Anyone who spends time making their own outdoor gear, bags, or apparel knows the feeling of finishing a big project. You finally stitch that last seam, trim the threads, and admire your work, but then you turn around and face your workspace. While folding up large yards of canvas or nylon is pretty straightforward, dealing with the leftover straps and trims is a completely different story. If you toss all those leftover narrow goods into a single drawer, you’re going to end up with an incredibly frustrating knot of webbing, elastic, and binding tape the next time you need them.
Getting your workspace organized isn’t just about making things look pretty. It’s about saving time and protecting your materials so they’re ready to use when inspiration strikes again. Whether you have three feet of nylon webbing or ten yards of shock cord left over, finding the right storage method keeps your supplies in pristine condition. Let’s look at a few clever ways to store these essential crafting materials.
The Cardboard Wrap Technique
One of the most cost-effective ways to manage your leftover straps is to repurpose things you already have lying around the house. Empty shipping boxes are perfect for this. Cut the cardboard into uniform rectangles. You can make them whatever size fits your storage bins best. Then, simply take your leftover webbing or elastic and wrap it snugly around the cardboard.
To keep the ends from unraveling or slipping off, secure the tail with a simple rubber band or a piece of masking tape. If you want to be extra organized, use a marker to write the length and width of the material directly on the cardboard. The next time you need a specific length of nylon strapping for a backpack repair, you won’t have to unroll three different bundles just to measure them. They’ll stack perfectly inside a drawer or a plastic tote like miniature bolts of fabric.
Office Supplies to the Rescue
If you’re dealing with shorter lengths of bias tape, reflective trim, or paracord, standard office supplies offer a fantastic storage solution. Wooden clothespins are surprisingly useful. You can wrap a few yards of thin cording or ribbon directly around the body of the clothespin, then clip the tail end into the pin’s jaw to hold it secure. Toss all these wrapped pins into a basket, and they’ll stay completely tangle-free.
For longer or wider materials, grab a box of binder clips and a few hanging file folders. Coil your webbing neatly, then use a binder clip to clamp the coil directly to the top edge of a hanging file folder. You can easily fit ten or twelve coils across a single folder. Drop the folder into a standard filing cabinet or a plastic file box. This method lets you flip through your supplies just like you’re looking for a specific document, making it incredibly easy to find the exact color and width you need for your next project.
Clear Glass Jars for Visual Appeal
Sometimes, you want your crafting supplies to double as studio decor. If you have a lot of colorful elastic, bright zippers, or patterned trims, hiding them away in a dark drawer feels like a missed opportunity. Clear glass jars, like standard mason jars or repurposed pasta sauce jars, offer a great visual storage method.
Simply coil your leftover materials loosely and drop them into the jars. You can organize the jars by color, by material type, or by width. Line them up on an open shelf above your sewing machine. Not only does this keep the dust off your supplies, but it also gives you an instant visual inventory of what you have in stock. When you’re brainstorming a new project, looking at a shelf full of organized, colorful components can spark your creativity and help you design better gear.
Pegboards and Thread Racks
If your leftover materials are still on their original plastic or cardboard spools, a wall-mounted pegboard is a game-changer. Pegboards are inexpensive, easy to install, and entirely customizable. You can use standard hooks to hang your spools of binding tape and hook-and-loop fasteners right above your cutting table. This keeps them easily accessible and frees up valuable drawer space for your bulkier fabrics.
If you don’t want to install a full pegboard, look into wooden thread racks. While these are typically designed for small spools of sewing thread, you can find larger versions meant for serger cones. The wooden pegs on these larger racks are spaced far enough apart to perfectly hold small rolls of webbing or shock cord. You can set the rack right on your desk or mount it to the wall for a clean, professional-looking setup.
The Ring Binder System
If you travel with your crafting supplies or attend sewing workshops, portability is key. For this, you can build a custom binder system. Buy a thick three-ring binder and a pack of clear plastic sheet protectors or durable zipper pouches designed for school supplies.
Coil your leftover straps, place them inside the clear pouches, and clip them into the binder. You can use sticky labels on the outside of each pouch to note exactly what’s inside. This system acts like a catalog for your materials. You can flip the pages, see exactly what you own, and pull out a specific pouch without disturbing the rest of your stash. It’s an incredibly satisfying way to maintain order, especially for those smaller scraps that tend to get lost at the bottom of a tool bag.
Finding Your Perfect Setup
Managing your workspace doesn’t have to be a frustrating chore. When you establish a solid organizational system for your smaller components, the entire crafting process becomes much more enjoyable. You’ll stop wasting time untangling giant knots of nylon and spend more time actually designing and building your gear. By utilizing simple household items, office supplies, or clear containers, you can transform a chaotic pile of leftovers into a neat, inspiring inventory that serves you well for years to come.
