Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ribbon Organizer Tutorial

I made a few ribbon spool holders a few years ago...they didn't quite hold all my spools, but they were a help!  The pink one in the back is the new one I am going to show you how to make.
I have made ribbon organizers before, but they were too small or too wonky to work well. 
100_1229
This is my pre organizer ribbon storage…yeah, not working so much!  The more I dug to find a color, the more I couldn’t find it!
100_1245
And this is the after!  Six dowels all full of ribbon…
100_1217
So, a few weekends ago I acquired about 50 more rolls of ribbon (major deal~~$5 for 50 rolls, plus some lace and rick rack, plus I donated a large quantity of trims and things I won’t use to Goodwill) and clearly needed more efficient storage. 
100_1247
Since there are different sized rolls, I decided to make one to fit the larger ribbon rolls.
100_1221
I found a board that was 4.25 inches wide and I cut it to 18.5 inches long.  I laid my large ribbon roll along the board and used a black marker to mark the hole in the center of the ribbon spool.
100_1223
I just kept repeating until I was to the end of the board.  If you want actual measurements, the holes were 4.5 inches apart and the first and last holes were 2.5 inches from the end of the board.
100_1225
Then I used a yardstick to tidy the spacing up a bit so the dots were equal distance from the sides and from each other. As I walk to the garage I remember that I haven’t fed my fish yet today…so I stop and do that…
100_1233
One of these days the big goldfish is going to jump right out of there!
100_1232
Ok, back to the project!  I got my Craftsman drill ready and used the appropriate sized drill bit which happened to be 3/8 inch.  Now here is the tricky part…this is how I got my holes to be straight so the dowels don’t lean crazy.  I put a ribbon spool on the board and held it while I drilled. 
100_1237
Ok, now I know there is probably a tool to accomplish this in a less silly fashion, but I use what I have!  I make do!  My mom taught me that…she has eight kids and she could whip up a big meal out of not much or make us all clothes out of what she could get.  So that is my mom’s trait that I am happy to have—she is much better at it though!
100_1238
Looking pretty straight now, huh?  So next, sand it all nice and purty!  I have an electric sander and couldn’t quite find the coordination to sand with two hands and take a pic, so no pics of that part! 
100_1242
Now give it a nice coat of spray paint (or you wouldn’t have to do this step, it works fine either way!).  And yes, that is my trash can lid that I spray painted on.  I always use it for all my spray painting—that’s just how I roll around here!  Let the paint dry all the way (trust me on this one—it is hard to peel a ribbon roll off the board when you didn’t let the paint dry all the way) and….
100_1258
I  used a small rubber mallet to pound the dowels into the drilled holes.  (The dowels are 12 inches tall, did I mention that?)  You could put a drop of wood glue or Gorilla glue on dowel before you hit it into the hole.
100_1263
Drum roll please!!!!  All done…..
100_1260
Total cost to make…nothing!  I had the dowels, paint, sandpaper, boards left over from another project. 
100_1261
Now, I hate to admit it, but I have more spools of ribbon in my craft room that need to be stored onto my new holder too!  Can a person have too much ribbon?
I had linked this project up to Jill's great blog Creating My Way to Success last week, but thought I would share it here too!

Ellen

21 comments:

Mami Made It said...

What a fabulous idea!
Thanks for sharing!

Danielle Quarmby said...

That's fantastic, and you make it seem so easy :) My verdict : never too much ribbon!

Jackie @ Fred-and-Cissy said...

Fantastic idea Ellen!

Trisha said...

Great way to organize ribbon and I don't think one can ever have enough ribbon. I have an ever growing stash that gets messed up every time I need to look for a particular ribbon. I love your collection of ribbons. Thanks for the tutorial, I'd love to try it out.

Naturally Carol said...

That's a great way to display all those lovely rolls of ribbon and have them on hand whenever you want them!

Adriana said...

Fantastic!
I have a bit of a ribbon problem too. They need to be stored, but still easily accessible, without taking up too much space.
This may be my answer...
You've inspired me! Thankyou!

Kylie said...

What a great idea.

Unknown said...

Nice! I have an insane amount of ribbon too. Lucky to get $50 rolls for $5! Thanks for linking up with DIY under $5!

Michelle said...

I need this!

Joselyn @ The DIY Spot said...

Visiting from FJI. You have a healthy ribbon collection. Now you can find just what you need at a glance.I can't resist ribbon either. Like you, I made an organizer as well using what I already had. Please stop by and have a look for yourself here:
http://www.thediyspot.com/2011/05/a-little-diy-math/

Anabella said...

Totally LOVE this idea! It's in my Pinterest already!!

http://cosiendoycriando.blogspot.com/

annies home said...

what an awesome idea

Unknown said...

Great idea, thanks for sharing!

Terri @ A Creative Princess said...

You are brilliant!! Love it! Now I have to convince my husband to let me have power tools! Thank you so much for linking up to It's a Party!

Sewandthecity said...

What a fabulous idea, thank you for sharing!

Jessica said...

Great idea!! I need to make this.

scrapfancy said...

What a great idea and I love the color. I am getting tired trying to find those colors and find I do not use the ribbon as much.
Thanks for sharing.

Jenn Erickson said...

Ellen, this is such a fabulous project! I love the fact that it is very low cost (or none, if you have the supplies on hand) and comes together so easily for a very practical and nice looking way to deal with all those stray spools!

Thank you so much for linking up to A Little Birdie Told Me! I'm spotlighting your post on my FB page.

Have a terrific week!
Jenn

Katie said...

Great job on the ribbon organizer! Thank you for linking up to Sew Woodsy last week. We hope you will join us again!

Katie said...

Great job on the ribbon organizer! Thank you for linking up to Sew Woodsy last week. We hope you will join us again!

Unknown said...

This is awesome! My ribbon is sitting in a large clear bucket in total disarray! I think I am going to have to make myself one of these. Thanks so much for sharing such a great tutorial.. can't wait to see what you share next!