Thread Storage

My dream space to work and create may still be in the distant future but the need to organize is long over due! Since the arrival of our second child I have decided that if I have any chance at taking advantage of the little time I get to sew that I had better get things in order.

I'm fairly new to sewing. I took a home economics class in eighth grade that touched on the subject briefly, but didn't even think about sewing again until I found out I was pregnant for the first time. (Looking at tiny homemade things when you're hormonal is dangerous!)  I got my sewing machine shortly after Amelia was born and slowly started accumulating things as I would work on projects. Now here we are two years later and my project list has grown and so has the mess of supplies you can find nesting in any free space in our home.

I saw the idea for this way of storing thread a while back and made a mental note that it needed to be on my to-do list. I love having things very organized and I also like things pretty so that I'm inspired to use them and this project happens to do both! (Sorry, there are no step-by-step photos. There were a lot of 'helping hands' with this project!)

Supplies:

open picture frame 11" x 14" (I got mine at Hobby Lobby 1/2 price)
1/4" backer board cut to 11" x 14" (most home improvement stores will cut this for you)
fabric cut to 14" x 17"
30- 2 1/2" finishing nails
staple gun
hammer
ruler
pen
worktable that can take a beating!

Directions:

Lay fabric face down on a sturdy workspace and place backer board on top. Fold the fabric over the board and staple down, alternating sides to make sure it stays flat and evenly pulled.
Next, using your ruler and pen, mark your grid for nail placement. Starting 2" from the top and 1 1/2" from the side make your first mark and mark every two inches until you reach the other side. (5 total) Move down two inches and repeat and continue to do so until you reach the bottom. (6 total)
The next step is hammering in the nails. The backer board isn't very think so it's easy to hammer through the board so be careful! (I enlisted my husbands help for this step and twice we had to pry the board off the table. Oops!) Place one nail at every pen mark and hammer in until the tip pierces the back. (Any less and they are wobbly, any more you will have nailed it to the surface!)
Finally, place the board into the frame (mine had no way of holding the board in so we stapled it.) Then load it up with your spools of thread and place it where it will be handy for that next sewing project!