Ruler storage

Organizing one’s stash and tools pretty much depends on the space available. And whether you are willing to spend $$$ on special furniture to house all your goodies to perfection. Or, better still, 🙂 find creative alternatives to keep all those goodies in order.

Take rulers. Back in town, because I lived in a “normal” house 🙂 I was able to organize things pretty easily. I mean, there were actually places where I could hang things. My fabric stash was housed in three large bookcases. So I hung hooks along the two exposed lengths of the bookcases, and that’s where my rulers lived. (Don’t have an actual pic of that, but this gives an idea of where they were.) With no straight walls in the house I am now living in, organizing has been a challenge, and I’ve had to consider other creative solutions. So, I searched other people’s blogs to see how they addressed this issue. And there are a lot of ideas out there! Here are a few…

There are several good organizers on the market, if you are willing to spend the bucks.

Briick puts out several pretty cool wall-mounted and table-top organizers… if you are willing to fork out anywhere from $37.99 to $89.99.

Then there’s a whole slew of organizers made by Rom Woodworking. Prices go from $39.99 (space for 6 rulers and mats) to $139.99 (in addition to 12 rulers and mats, houses 70 spools of thread).

JQuilter, on the other hand, has more economic products, going from a 4-slot organizer priced at $8.99 to a 10-slot organizer with room for a rotary cutter, which sells for $25.99.

If you don’t want to fork out the big bucks, however, there are TONS of ideas from some very creative quilters out there!

One of the most popular alternatives involves hanging the rulers in different ways.  The most obvious option would be a pegboard, as seen here on the Stitching by the Lake blog:

Christine, from Quilt Monster in my Closet does the same, but she chose to cover her pegboard with fabric, and she shares a tute:

And a variety of other solutions. Pine Needles uses 3M hooks to organize hers on the back of a door.

Della, from Quilt Expressions, places her rulers in zip-lock bags and also hangs them on the back of a closet door… on a skirt hanger. Brilliant!

QuiltJane and Kathy Drew hang theirs from the side of their cutting/sewing tables.

The next one I found on Pinterest, but could not find a source for it. Interesting, though, right?

 Lilaciris on the Quilting Board shares a tute on how to make hers using pet screen.

Betty, from Fun Fabrication uses the book sling idea to store her rulers and mats.

Thankful Day mounted a toiled paper holder on her wall to hold her rulers and mats. Who would have thunk?

 LaDonna, from A Sisterly Connection, uses a scarf holder. She used two links from a chain to make the hooks, which are separated with wooden beads to provide some space.

You can also organize your rulers on a table top. Mary, from Pin.Sew.Press., and Kat, from Calico Cali Designs use mail sorters to keep things organized.

Last, but not least, you can also use a plate rack, like Karen at Sew Many Ways does, or a toast rack, like Kate at Two Little Banshees.

So after studying all these ideas, you would think I finally settled on one for my own organizing needs, right? Wrong. Wouldn’t you know it, I came up with my very own “original” idea. I’m actually somewhat surprised I didn’t find this one anywhere.

The exception was my 16″ ruler – just way to big. So that one hangs from the side of my sewing dresser.

As for the rest of my rulers… it turns out a while back I needed a drain board in the kitchen to go with my wire dish rack. I searched and searched, but couldn’t find a separate board, so ended up buying a set. Now what to do with that extra dish rack? Why use it as a ruler organizer, of course!

Pretty nifty, right, for under 5 bucks? So how do you tame your rulers? Any new ideas?