, making them easy to access when set on the end of my
cutting board. These are open ended and can be used with any length
of ruler.
A small jar or container full of dry kidney beans (pinto beans or
rice would work well also) for sticking my stiletto, seam ripper and
bodkin into. I keep it at the left of my sewing machine.
Address labels on everything I carry to class or a group quilting
session. I stick them on my scissors, rotary cutter, rulers, and just
about everything else.
childrens newsprint scratch pads
graph paper
glad press n seal
parchment paper
clear plastic shoe bag w/ 20 shoe slots-great for storage
zip lock bags of all sizes - used to keep templates, cut pieces,
instructions, needed is sorted into bags. Punch three holes in the
bags and put them in a looseleaf notebook to take to classes. That
keeps everything together.- zippered plastic bags to keep all the
parts and pieces clean and tidy until you are ready to put that quilt
top together and to store fabric and projects.
sandwich bags to keep the pieces for applique projects sorted out.
Gallon bags are great for project parts
For patterns, etc. that you print off the internet - put them in a
three-ring binders with pocket dividers/page protectors
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