Recipes, crafts and so much more!
For lots of us, crafting is more than a hobby. It’s a way of life, a meditation, an escape from the daily grind, and a burst of joy and self-fulfilment. It’s simply what we do.
The only downside is the often vast number of materials collected. It doesn’t matter whether it’s paints and brushes, embroidery silks, knitting needles, yarns and fibres, fabrics or paper and patterns, there’s always something new and shiny to collect. And we haven’t even started on equipment and machines!
If you craft, you stash. You just can’t help it. So here are some tips and ideas for storing the treasure trove most of us are harbouring.
Display with Pride
It can get expensive, gathering and collecting materials, tools, and notions. And let’s be honest, just seeing them is part of the pleasure. They’re also a source of inspiration if you find yourself suffering from crafters block any time, as a glance over the collection can spark all kinds of creative ideas.
So instead of shutting it all up in cupboards, create a colourful, inspiring display:• Shelving cubes make for artistic yarn storage. You can separate by fibre type, colour, or weight. Hanging cube systems are just as effective if you’re trying to preserve floor space.• Screw jar lids to the underside of any shelf in the craft room, then fill the jars themselves with beads, stitch markers or any other small odds and ends. The jars screw back onto their lids, creating a handy, colourful storage system.• Turn pretty vases, bottles or tall jars into storage and display for straight knitting needles or paint brushes, and store fixed circular needles on an over-door hanger.• Shoe storage hangers are also good for crafting stash. Use them for ribbons, rolled paper, pattern envelopes, tools, or fabric offcuts.• Customise a standard pegboard to hold your tools. You can also fix light trays to hold buttons or other small notions or add mini shelves for bobbins, paints, or glues.
Organise Your Craft Shelving
Whether your shelf system is a repurposed bookcase or a more extensive set of shelving along a wall, arrange things so you can easily find them and keep everything neat.• Ribbon reels and washi tapes easily get messy and tangled, but a simple shoe box with holes poked along either side can keep them corralled. Push a length of dowel (or even an odd knitting needle) into the box from one side, through the middle of the reels then out through the opposite hole. The reel is held in place and it’s easy to pull off the length you want.• Use pretty vessels to hold items on shelves: Cake stands, decorative baskets or vintage cups and saucers.• Or just get practical, with transparent tubs you can snap shut to keep everything dust free.• Fold fabrics neatly so all the pieces look the same size, then stack them with the folded side facing outwards. They’re easy to rifle through so you can find the material you’re looking for.
Creating Extra Storage Space
Makers rarely stick to just one craft. Or maybe they have one general interest but indulge in variations on the theme. Knitters might also crochet, spin, or weave for instance, while sewists might create garments but also embroider or cross stitch. Eclectic crafters might jump happily from one discipline to something completely unrelated and think nothing of it.
It all adds up to many more kinds of equipment and types of stash. And the interest tends to run in cycles, so at any one time you might be trying to store things you’re not using and the stash you need for what you’re currently making.
The answer to this conundrum is self storage, where you can safely stow items and machines until the need for them returns. It’s a safe, secure option, with a wide range of storage spaces, including lockers. Self storage cost is minimal compared to replacing machinery you’ve already invested in.
Storage While You’re Working
There aren’t many (if any) crafts where all you need is what you can hold in your hands at any one time. There’s always a need for scissors, measuring tools, scales, patterns, needles, or brushes.• Handily placed storage furniture helps keep things tidy but to hand. Choose side tables or coffee tables with drawers or shelves for everyday items that tend to go walkabout when you’re not looking.• Ottomans, fancy chests or vintage suitcases, footstools, craft trolleys or just a simple drawer tower will sit happily in the living room while not taking up too much space.
When you’re a maker with a growing craft stash, there’s no such thing as too much storage. Whether you go for self storage for your temporarily out-of-use items or you just get more organised with nifty shelving systems and creative displays, never stop crafting.
Creating keeps you sane and brings a burst of sunshine into the darkest days.
