Pretty Fabric Bobbins

Over the last week we have had sporadic electricity blackouts in the morning. No computer, no sewing machine, no iron… Dear me, what’s a girl to do? I guess it’s the universe’s way of telling me to quit procrastinating and get some of the hot spots in my studio organized. So I finally hit three drawers that have become such mess, I cringe to even open them.

Time to figure out a way to organize all those bits of ribbon and trims that I just keep shoving into one of these drawers, making it impossible to find anything without dumping it all out.

I’ve seen all these cool ideas to organize ribbon out there in blogland. Unfortunately, none of them work for me. You see, we purchase our ribbon, lace and trim by the meter, not on a spool. At the most, you can purchase 10 meters of ribbon that are just wound and held together with a slip of paper. As you can imagine, storing them is usually a recipe for disaster.

I love storage containers. Especially those with little dividers. It makes it so much easier to store and then find what I am looking for. (I am so happy now with how my thread is organized!) Enter the idea of using bobbins to wrap all these bits around…

The electricity came back on, and I continued with my sewing, computerizing, and other electrifying (?) activities. And then continued to make the fabric bobbins in the evenings and at other odd moments. Little by little, I have organized all my ribbons and trims.

I think I should now hit this drawer full of lace, don’t you?

Last night, as I sat watching TV and gluing little bobbins together, Jamie came up to me and asked me what on earth I was doing. “Making pretty bobbins,” was my response. “Ummm, wouldn’t it be faster to just use plain cardboard. Do you really have to wrap them in fabric?”

Jamie doesn’t sew. She just doesn’t get it. It’s not a matter of how fast it can be done. What’s important is how pretty they are. Even if I am the only one who ever enjoys them. RIGHT?

(Actually, I often include the smaller ones in little sewing sets I give my students.)

If you would like to make your own, run over to my website (just click here) for a really quick tutorial and a pdf file with three sizes of templates.