Make your own Ribbon Display Unit!

Like many of you "creative crafters" out there, you may also suffer from the hoarding gene... I've been collecting ribbons as I like to up-cycle jars/bottles/sewing projects but got tired of them hiding away in a drawer. I wanted a way to see them and ADMIRE them! I trawled t'internet and found some ideas that would allow me to utilise some (hoarded) bits n bobs that I already had. So this is what I did:

1) The supplies! I dug out a mini wooden shelf I had that was getting in the way, looked for some dowels (not store bought) which are actually wooden garden stakes (dowels sound more exciting), and some wooden drawer knobs. You will also need a tape measure, a pencil, drill (yay!) & drill bits. Oh yes, I almost forgot! You need your spoooools of ribbons!

2) First you need to mark where the dowel will sit in the shelving unit. Hold up your biggest spool to the inside wall of your shelf, give yourself about 2 cm/1 inch movement space or your spool won't spin round on the dowel. Mark where you want the hole to be. Measure down on the other side and mark it.

3) Drill (yay - the best bit!) your holes slightly larger than the diameter of the dowel so that it will slide in easily and out again when you want to replace your spools in future.

4) You will now need to check whether your door knobs will fit on the end of the dowel. I really wanted to use some pretty crystal drawer knobs and ceramic vintage ones and make it look more interesting, but I couldn't drill these to make them fit the dowel. So I found some wooden ones I had taken off a pine chest of drawers I up-cycled recently. I had to have a few attempts at drilling the holes and I needed to change to a bigger drill bit, but not too big! You'll have to test to see how far you need to drill into the drawer knob so it will fit on the dowel. Not too far or you'll drill right through which is the mistake I made on the top right hand one!! You'll need to bear in mind that you will need to be able to easily pull one of the knobs off so you can replace your spools.

You could also use other items that have a hole in it or can drill a hole in i.e. large wooden beads, corks etc.

5) Fit the drawer knobs onto one end of the dowel. Slide the dowel through the hole; fit your spools in place then slide the dowel through the other side of the shelf. Cap the other drawer knob onto the dowel. This one will need to be easily removable so that you can replace your spools when required.

6) Ta daaaah!! You now have a lovely display unit for your ribbons!

If you have any questions or if anything isn't clear, I'd love to hear from you!