Before the tornado came through Joplin, I had a nice wall of peg board that I put my sewing/quilting notions on. You know all those wonderful gadgets we collect over the years that help us so much.. Now I'm living in a tiny bitty house... I'm lucky enough to have a room to sew in, but there are no walls that I can make a new notions storage area..

How do you store your notions, rulers and all the "stuff" without hanging it up?? Right now my stuff is in a box, what a mess!! There has to be a better way. What's your way?

I have plastic stacking drawer units purchased at the dollar store. The drawers are approximately 12"x12" and there are 3 in a unit. I have 2 units, one on top of the other sitting on the back corner of my sewing table. My bottom 3 drawers have thread in them, the next 2 drawers have notions, the top drawer has bobbins. I find it very convenient. These are my most used notions. Other notions that are more specific to special tasks are stored in plastic shoe boxes and I get them when I start a task that needs them, put them up when the task is done. I have one shoebox that has everything I need to use when cutting. This I take back and forth to my cutting counter, which is in my kitchen. Our house is small also because we downsized when we retired. It is so nice not to be cleaning house all the time!

This might sound 'strange' but here goes anyway...use your imagination. The corners of any room are unused areas so hang a long piece of wide, and preferably stiff, ribbon from the ceiling. Then get the curtain hooks that look like a S that has one curve squashed up against the middle of the S and its end is sharp (for inserting into the fabric). Put those hooks down the length of the ribbon (insert back and forth thru the fabric so they don't tilt) and use them to hang things on. The things you use less could be hung higher up the ribbon. You could even hang several bobbins in each hook. (Yeah, I told you it was strange, but when a small space you have to adapt.)

Another idea I've read about before - use the plastic shoe pocket units that hang on the back (or front)of a door. They are great for storing all kinds of 'stuff'. You can even find them at dollar stores for a low price - won't cost much to try.

That sounds like an excellent idea! I have some rolls of fabric that are standing up.. I could move those to storage and use that spot to put some of those plastic bins.. That would work.. I don't know why I didn't think of that.. tornado brain I suspect.. Thanks.

The great ideas from whereaminow reminded me of the base ball cap hangers I had for my boys. There were basically a long length of 8" wide fabric with strong clips about every foot which hung from the ceiling. Each hook help a baseball cap. A version to help you would be to custom locate the clips and hang a ruler from each one. You might get all your rulers hung in a 6"-8" space on one wall. The clips should be available at office supply stores.

Rulers store nicely on the white command hooks with metal hooks on them. I have some on my wall behind the bedroom door that way and it is so convenient with a small sewing area. I have some of the smaller rulers individually on little command hooks on the sides of my sewing station too.
A nice little deep basket will hold your small stuff like seam ripper, marking pens, small scissors, Mine sits to the back right of my machine and is very handy when I want something too. Good luck!

i use alot of the plastic shoe boxes and label outside of them

Sorry to hear about your lost. I have my rulers on the wall besides my sewing machine and three plastic stackable bends with drawers.

That's not a strange idea.. sounds like it would work, but not here.. I have a wire storage rack in one corner, a dresser with a book case on top of it in the other corner, there's a door in one of the other corners and my machine table is in the other.. Those things not only take up the corners, but the wall space and floor space too.. This is a tiny room. I can set up an ironing board, but then I have to squeeze around it to move.. So the ironing board lives behind the door when I'm not using it.

I'm just thankful to have a place to sew and that I was able to rescue some of my notions..

i use a picnic caddy from the drug store to store things like my scissors, rotary cutters, etc. mine is wire and some of the thinner stuff wants to pop out, but i have a cardboard in the bottom of the section to keep stuff inside, works pretty well for frequently used stuff.