Like a lot of other sewers, I love and collect ribbon (and fabric)(and thread).
It’s a passion, an addiction, maybe even a disease! Lol
I’ve had many of my sewing patterns since I was in highschool. Some of my fabrics and ribbon spools, I have had since my early 20s. I even have some of my grandmother’s patterns and fabrics and she passed away when I was 9!
I have long kept all my ribbon spools and fabrics neat, clean, tidy and folded up or on their original spools in an antique Austrian Bow Front Dresser or on bolts in a closet dedicated to sewing fabrics.(Something my husband can not even begin to understand but tolerates, none the less!)
Ribbon, like fabric, is just so pretty! Candy colored, silky satin, grosgrained, knobby silk, rustic jute and burlap-like… There are just so many beautiful options!
The problem with ribbon is that all those spools can be very challenging to keep neat and tidy! Over the years I have tried many different methods of organizing them but I’m never quite happy with the results.
A year or two ago, in yet another attempt to get my ribbon collection in order and have it on display, so I could view my pretty ribbons, I transferred the favorites of my favorite ribbon spools to glass apothecary and candy jars.
I did like it and it was very pretty but it took up a lot of space so recently I began brainstorming, yet again, ways to happily store my beautiful ribbons and it came to to me!
Why not re-wrap all the ribbon spools on to something like the cards that embroidery floss is transferred to and kept on? … Well, one reason is it would be a ton of work!
But since it looks like my art Studio is going to have to remain in the livingroom for the foreseeable future, I found it necessary to re-organize my art supplies and Butterfly Bunny Studio.store packaging supplies.
I wanted to be able see all of my supplies and I needed organizers that would fit on my rolling carts.
While searching for organizers that would meet my needs, I came across some clear acrylic drawer bins meant to organize makeup at T. J. Max.
My supplies fit perfectly into the drawers, the organizers fit perfectly onto my little carts and keep all my supplies visible, tidy and easy to use!
While organizing my supplies into these makeup organizers, I decided to try out my ribbon idea by starting with re-wrapping the ribbons that I use for packaging my shop sales.
I was amazed by how much re-wrapping the ribbon spools on to cards condensed the ribbon. Where before I had ribbon in two large and messy ball jars, it now condensed down to one small organizer drawer and was much more attractive and easy to use!
I liked it so much that I decided to re-wrap my entire ribbon collection (well, most of it anyway). Looking at the huge stack of ribbon spools, I was afraid that I would be re-wrapping ribbon all month but I had it finished in less than one week!
The steps
I started by choosing the clear acrylic containers that I wanted to store the re-wrapped ribbon in.
I made a template for the ribbon cards in two sizes. The smaller spools would be transferred on to smaller cards and larger spools on to larger cards.
I estimated the sizes of card I would need to fit into the chosen container by determining the appropriate height and width to fit and then leaving space to allow for wrapping the ribbon and still being able to easily open and close the container drawer.
I then cut backing board to that size, using a slide paper cutter. To make sure that it was the correct size, I partially wrapped one card and tried it in my acrylic container. I lucked out and had estimated correctly! I removed the partially wrapped ribbon and cut 20 ribbon cards to start with.
For fun, I stamped the top fronts and bottom backs of the bigger cards and punched holes in two edges of the smaller cards(to thread the starting and possibly end piece of narrow ribbon through)
One spool of ribbon at a time, I labeled each ribbon card on the top back with the ribbon width and if it was an entire spool of ribbon, I listed the yardage. On the bottom back of the board I listed the fiber content.
After that, I wrapped the ribbon, being careful not to pull the ribbon to tight, so that I would not stretch it.
The entire process took about 4 days and I think I worked at it about 4 hours per day. I’m so happy that I took the time to do this project! Now, instead of tons of unruly spools, I have tidy little bundles of pretty ribbon that fit perfectly into the clear acrylic organizers!
