I’ve been trying to get myself a little bit more organized lately. Disorganization makes my brain go into convulsions and saps all my creativity. I just can’t think in the midst of a mess. Not to mention how it can cost you money. Case in point — I decided to organize my machine feet recently (see below) and discovered I had purchased one that was identical to one that came with my machine! All because it was too hard for me to figure out exactly what it was I had. Ridiculous. So, I thought I would show you all some of my sewing baskets and other organizational paraphernalia.


This beauty belonged to my Grandma F. She was a seamstress who made lots of great clothes from wedding dresses for real people (including my mother, her soon-to-be daughter-in-law) to ball gowns for my Barbie dolls. I’ll have to show you some of those sometime. They totally rock!

In this one I keep my basic scissors, rotary cutter, thimble, huge bias tape maker that doesn’t fit anywhere else, pinking shears, covered button kits, some old bits from my grandmother’s sewing basket, iron-on patches, needles, and probably some other stuff I’m forgetting!


This one belonged to Great Grandma W. on the other side of the family. I only have vague memories of her, most of them with her in the kitchen cooking something, saying very little, mostly all in German.

In this one I keep primarily a stash of bindings, trims, and ric-racs — all the stuff that comes in those little packages (you know what I mean!) — that I got at an estate sale once for about 50 cents (yes, for the whole box of it!). And other random bits of trims I’ve had left over from other projects.


This vintage beauty was a find at a local shop that carried a smattering of things, including some antiques. I loved it the moment I saw it, and after months my husband finally convinced me to buy it. That’s a pin cushion in the top! Awesome!

This one has a lot of things I don’t get into very much. Elastics (why do I have so much of this? I have no idea), bits leftover from making roman shades at the last house, all the bits of buttons and extra thread that come with clothes you buy at nice stores. Must be something else in there, but I can’t think what at the moment!


This is my new feet storage. I SO love the label machine (in case you couldn’t tell!).

There are still a few empty slots in there. Maybe I’ll have to go shopping….


And this is an assortment of sewing goodies, all snug in this great new box. If you check out the photo on flickr you can see comments indicating what all the compartments hold.

How do you store all your sewing stuff? I’d love to hear all about it!