A Very Useful Gift!

My father made me a set of thread spool wall racks for Christmas, and they are perfect!  I had first seen a spool rack on a Pinterest post and thought about how useful it would be.  I took some time to look at various designs, and discussed them with my father, explaining what I thought I needed.  At first, we had decided to do a traditional spool-holder type of rack with little dowels to hold each spool.  Then, as he progressed on planning the project, my Dad asked the question....why do you really need the dowels - wouldn't a shelf be just as effective?

I had to think about it for a minute, because almost all thread spool holders and shelves have the posts to hold the threads.  But for my purposes of storing the threads on the wall, and making use of vertical space, I really couldn't see why that would be necessary.  It was a much easier project to make shelves without having to drill and set all those dowels, and I am absolutely delighted with the resulting racks.

There are two racks - one for serger thread spools, and one for regular thread spools.

The serger rack holds up to 15 sets of four spools (since serger thread is normally bought in sets of 4).  As you can see, I've got it set up on the wall now with an assortment of serger threads.  Since it holds more than I currently have, I was also able to add a few odd spools of thread that came on cones, as well as some smaller spools of weaving cottons that I had, which are now on the top shelf.  It also holds my sewing machine and serger oil bottle just perfectly - that was not planned!  As well, I have a little friend sitting on the shelf to watch over me!

The regular spool shelf is larger because I have more spools of regular thread.  The shelves are not as tall, since the spools are shorter, and I can fit a lot more spools per shelf.  I've tried to arrange them by colour.  You can see that I'm a blue-green kind of girl!

The top two rows are holding a lot of decorative nylon threads that I use for special projects.  I've also separated out metallic threads and upholstery threads into their own little sections.  Did you notice that I found space for a little friend on that shelf too?

The larger rack sits on the wall over my sewing machine and serger, and my shelves of fabric are to the right of that.  I'm still doing some organizing in this space, but it's slowly getting there!  As you can see, there are a variety of sheep friends in the room!  The plastic stacked drawers are novelty yarns, and my beading supplies are on the bottom two shelves in the back corner, since I don't use those quite as often.

I chose the colour for the shelves - it's really a favourite colour of mine and I just love the way it ties in with other items in the crafting areas.  For example, you can see a hank of fine green linen thread that is just to the right of the spool rack that is almost the same colour.  You can also see some fabrics in the stacks that match quite closely.

On the other side of the room are 2 shelves of weaving yarn cones, my quilting books, and a shelf full of miscellaneous yarns.  The maple chest on the far left is full of all bulky weight wool yarns - the cedar lining keeps the moths away.  All the yarns in plastic bags are either 100% wool or high percentage of wool - the bags protect them from moths.  My vintage rigid heddle loom is in the lower left of the picture.

I'm also still working on organizing the area outside of the sewing room.  It has spinning and knitting books as well as my fibres and yarns of various types.  You can see my LeClerc floor loom to the right of the picture.  My table loom is out of the picture on the left.

I also have a nice antique bookshelf full of yarn and fibre in another area.  It also serves as a "roost" for my hens and roosters and a few other birds!

There is still much work to be done in my sewing - spinning - serging - weaving - felting - crafting area, but I'm really pleased with the progress so far.  The racks my father made are a wonderful addition to the space and will provide me with a lifetime of useful service!  I am very lucky to have such a talented father who can make custom spool shelves for his fibre-crazy daughter!