Let’s Get Organized — Thread Drawer, Part 2
Like I posted last Thursday, this is my most popular pin.
56,000 pins. There would have been more but I moved it from my other website to this one. Lost all the original pins when I did that.
Anyhow, I kept getting comments about using golf tees instead of dowels. Hmmmmmm. I’m always looking for better ideas. So Terry bought me some 3 1/4″ tees a few weeks ago.
And I pondered how to use the golf tees….
I found some pegboard in the shed.
Don’t know how it got there. At first I thought it was left over from our first thread drawer but there weren’t any cuts on it. Brand new. We don’t keep excess building materials. Goes to places like ReStore for Habitat for Humanity or into the trash. Seriously. But there it was! Guess the DIY fairy put it there just for this project!
Terry suggested we cut the tips off of the golf tees and glue them into the pegboard holes. I said no, this is supposed to be easy-peasy. Something I could do, and I’m not cutting off golf tees.
We took the drawer out to his garage and he cut the pegboard down to fit inside. 
Now, I gotta tell you, I am terrified of power tools. No problem with the electric sander but those spinning sharp things. Nope. Staying away.
Rather than cutting each of those tees, we came up with the brilliant idea to just pop them into the wrong side of the pegboard and turn right side.
Which, of course didin’t work, because the tees were all wonky. Wood glue was required.
My brilliant idea was just to smear glue on the pegboard around each tee.
Fortunately my very bright husband came up with a better method! We did each tee individually and stuck it into the pegbaord.
You can easily tell which ones were done with my idea!
Then we left them set for a couple hours and flipped them over to make sure they were all kind of straight.
Some of the tees were bent a bit after the gluing. (Terry claims that they had to be bent before but I checked everyone of those guys to make sure they were perfectly straight before I glued them.)
Then we popped the pegboard into the drawer.
You’ll note that there is wasted space in the back of the drawer because that’s as far as the drawer pulls out.
There’s enough tees there for 77 spools of thread with their matching bobbins.
I’m keeping my polyester and special threads in this drawer.
Here’s the original drawer with the cotton quilting threads. I have plenty of room to BUY MORE thread!
I don’t use my embroidery attachment very often so I’ve decided to just leave the threads in the little cardboard tray they came in. Besides, there’s only one bobbin for embroidery so I don’t need to match the colors.
And that’s what we came up with for using golf tees for thread organization.
I’ve been asked several times what size we cut the pegboard to but I didn’t include that because this idea can be used in any type of drawer–not just the Ikea Alex. One commentor said that she used a similar cabinet from Martha Stewart but used mat board cut to fit into the drawers then glued the golf tees down on that. Brilliant! No power tools needed!
This was a fun project–mostly because so many people had such great ideas! Thanks for your input!
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This is what I am looking for.i like it a lot I will try to find the cabinet and do this. Best thing I saw lately thank you suzanne
I hope this works out for you. I just saw a smaller cabinet online at Michaels that I ordered. It looks for similar to the Ikea cabinet and I’m hoping it will fit under my sewing table.
What a brilliant idea! I’m definitely pinning this for the future. It solves the problem of shuffling through three drawers of thread! Thanks so much!
Thanks! It has made a world of difference for me! Also thanks for reading! Kathy
I love your idea with the golf tee for the threads and bobins
Thanks Michelle! I love having my thread organized with the bobbins. Makes my life a little easier!
This is great! Do you think it will work for the tall serger thread ? Of course using a taller drawer. I have my server threads in jo ann plastic boxes and is not working for me.
You might need to use dowels rather than the long golf tees. I use Aurifil thread for quilting and the spools are just a little too long to fit on the golf tees along with the bobbin. Not a problem, I just store the bobbin on a tee next to the thread. Thanks for commenting Maris!
My organizer is a board the same width and length of a drawer. We drew a grid on the 1″ deep board . Nails were pounded in at each point of the grid, threads are organized according to color. Each spool of thread holds a matching thread spool on top. I refill the spools if low in thread before I store them..
Hi Sandra. Sorry it took me so long to respond. That sounds really good. I love that you can put the bobbin on top of each spool. I am doing that except for my Aurifil threads. Too tall! But I’m still relatively organized!
I noticed you left a space after every golf tee. Is there a reason for that? Thank you.
Yes. Most of my spools are large and need space around them to slide easily over the peg. Thanks for reading!
Why not use the point of the tee and load the bobbin and then the spool. Then stick the tee into the board! Would need a spacer underneath the board for clearance but there would not be any pointy ends sticking up and no gluing?
I really like this idea. I bought an art bin thread holder and it is a waste of money. It would be great for skinny spools I suppose. I just put the thread back into the plastic boxes I get in the finishing stuff that I store all kinds of stuff in.
I love my thread drawers. You lose a little storage in the back of the drawer but worth it. I also bought one of those plastic thread storage boxes and was disappointed. This works for me. I keep my cotton quilting threads in one drawer and my regular polyester sewing threads in the second.
Why not us e the back space for small dowels holding extra empty bobbins
I checked it out after I read your comment, it’s really a tight squeeze. But thanks for the suggestion!
Fabulous! If you put some temporary spacers and another piece of pegboard on top of that, the tees would glue straighter. Then remove when glue has dried…
That is a great idea! My tees are very crooked!
Would this idea work for wall hanging??
If I use golf pig, glue to the board and hang it??
I have not tried that but it might work. Make sure the pegs are very secure because they do occasionally get loose.