As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm in the midst of a full house orgainization project. While some may choose to start such a project in the kitchen or the closet, I chose to start mine in my sewing room. I have projects scattered all over the house, so my reasoning was that if I had somewhere for those projects to live while I wasn't working on them, my home would be tidier. I'll let you know how that goes. Currently this is the only room that doesn't look like a bomb hit it. It's pretty, smells all lovely and girly and is organized. I'm tempeted to grab a blanket and start sleeping on the floor...
I have all of my trim organized by colour in these wonderful boxes from Michaels. They're usually on sale for only a few dollars each and they come in lovely patterns and colours and have a handy little metal taggy thingy for labeling the contents. I love them.
My button collection has always been a nightmare. If I had just been content to sit and ogle their sparkly loveliness, keeping them in one container would have worked perfectly. My vintage buttons are used for projects though so I needed a way to quickly see what I had available to me. I organized them in one of these handy dandy small bits storage cases. Each drawer has different coloured buttons in it. Labels will be attached soon, but as you can see, it's easy to tell which colour is in each drawer. My buttons on cards are stored in one of the boxes I mentioned above but I'm thinking of organzing them into an inexpensive photo album so I can easily see what I have. I'll store this beside the cabinet.
My pin board is home to a few different collections. I keep my vintage belt buckles here so I can see them for inspiration when I'm making something that requires a belt. I have some random pretty things hanging there too. Old button cards with floral motifs on them that I love, vintage thread that is well past being useful but that I like the look of and a little laminated card from my Dad that reads "In the midst of chaos lies creativity." He knows me well...
I have a number of sewing related things on the board as well, including some needle books, a random scallop template and a chart of embroidery stitches that I found in a vintage pattern envelope. (I once found a WWII soldier's discharge card which, after doing my best Inspector Clouseau impression, I managed to return to one of his family members. Cool things can be found in vintage pattern envelopes...keep your eyes open!)
Cool things can also be found in thrift stores. I picked up these Frances Hook prints for a dollar each a while back and I love them. There are a few on Etsy right now if you're a fan of her work. I just love the 60's big eyed innocence and...well...kittens!
Well, that's it. I hope you've enjoyed the peek into my little oasis and I hope that it may have given you a few ideas for creating your own island of creative calm.
Happy organizing...or sparkly button gazing, whichever your preference may be.
xox Elle
