Magnetic Thread Storage

There’s a wall in my sewing room that’s pretty much “dead space”. It is right when you walk into the room, and it is too narrow to put an actual shelving unit, and yet, as someone who needs to maximize every inch of her sewing space, I brainstormed what I could do to make it usable. I especially was looking for more thread storage with my growing collection of hand quilting thread.

I wanted something with a really thin profile so that it would sit flush with the wall. The wheels started spinning when we found some metal trays that just happen to fit thread spools perfectly! Jason and I brainstormed peg boards, but the trays weren’t the right width to fit a traditional peg board. Then, we came up with this solution – a magnetic wall! The metal is very thin, so it sits flush with the wall and doesn’t add any bulk. We found some magnetic hooks to hold up the trays and they do the job well.

I added some additional hooks for my quilting gloves, rotary cutter, and scissors so that they are always in reach. I also added some hooks for my small rulers, the ones that I (ahem) lose every other week. Hopefully this way they’ll stay put and always be right where I need them.

I love that everything is moveable. I could decide to move the thread up and supplies below and it would be so easy and fast to do! These trays hold all of my Aurifil 12 weight threads, the ones I use for hand quilting and big stitch binding. I have some empty trays on the bottom for future thread colors ;). My thread is in full view, which I love, because I can come by here with my quilt in hand and find the perfect color. I also love that all of this thread storage sits flush against the wall so I have never bumped into it. That would annoy me!

The trays not only hold the thread perfectly, but they keep the thread ends from hanging loose all over the place, which is my biggest pet peeve with traditional thread storage.

We made the magnetic wall using joist panning sheets from our local home improvement store. I cut the folded part carefully with tin snips while wearing leather gloves. The gloves are VERY important, as the cut end will be sharp! We then sanded the cut edge lightly so it wouldn’t be as sharp. Each sheet, once cut, was 16″ x 29″, so we mounted three on top of each other to create this wall. The sheets run about $3, a cheap pair of tin snips is $15 (we bought ours at Harbor Freight for a different project) and then you need washers and screws to mount it to the wall. Overall, an inexpensive project which provided MUCH needed storage to my sewing room!