Organizing The Small Stuff ~

After surviving another round of allergy tests with the little man (my ears are still bleeding), M and I managed to actually go out to a real-live restaurant. By ourselves. With no kids.  It felt so weird to eat at my own pace and have uninterrupted adult conversation. But I sure did enjoy my meal and quiet time with the hubs. One of the things I like most about M’s job is that he always has one weekday off. So now that all three boys are in school we can have adult time and do things we want at our pace.

After our yummy lunch, I headed into the studio to clean up and find a way to keep all my small tools and gadgets organized.  I needed them to be easy to see and open so I decided on plastic drawers.  Sterlite makes these and they are 12″x12″ with 3 drawers each. They stack easily and fit perfectly between my two industrial tables.  I am working on labeling them with my Cricut machine, but that may take some time.  Here is how I have them sorted:

1. Bobbins (in a small tray that fits in drawer) and most used tools such as seam ripper, scissors,etc.

2. Marking pencils, pens, erasers, various glue.

3. Tape and assorted screwdrivers and machine parts/feet.

4.  Snaps, Rivets, Hardware.

5.  Various D-Rings, rectangle rings, key fobs, magnetic snaps.

6.  Various tapes – bias, iron-on, etc.

7. Binder clips ( I use small and large office clips for my bag construction), Raspberry Sunshine sew-in labels.

8. Twill tape rolls, drawstring rope, etc.

Here is another one I have under my studio table.

With a studio that is on the small side like mine, these drawers keep things out of the way and organized. It works for me. For the moment!  How do you store your small sewing tools and gadgets?