by Gerry Murphy Mack
As crafters, we are always in need of new storage containers for patterns, fabrics, threads, etc. I have discovered a second life for many throwaway containers that we come in contact with every day.
Did you wash your floor this week using the disposable wet pads? Wet pads come in small and large size blue plastic bins with a see-through top. The bins are just the perfect size for storing new patterns or patterns with the selected fabrics, along with the necessary threads.
Disposable Wet Mop Pads w/Patterns
When finishing the last pieces of nut mixtures, trail mix or candy from plastic jars, short or tall, chubby or thin, look at the container and see how useful it will be for storing buttons, loose ribbon, ribbon rolls, or lace. Glue a piece of ribbon around the lid edge and tie it in a bow. Again use the glue gun to secure its tie. Isn’t that pretty? Four or five jars will look pretty on a shelf or bookcase in the craft room. I have seen very similar jars selling for $5.00 for the small size and $10.00 for the large size in the same discount store.
Snack Jars
Round medicine bottles have many uses. They are good storage for sequins and beads. Keep a small medicine bottle next to your machine and use it for broken and used needles. Throw it away when it is full. This is a much better idea than throwing one broken needle at a time in the wastebasket. I also find medicine bottles useful for a spool of thread and matching bobbin. Medicine bottles come in several sizes so you will find the right size for matching spool and bobbin.
Thread Containers
Do you enjoy the truffles wrapped in gold foil? I do. I find the empty plastic container useful for storing 8 regular spools of thread or 18 thin spools of thread. You can see at a glance the colors in the container without having to open it. The top has a secure overlapping lid.
Some cleaning products are sold in carrying container-type totes. Put the container on your cutting table to hold scissors, rotary cutters and a can of spray starch.
Cleaning Product Totes Redone
A plastic half-gallon ice cream container can be decorated for use as a sewing basket. Cut fabric for the width and depth of the container and a circle cut of matching fabric for the top. Glue the fabric to the container and top with a glue gun. Wrap ribbon around the handles for a finished look. (see today’s tip, “A Home for Quilt Squares.”)
The craft stores have sturdy cardboard containers that will be thrown out. They have served one purpose for the shipping and displaying of plastic craft boxes. The cardboard containers will hold as many as sixty magazines, standing up. The store staff will be more than happy to give them to you.
Cardboard Containers Hold Magazines
Save the bias material from your pretty fabrics. The stripes make pretty ribbon ties around gifts to friends. The material is sturdy and the recipient can use the bias a second time when she gives a gift.
Always look as an empty container and ask yourself how you could use it. It may be useful and enjoy a second life.
Let’s throw in the old adage, “Waste not, want not.” A second use for
throwaway containers adds enjoyment and beauty to your design studio.
WoW Gerry. How clever you are. Who would think of recycling so many things to help make our design studios look neat. Thank you so much and I can hardly wait for your next article. Keep them coming.
I’ve collected the old cigar boxes made out of wood, to store different things and still have a nice collection to look at. I’ve never liked the smell of cigars, but the boxes they came in are very nice.
Your ideas are great but just wanted to mention that in Washington wher i live it is elegal to but a neddle in the garbage so it is very nessary to use a bottle of some type. Nadine
I, too try to recycle things to use in my craft room, because I believe in recycling and also it’s too expensive to buy just the perfect thing for storage. The only real purchase I made was a cubby from Big Lots. It has 12 cubbys that are 14″wide by 10″ high by 24″ deep. Plenty of room for material storage, scrapbooking supplies and patterns. Of course everything that is in the cubby is also in their own recycled containers. I have lots of medicine bottles and I am going to try the thread and bobbin suggestion. Thank you for the wonderful article.
Love and Prayers,
Cindy
I would like to give credit for the photography
to my n b f Judy Powell.
Judy and I meet in an embroidery class in Springfield.
We enjoy sharing our many talents with each other and other crafters.
Thank you, Judy, for taking the pictures of my Design Studio. I couln’t have done it without you
Gerry Murphy Mack
Good going Gerry. Your sewing room looks great. I will use some of your ideas when I get around to organizing it.
Scott wipes come in nice plastic boxes and can be used for lots of sewing needs they stack in a small place.
Baby wipes come in nice plactic boxes and make great tresure boxes.
Bird seed come in plastic jars that is really nice to put unfinished projects in and they are easy to find later
Those little plastic bags sheets come in make nice containers for baby quilts.
Some sheet sets come in cloth bags Makes nice shoe bags when you pack to go on vacation.
I have done this for years! Also if you have ambaby in your house or know someone with a baby, babyfood jars are perfect for little items as they are see thru too and have a screw tight top.
I am still looking for tall clear cylinders for storing machine embroidery stabilizers. I tried the wine rack idea for a few years but I prefer to keep them in clear plastic containers with the label taped to the outside. It protects them from drying out.
The plastic containers that blank 50 cd’s or 100 cd;s (or DVD’s) come in very useful on several counts. The bottom with the spindle comes in very useful as a cone holder for the larger cones of thread. The top part, inverted, is very useful for marking pencils, rotary cutters, regular spools of thread, etc. The clear plastic disk on the top of the stack can be used for the centre of a coaster or a circle template. Old CD;s can also be used in the raspberry patch to keep the starlings away.
