HOW TO ORGANIZE SEWING SUPPLIES ON A BUDGET

Whether you have a sewing area, room or closet today I am sharing how to organize sewing supplies on a budget within a small space or in my case a notions drawer.

I have never been fortunate to have my own sewing room or a lot of space so creativity is what taught me how to organize sewing supplies on a budget. These creative space organization sewing ideas will keep your supplies handy and right within the site without looking cluttered.

Who is ready for some fresh ideas?

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HOW TO ORGANIZE SEWING SUPPLIES ON A BUDGET

One of my favorite stores for organizing supplies is Dollar Tree. Office supply stores, hardware store like Home Depot are great too but I like to keep it cheap by using Dollar Tree.

For years all my notions, needles, scissors, and spools of thread have been stored in a sewing drawer. Our sewing drawer is right off my kitchen near the dining room which is a very handy spot for fixing a hem, button, or whatever needs attention.

But recently I went to the sewing drawer and discovered this — organized chaos. Believe it or not, there is some organization but there is also a whole lot of other stuff that doesn't really belong here. And each divider is packed to the gills.

So even though it wasn't on my calendar to organize the sewing storage space today I couldn't take it any longer and when I was done I couldn't wait to share with you this clever sewing storage idea and how I spent less than 10.00 to make it look neat and tidy.

You are going to love these great ideas!

SEWING ORGANIZATION IDEAS

In addition to all your sewing notions, needles, and such you will need to store your sewing machine if you have one. I keep my machine in the hall closet with a lid on it where I keep craft supplies in my craft space. My iron and ironing board are in the laundry room and the rest of my sewing supplies are right off the kitchen in this sewing drawer.

When it is time to do sewing projects and I need my sewing machine I simply grab it, the ironing board, and iron and move them near my sewing drawer. But most of the time I don't need all those supplies.

All I need is what is in this drawer so let's break down what goes where in this drawer and how I staged it for everyday use.

ORGANIZE SEWING NOTIONS

My sewing drawer is in my hutch for easy access and since a hutch is designed for silverware and such it already has three storage units. If your drawer doesn't have drawer units that is okay. You can still do this project. A good idea to divide your drawer into sections is with plastic shoeboxes or something long that will fit into your drawer.

REMOVE EVERYTHING AND PURGE

The best way to start this project is by removing everything from the drawer and placing them in neat piles. For this sewing drawer DIY let's organize our sewing tools into three compartments. Needles and pins, threads and scissors, and measuring utensils.

Keep a trash can handy because you will be surprised at what ends up in this drawer. If you have children you may find toys and all kinds of things. My favorite finds were a toy we got from Mexico and a flower arranging thing called a frog. LOL!

Once you have everything out of the drawer vacuum all the debris. I use this handy Ryobi hand vac. It helps me with small projects all the time. Now back to organizing your sewing tools!

After you have everything out on the counter let's organize your threads by the rainbow.

HOW TO ORGANIZE SEWING THREAD IN RAINBOW PATTERN

Your next step is another fun project. I use this handy rainbow color chart to help me stay on task but basically, I start with white, tan, and so on until I end with black. You can download this rainbow chart by clicking on the image and then you can print it to sit nearby while working.

I did all my organizing of threads on the countertop and placed them in color rows. Work from the lighter tones of each color all the back to the darker tones.

Next, I started placing them back into the drawer. If you don't have compartments, this would be a good time to place them in a tub like a shoebox. You can keep them in color rows or you can start with white and run left to right. I decided to do the left to the right option.

I love how colorful the threads look in rainbow order. This section will add a pop of color to our design.

One last tip. When I am organizing the threads I make sure to smooth the end of each thread down onto the spool or place it into the niche on the top of the spool. This keeps the thread from going everywhere and making a mess.

There are so many creative ways to keep your sewing notions organized. Let's move on to needles and pins.

ORGANIZE SEWING NEEDLES

Now let's move the left side of the drawer and place the sewing needles and pins. I first want to introduce you to probably my favorite sewing tool and that is this pin cushions that is a magnet. This magnetic pin cushion will make your life so much better.

It's the easiest way I've found to keep track of my pins and needles. When sewing all you have to do is toss your needles and pins near the magnet and it grabs it for you and stores it safely.

