Monday, December 3, 2012

DIY thread holder tutorial

So I had been thinking of ways to organize my threads and do away with sewing boxes that were taking way too much space on my sewing table. Since I did not want to waste valuable crafting funds, I thought long and hard about what I was going to do. I visited my attic and rummaged around looking for inspiration. That’s where I found a piece of laminated Formica and a box full of old rusty nails. I had a perfect solution to my problem and, the BEST part; it was going to cost me almost NOTHING (I had to go buy a can of spray paint!)


So here is a quick tutorial on how to make a thread holder which you can easily create in a couple of hours and the great thing: NO MORE THREAD BOXES AND MESSY THREADS CLUTTERING THE TABLE!

First gather the following supplies:
  1. Piece of laminated formica
  2. Nails
  3. Hammer
  4. Spray paint
  5. Sand paper
  6. Ruler
  7. Pencil 


Lightly sand formica with sandpaper.


Flip formica over and attach your picture frame holder thingies (oops, forgot to take a picture for this step!)

Next measure and determine how far apart you want your threads. You can use your threads to help with the spacing.


My piece of formica roughly measured 7” by 17” (inch) so I marked 1 inch squares thus getting 7 squares per row. 



I hammered in my nails at 1 inch interval for smaller threads, left some space in the center and then hammered some more nails at two inch intervals for larger spools of threads. Two to three hits with the hammer is all it will take. I also hot glued the ends for added strength.



Once you have hammered in your nails, take your formica outside and spray paint it. Protect the ground and surrounding area by covering it with plastic or newspapers.  I gave it three layers of coat before I was satisfied with the result.



Allow the coat to dry thoroughly before bringing it back to your craft room. Select a stencil/ or stamp and decorate the space you left out in between. I stenciled the center space (well, it is not exactly the center but whatever) with white acrylic paint and for the top and bottom, I used handmade leaf stamp.




Next drill a nail in the wall where you wish to hang your thread holder.

And now comes the part that I greatly enjoyed: arranging the spools of threads!





don't they look beautiful?


and is this not an effective way to display and store your threads?! 

You can customize it and hang whatever takes your fancy.

I hope the tutorial inspired you to make a thread holder for yourself.

Happy crafting!

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