Of beads and trims

I finally decided what to do with trims and beads, the
little things that had been cluttering up my cutting table for several
days. Everything has been stowed away in
a drawer of the under-table file cabinets:

On the far right are the heavier textured and beaded
trims. These gave me the most
trouble. I had them rolled up or folded,
tossed in a big plastic tub. Inevitably
they would get tangled so I put them in Ziploc bags. But then I still had to sort through the
whole tub to find anything. It occurred
to me that I could make bobbins – larger versions of the little plastic things
that embroidery floss is often stored on. It worked beautifully. I can see
everything and I have lots of space for expansion (of course whether or not I
need more trim is another question entirely).

Here is a close-up:

The wooden box in the middle of the drawer contains flat
ribbons and lace trim. I don’t have a
big collection of either so they fit easily in that small box. Again, there is lots of room for expansion,
but I have not in the past, been a big lace or ribbon user. Of course these things could change at any
time.

Here are the ribbons:

On the left are two plastic sweater boxes, one holds
feathers and fur trims and pieces, as well as some leather pieces for
trim. The other holds belting, cording
and similar items. No photos.

I have accumulated a fair number of beads over the years, most of them for trimming garments, but a few just because I love them.  I suppose someday I will have to actually try and string something.  Meanwhile I love just looking at them.  Most of the beads are stored in small, tackle boxes made by Plano.  You can see them stacked on the shelf here:

These boxes have adjustable inner compartments.  Each box is about 7 1/2 by 10 1/2 inches and can be divided into up to 36 compartments but mine aren’t divided up that small.  These are an older model, the new ones look different, and were originally meant for fishing lures.  I use them for a bunch of stuff such as storing sewing machine feet and the cams for my old Elna sewing machine, buckles and interesting decorative hook closures, and other small things that need to be kept together.

Here are some of the beads in their boxes:

I also have a fair number of tiny beads, size 6,
seed beads and a few delicas. They are
too small for the tackle boxes and would make a mess. They are in plastic bags and jars in a drawer
now, but I have ordered these storage tubes for sorting them out.