I have quite a few lengths of vintage and antique lace lying around waiting to be used in sewing projects, and have been thinking for a while how I could store them without folding them first (they are very fiddly to press if creased). I had finally settled on hanging them over a wooden coat hanger, but decided I needed to come up with a more attractive storage solution, so – via a bit of upcycling – here it is:
The hanger was very easy to make using:
- A wooden and metal trouser hanger
- Wooden clothes pegs
- Brightly coloured gloss paint
- A hot glue gun
- Washi tape
First I carefully painted one side/the front of the clothes pegs. To get a nice, shiny and evenly-coloured finish I applied two coats of paint. Once the paint was completely dry (to avoid it being scratched during the assembly process) I used a hot glue gun to attach the pegs to the wooden part of the hanger.
Once I had attached the pegs I wound a piece of Washi tape around the hanger between each clothes peg, resulting in the purple stripes. The purple stripes could have been painted on, but I found this to be a more straight forward (and quicker!) way of producing the effect I wanted.
In order to produce a more visually cohesive look, I also applied purple Washi tape to the black rubberised jaws of the metal clips at either end of the hanger. The final step was to wind pink Washi tape around the hanger’s metal hook- this looks great and was quick to do, but I have since had to add a dab of glue to the end of the tape, as it decided that actually it didn’t want to stay stuck down!
Et voila, a storage solution that does the job, and looks nice in my studio space (no, it doesn’t normally live on the washing line in the garden!)…
Many Bright Things 
Comments on: "Vintage Lace Storage" (10)
I roll mine on empty paper towel rolls. I’ve been doing it for decades. Then they are stowed in a drawer away from light. But that’s only for handmade lace. No creases – and no fading or decay from dust and sun.
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That’s a good idea! I had been winding mine onto (different sized) reels, but it was starting to take up too much storage space- it sounds like the fact you were using ‘reels’ of the same size would keep it all tidy in the drawer, and be an economical use of space.
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Yes. The same size is very, (OK – extremely!) important to my sense of orderliness. I quite literally get a thrill when I open that drawer and look at the neatly wound lace. Arranged by gradations of white to beige!
I will be doing an article on my lace hoard soon – but the pattern filing system will be next. I think. 😀
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Sounds like my drawer of neatly folded small fabric scraps, arranged in order of the colour spectrum (of course)! I had actually decided to make a second hanger like the one here, so that I could keep the white lace on one, and the cream lace on the other… I think I probably spend too much time arranging my craft supplies, but it would drive me crazy if they were jumbled up. There is pleasure to be found in observing the old saying ‘ A place for everything, and everything in it’s place’!
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We think alike!
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[…] making the lace storage hanger that I featured last weekend (see post here) I thought I’d feature some other funky crafted storage solutions to be found on the […]
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[…] Some of my previous posts on craft storage can be seen here, and here. […]
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[…] some more of my posts on DIY craft storage see here, here and […]
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[…] some of my previous posts on craft storage DIYs please see here, here, here and […]
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[…] you may have noticed in some of my previous posts (here and here) I have a habit of collecting pieces of vintage and antique lace when I spot it in charity […]
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