Craft organizing 101

People who are into crafting are usually not dabblers, they go all the way. And when people are heavily into anything, there can be an accumulation of supplies which leads to clutter. Pieces of fabric, yarn, beads, embroidery thread, patterns, knitting needles, sewing needles, crochet hooks, scrapbooking paper, paint, ink, brushes, or other supplies can take up a lot of space.

If there is a room dedicated to your crafting hobby, you are in the minority. Most crafters have to make do with a cubby, cabinet or small space that is often bursting at the seams with supplies.

In order to organize the supplies, an appropriate area needs to be designated. All of the supplies on hand must be gathered up from around the house and put in one place. This process is a big step toward organizing your craft supplies.

Now the tough part begins. Go through the supplies taking out anything that you have lost interest in doing. Sometimes a hobby is just a phase. Recognize that and move on. Things you know you’ll never use and anything that is broken needs to be thrown away.

Be picky about what you are going to save. Do you have tiny scraps of some supplies? Those are probably better off being recycled or tossed instead of taking up your limited storage space. Have you started something and never finished it? If it’s been more than six months, you will probably never finish it. Hand it off to someone else or get rid of it.

Put like items together. Knitting needles in one box, crochet hooks in another. Organize yarn by fiber, color or any way that makes sense to you and will allow you to find it easily. Colored pencils or pens can go in one container. Paints and art supplies can go together. Sewing patterns go in one place. Paper punches, rubber stamps and stamp pads fit nicely together.

Much of crafting involves very tiny pieces like beads, jewelry making supplies, sewing needles, bobbins. These pieces can go in small containers that are kept in a larger container. Large sewing kits can hold many spools of thread on the top layer and have lower levels to store bobbins, needles, buttons and other necessary tools.

If you need a small container to hold tiny objects and can’t find a large sewing kit, you might want to look into a fishing tackle box. They have a lot of small compartments that work well for little things. And there is a handle for carrying the box.

Arrange your supplies by shape and size. They take up less space that way. Keep in mind that you do not want to have to dig through a bunch of supplies to get to what you need. The more you have to root around, the less likely the area will stay organized.

Shoe box sized plastic containers can hold a lot of supplies and are stackable for storage. If you use these, always remember to label the containers so you know what is inside each one, even if you can see into them.

Open bins can be used if there are shelves that are a few inches taller than each of the bins, making the best use of the space. You can easily pull out the bin and reach in for what you need.

Some magazines, websites or DIY programs show elaborate storage bins, fancy buckets, cabinets or glass jars that are crafted themselves. These ideas can be clever and beautiful, but usually hold a limited number of supplies, can be expensive and may become part of the problem if you start making the project and never finish it.

If you do use small jars or buckets to hold little things, you will still need something for bigger supplies. Pieces of canvas, balls of yarn, a  sewing mannequin and bolts of fabric need some shelves, a cabinet or closet space.

Once the supplies are organized, you’ll feel a lot better. Finding a pattern, fabric, needle or rubber stamp will be much easier now. Less time spent searching will give you more time to do the crafts you love.