I Love Things That Work …

As opposed to things that don’t! When I shell out my cash on a craft gadget or an exotic food or a miracle cosmetic, and it actually works, I’m thrilled! And often surprised, too.

Today I am very happy with my new ribbon organizer.

I know, organizing ribbons sounds like a simple thing. But it’s not! If you’ve seen the fiber care tags I make & sell in my Etsy store, you’ll notice that each and every one is tied off with a pretty fabric ribbon.

Like this, for example:

Most of the tag designs I make require a different color ribbon to match … so the upshot is, I currently have over 50 rolls of quarter-inch ribbon that have to be stored somehow, somewhere.

Stored, that is, where I can see all the colors I have – but where the cats won’t find them. (My cats really like ribbons.)

And I thought it would be nice if I could easily pull out a roll to use, and just as easily put it back when I’m done … that’s the kind of convenience I need to keep my studio clutter under control.

After looking at various models of ribbon organizers, and ruling out any with spindles that I’d have to take apart to add or remove rolls, any that let ribbon ends dangle temptingly in cat’s paw range, and any that required stacking, I found the only one that works for me and my 50+ rolls: the Simply Renee Clip It Up Ribbon Organizer.

This wall-mounted, trough-like rack is three feet long, and 5-1/4” deep. Today it’s holding 52 rolls of variously sized ribbon in my craft room.

Since that should be enough ribbon for anyone, I’ve sworn I’m only going to refill by attrition.

I am also very pleased with the 40 clips that hook onto the bottom rail. You can use these clips to suspend scraps, or bags of ribbons and fibers. The clips were an unexpected bonus! You can hang all sorts of odds and ends from them.

There are two scissor-holders, one at either end of the rack. I’ve got a pair of scissors in one slot, and a paper punch in the other.

And it comes with a handy ruler decal, which I applied to the front left. Nice!

You could optionally feed the ends of the ribbons out over the lip of the trough, but I decided against that. The cats, doncha know.

Okay, so this gizmo wasn’t cheap, but I did have a coupon that took almost 50% off the total. That helped!

Quite possibly you could rig up your own homemade version, starting with maybe a length of gutter from the hardware store? And I’m thinking about adding a flip-up lid from some kind of clear plastic material to keep the dust out.

But the best thing is that this gizmo works really, really well.

--MaggieBelize
Designer, kNotes for kNitters
Sandia Park, NM