Thread Organizer Box for Skinny Spools -- Sulky, Gutermann, Mettler Metrosene (Capacity: 175 Spools)

This thread organizer is superior to what you can find pre-made, especially if you have a lot of the skinny style thread spools.

Why?

It holds the thread spools in high density (capacity of 175 per box), but so that the colors are all visible.

It keeps matching spools and bobbins together on the same peg.

It's portable, compact, and neat. The box can be stored in any orientation without making a mess of the thread, and the clear plastic allows the contents to be instantly identified.

The box in these pictures is only half-filled (8 rows out of a possible 14).

Step 1: Gather Your Materials & Tools

MATERIALS:

1 - ArtBin Super Satchel, single compartment, not slim, not with thread insert (available at Jo-Anns Fabric) - $14.49 ea
7 - ClosetMaid Tie & Belt Racks (available at Home Depot) - $5.47 ea
2 1/2 feet wood trim (I used 3/8 inch by 3/4 inch artificial wood quarter round from Home Depot)

TOOLS:

Bolt Cutter
3/16 inch drill bit
Hack saw
Adjustable wrench (or something else to straighten the pegs)

Step 2: Prepare the Wooden Supports

Cut two lengths of wood trim to fit inside the ArtBin box, along the sides (about 13 and 3/4 inches long).

Pencil a line 3/8 inches from the right-angle edge on the longer flat side of the wooden trim. (I just traced one piece of trim onto the other.)

Mark drill points along that line every 7/8 inches. Begin with the first hole as near as you can fit it near the front edge of the box, so any extra room will be toward the back of the box.

NOTE: In this, my prototype, I originally marked 3/4 inch increments (the straight lines) and then changed to one inch increments (the circles marks) before I started drilling.

I think now that one inch was a bit too much room. Also, 7/8 inch intervals will allow for 14 holes, a convenient even number, whereas mine has only 13.

Use the 3/16 inch drill bit to drill holes partway through the trim. If you're using the same artificial wood trim that I did, as soon as you are through the resistance formed by the compressed surface, you're done drilling.

I drilled by holding the drill bits in my fingers for better control than I'd have with a drill, but that's up to you.

Step 3: Prepare the Thread Pegs

Use the bolt cutters to cut apart the belt and tie racks.

Snug the cutters up against the inside of the vertical support furthest from the edge. (See the picture with the bolt cutters.) Doing this on both sides will result in approximately the right width for one of the rods.

To cut the other rod, position the cutters not quite snug against the first of the pegs.

Now try fitting the rods into the wooden trim inside the box. Cut the rods down further as required, but don't make them so short as to fall out of the wooden trim when everything is tucked into place.

Step 4: Straighten the Pegs

Use the adjustable wrench to straighten out each peg. They don't have to be perfect to work well.

Step 5: Assemble & Fill With Thread

Put the supports and rods into place in the box. The sides of the box will hold the structure together, and the thread pegs will be free to rotate forward and back to give better access and visibility to the thread in the middle.

The pegs are long enough to store a bobbin underneath a spool (with the exception of the few along the very edges, which sit atop the wooden supports).

The box can be tossed around in any direction after it's closed, and the thread will not fall off the pegs.

My prototype here is only half filled (8 rows).