I tend to leave the thread in the needles when I place them on the magnet. This makes it easy to find when it is time to sew something. However, I only keep one or two needles on the sewing pad at a time. The rest of my sewing needles are in this blue round case that came with the needles.

Keeping placing any supplies that have to do with needles and pins into the compartment and later we are going shopping for budget-friendly boxes to go in the sewing drawer.

ORGANIZING SCISSORS AND MEASURING SUPPLIES

On the right side place all my scissors and measuring supplies like measuring tapes and rulers. Also, place any chalk pencils here. Just think about when you are using scissors what other items would you be using and place them here.

This is also a great place to store scissor sharpeners and pencil sharpeners.

DOLLAR TREE STORAGE CONTAINERS

After you have all your spots planned out take a trip to the Dollar Tree for small boxes and such to organize your drawer. Because everything is one dollar I purchased a variety of items to play within this sewing drawer.

One good thing I learned when at the Dollar Tree is a small storage option here, there, and everywhere. Walk all up and down the isles. I found long narrow plastic containers in the kitchen utensil section and small plastic boxes in an organized container section. They have bright-colored containers and clear storage bin ideas.

Whatever your needs, you'll find great options at a great price. Once you have a bag full of containers let's head back and start placing supplies into them.

However, I found on their website a whole section on drawer organizers. They come in white and grey color and they have long rectangle boxes and smaller boxes. Consider purchasing a set of these Dollar Tree drawer organizers to make things easy on yourself.

HOW TO ORGANIZE SEWING SUPPLIES IN CONTAINERS

We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and this is my favorite part. Start by seeing how you can fit the containers in the drawer. Also, think about what will go in the containers.

I found the scissors fit nicely in the long utensil containers and the matching rectangle plastic box was perfect for the scissor sharpener.

On the other side, these same blue containers work perfectly for pins and needles.

And I found these tiny boxes with lids at the end of one aisle at the Dollar Tree. These were the perfect size for organizing small supplies inside the containers. I put needle threaders in one and hook and eyes in another. I'm sure you also have smaller items that these would be ideal for like safety pins.

They are perfect for this little corner of this sewing drawer.

Everything fit so nicely and now it is easy to keep it organized. You might even find that now you have plenty of space.

Last, in the top right container do you see the blue thing with a magnifying glass attached? I found this nifty tool when checking out at Dollar Tree and it is going to make threading needles so much easier. It is a magnifying glass with light. Isn't that cool!

Well, guess what? We are done!! An organized sewing storage system on a budget!

CONCLUSION

Let's go back over all the simple ideas on how to organize sewing supplies on a budget.

WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO ORGANIZE SEWING SUPPLIES?

• Remove all supplies and divide into threads, pin and needles, scissors, and measuring tools.
• Organize spools of thread by colors of the rainbow using the free downloads chart above
• Threads are placed in the center of the drawer in rainbow order
• Pins, needles, button, hooks, and seam rippers are placed on the left
• Scissors, measuring tools, and chalk pencils are placed on the right
• Shop at Dollar Tree for containers (get extras so you can play and get the right fit)
• Play with containers in the drawer while seeing that all the supplies fit into the containers neatly

If you do not already have dividers in your drawers consider plastic shoe boxes to create compartments and then place smaller boxes inside the shoe box. Make sure the shoebox will fit into the drawer before you spend a great deal of time finding what fits into the shoeboxes.

A sewing drawer is a different way of sewing organization but I promise it will make your life so much easier.

I hope you have found these storage solutions helpful. And if you have children make sure to write with a sharpie “fabric” on the scissors and explain to them that they are only for cutting fabric. If you didn't know paper will dull scissors quickly and then your scissors will not cut fabric.

Also, have a family meeting and share with everyone how the drawer is organized. You will be surprised how proud they are to have a neat and tidy small sewing space and they will help keep it clean too. It is a great way to involve everyone to keep it all organized. There's nothing better than finding the tools you need for your next sewing project in their proper place.

If you need more storage ideas try my organize clothes by color, organizing 101 or this how to organize a side by side fridge post which gives you the basics of organization. And here is one of my favorite sewing projects on how to sew a table runner because now that your sewing supplies are organized you will probably want to sew something. Wink Wink!

Happy Decorating!