I use empty Parmesan cheese container(washed) for broken needles. I have one by each machine. I was just working on a project that will take a while and was looking for something to put all of the parts in, Thanks for the ideas
I use Maxwell House International coffee and it comes in a retangular, metal container with clear lid. What use can you come up with for those cans, others than buttons?
I like the little containers that gum comes in. They are great for beads, hooks and eyes, and other small notions. I have an old metal candy box from my great grandmother that she kept her buttons in. Even way back then, ladies were good at recycling things. I think it is linked to the creativity gene…LOL Thanks for making me look again at other “disposable” containers I have.
Don’t forget about the plastic coffee containers that have a handle. These are nice for carrying supplies in. Small pieces of stick on Velcro can be put on the lid to hold small lightweight tools like seam rippers, etc.
Great ideas and the pictures really help. I saw a booth at an antique mall last week full of spice container filled with buttons selling for $5 and up.
Gerry,
Kudos to you! I can follow your ideas but not sure I can see all the possiblities as you do.
Gerry, Thanks so much for the neat ideas. I save all my metal cans. The cans come in different sizes (ie. soup, vegetables). Wash them in the dishwasher. You can cover them with fabric and use as gift holders. They are great to hold scissors. You can hot glue a stack of them and use to put pens, markers, etc.
Love this ideas. Will use a bunch of them.
Thanks so much.
Thanks for the ideas. I sure will use my empty coffee cans. they will make good contianer for small left over stabilizer.
wow is all I can say
I use to buy the empty containers at the salad bar, this is a 20liter plastic square box that I use for about anything and it stack one on another, and that for only ZR10.00 Love Marie
Gerry…great job. I also want to add one thought…we use large plastic containers of Kitty litter and recycle them, after washing, as storrage containers for fabric. They are white in color, so I turn them sideways, and tuck them onto my shelves full of folded fabric. It keeps the fabric nicely folded and clean, and it I can see at a glance what colors I have.
Kathlene
)
I’ve been a “repurposer/recycler” long before it was the “in thing” to do – Scottish heritage maybe. Anyhow, I’ll offer a couple of things to your terrific ideas. The huge plastic tub-like containers that pretzels come in are great for sorting small scraps by color groups for paper-piecing fans. And, I use the opaque plastic containers from Crystal Lite (remove the paper label) for marking pens, rotary cutters, etc. Thanks for encouraging those who don’t think about such things.
I wash up and remove the label and the glue from a nimber of containers that are to nice to through back in with the recycled plastic stuff and if I don’t use them I take them to the local Bibles For Missions store and they sell!! Well!! I know because I work there one day a week.
I really enjoyed your article.. and what great storage ideas.. Also the readers, thankyou all, for the many other ideas..I just love these articles.. Sick keep them coming.. My sewing room is continuing to over flow ,not only with the loads of fabric [that I cant resist], but all the ideas I get from these articles….that I just Have to try.. thankyou so much.. Judy
Some great ideas! I am a recycler too. I use large medicine bottles with child proof caps and by drilling a hole through the top in the middle you can dispose of many old needles and they won’t fall out to hurt anyone. The round plastic cd stack holders are useful for ribbon on a spool, they stack on the center post and the lid goes over them to keep clean. For a larger selection, I used 3 drawer sections from waterbeds-stacked them(bracketed together). With 3 stacks back to back I covered with a 4×8 foot sheet of thick plywood topped by formica. Overhanging on one end gives a place to sit at my machine with loads left over for cutting table. Keep the good ideas flowing!!
I love to save boxes and containers for using again for something else. It drives my husband crazy. He’ll often say to me “I guess you want to save this, too.” I have even been known to buy a product for its container instead of what it is. I have a little spice jar for my needles. It had cinnamon in it originally. I screw off the top and the little holes are easy to put the needles or bits of needles into and then I screw it back on. I put a label on its lid that says “Used Needles.”
Thanks for the great suggestons. I am a devoted reuser/recycler.
I like the shoebox sized plastic boxes that salad greens and baby spinach come in. Being clear they allow us to see whatever is in them. They are easy to stack too, and if you want a sturdier box, just nest two of them.
I purchase Christmas tree ornaments in tall clear cylinders. I then make free-standing lace covers for them and give as gifts. The cylinders can be cut into 3 or 4 pieces to store your embroidery stabilizers. For the bottoms, I cut cardboard the same size as the diameter of the tube and use duct tape to seal it on the end. I leave the top open for easy access when that stabilizer is needed. Fits nicely in my shelves and each shelf is labeled as to type – cut-away, tear away, etc. Each tube is also labeled as to brand, weight, suggested uses etc.. Very handy.
Congratulations to a clever Sister-in-law!
Out here in the Seattle area, we are #1 on the whole idea of recycling. You have some great ideas and the pictures are helpful. These ideas
will keep a lot of plastic from being thrown
away.
Kathryn