You know those “empty-your-purse” challenges you see on social media sometimes? I’ve always thought it was an interesting exercise to see what comes out of the purse. Sometimes – it’s some pretty strange stuff. Clearly – lots of us are ready for the apocalypse. In that spirit – I thought I’d do the same thing – except – instead of the purse, it would be – What’s in the Sewing Organizer Bag.
I do have more than one sewing organizer bag (or sewing toolbox) – each of them is set up for a different task or used in a different place. For example, I have a plastic toolbox that I have set up to take with my machine to my small quilt group or in-person classes. I also have a small box that I have set up for mending. It lives in a drawer in our coffee table.
The sewing organizer bag I use most often is set up for my English Paper Piecing project. It’s compact – but it holds everything I need to work on this hand stitching project. And it’s purple. Always a fan of purple. So … here we go … Here it is – looking all neat and tidy.
Here’s what it looks like with the top compartment open. All the different pockets help me keep things organized. I have room for a supply of quilting clips, several spools of Aurifil Thread, several sizes of needles, my macaron needle minder, the ring thread cutter, a thimble, wax thread conditioner, my hummingbird needle threader (I have 2), and of course – my Finger Gloves (love these things!).
The bottom compartment stores a lot of stuff for such a small sewing organizer bag. If you look closely, you’ll see my seam ripper, my around-the-neck light, (and its charger), my Clover automatic needle threader, and my threaded needle case. I also have room for about a dozen of my little hexie bundles – that will (hopefully) soon become hexie flowers.
As a shop owner – I have the opportunity to try out a lot of different tools and notions. Some of them make it to the virtual shelves of my online shop. I’m pretty picky about what tools and notions I use. The tools and notions need to work for me – like I’d want them to work for you.
I pulled out all the tools and other goodies I store in my compact sewing organizer – and you’ll see that they are those I also carry in my shop. Except for those blunt-nosed orange Singer scissors – I’m still working on getting those in the shop.
Just curious – have you ever completely emptied your sewing organizer bag? Are you happy with all that’s in it? Is it working well for your needs? Is it time to make a few upgrades?