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Decorating Guides → Organizing

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Tackle a Tornado of Ribbons with Simple Storage Ideas

Keep your piles of ribbons organized, handy and pretty enough to display

Jennifer Bishop November 25, 2011

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Whether you're a crafter, scrapbooker or just have gift-wrapping ribbons galore, these organizational tips on storing ribbons can keep your home less cluttered. And the best part is they are simple and inexpensive ideas that anyone could handle. You may even be so proud of your new ribbon storage that you'll want to keep it out on display!

More: 39 Ways to Organize Your Stuff

Jennifer Bishop Design

Danielle of the Minimoz blog used a plastic storage basket with holes so she could slip wooden dowels through the sides to hold spools. The holes even acted as a dispenser for the ribbon tails!

Supplies

Plastic container with holes wide enough to hold two rows of ribbon spools
Saw
Wood dowels (measure the holes on your basket to find the correct diameter for your dowels)

Instructions

Measure the long side of your basket. Cut two dowels at least two inches longer.
Push the first dowel through a hole in one end of the basket.
Start threading the ribbons on. When you get the the last one, stick the dowel through a hole on the other end of the basket.
Pull the ribbons through holes in the wide side.
Repeat with the second dowel.

Wrapping Room — San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2011

This idea came to us from the Wrapping Room in the 2011 San Francisco Decorator Showcase. A shower caddy not only organizes but makes a great display for your ribbons and gift tags.

Jennifer Bishop Design

Shannon posted this fantastic idea of using straw holders to store ribbon spools on her blog, The Wight Family.

She found them on sale for $5 each at Bed Bath and Beyond. She trimmed some of the larger cardboard reels in order to make them fit in the dispenser.

Etsy

Painted Large Ribbon Storage Rack - $47

This slim caddy is a great option to keep ribbons in a cabinet or shelf and then can be easily pulled out when working on your project.

Jennifer Bishop Design

Sue of Creative "try" als came up with this clever way of organizing ribbon after seeing a similar idea done with yarn.

Instructions

1. Start with a clothespin (you can find a bag of 50 at a dollar store). Open the clothespin and close it on the end of the ribbon.

2. Loosely wrap ribbon around the clothespin, checking once in a while to be sure you can still open it as you wind the ribbon around. Clasp the end of the ribbon in the pin.

3. You can store the bunches of ribbon in a box, or for extra cuteness make one of these mini hangers to pin the ribbon on so you can hang them near your craft supplies. Depending on the size you make the hanger you can fit 4 or 6 pins per hanger.

Peg board is a fantastic idea for organizing ribbons in addition to all sorts of crafting, wrapping and office supplies.

Hydrangea Home

Put ribbons on display using glass urns, pedestal bowls or any other existing containers you have around the house.

Jennifer Bishop Design

A paper-roll holder is a great way to store larger spools. I found this idea photographed by Vera Ciria on a story she did about a quaint little sewing store named Costura.

Jennifer Bishop Design

Karen from the Buzy Bug Blog shares her recipe for organizing ribbons:

Ribbons (of course)
Mat board (cut to 3 x 2.5")
Rubber bands

Just wrap the ribbon around each matte board and then wrap a rubber band around it to keep the ribbon in place.

Jennifer Bishop Design

Becca of Amazing Paper Grace blog used the same above technique and also labeled the outside of her drawers with swatches of the color each area holds.

Becca says "It's an amazing the amount of ribbon one three drawer unit will store! In the picture, one drawer can hold 140 rolls of ribbon; this particular unit is storing more than 400 rolls of ribbon! I love this storage because I can pull a drawer or the entire unit and set it on the edge of my workspace."

Etsy

MDF storage Ribbon Reels - $6.79

These mdf boards can be used as an alternative to cutting matte boards for the storage system I discussed above. They also have the option to be contained on rings.

Jennifer Bishop Design

Another great idea from Amazing Paper Grace. Should you have so many ribbons that you keep buying duplicates, a ribbon swatch book just might be your answer. Becca discusses how this swatch book goes back and forth from her car to her studio on her blog.

More: 39 Ways to Organize Your Stuff