6 easy accessory storage tips for THE Dream Machine 2

Happy New Year!! Like many of you, I like to start the New Year off by organizing my sewing room so I can start some fresh new projects!! Unfortunately, like many of you, I have WAY TOO MUCH STUFF in my sewing room! Generally, at this time of year, I go through my UFOs (unfinished objects) and make a list of things that need to be completed. I also try to go through my fabrics to see what I no longer want/need and give it away. Our Days for Girls group in Brockville gets lots of my excess fabric. Check for a group near you if you have fabric (or time) that you’d like to donate!

When I received THE Dream Machine 2 from Brother, I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of accessories that came with it! My already full sewing room became even fuller, so I needed to come up with some storage ideas to help get organized.

Today I’m going to share some of these tips with you.

A home of its own

At first, when I received the machine I put away my NQ900 and put THE Dream Machine 2 in its place. But I quickly found out that I could lose A LOT of time by just sitting and watching it embroider (it’s quite mesmerizing to watch LOL). I decided that I needed to have my other machine set up so that I could work on other things and still be close enough to switch embroidery thread colors when needed. So I cleaned off a table in my sewing room that was just holding works in progress and gave the machine its own home.

Storage TIP 1

There’s a little recessed spot beside the bobbin winder on top of THE Dream Machine 2 which is a great place to store extra feet and bobbin cases used on a regular basis. When I’ve got the embroidery foot on the machine, I keep the “J” foot, shank adapter and general bobbin case in this spot so they’re easy to find when I switch back to regular sewing.

Storage TIP 2

When the embroidery unit is attached to THE Dream Machine 2, the flat bed attachment and accessory case can both be used for storing extra accessories. I keep the two cases on the right side of the machine so that they’re close at hand.

Storage TIP 3

A Dollar store over-the-door wire rack is an inexpensive and easy way to store larger accessories. I don’t have any closets in my sewing room so hung it on the front of the door of one of my free standing cabinets.

The embroidery sheets came in a plastic bag, so I kept them in it and used a binder clip and metal ring to hang them from the wire rack.

The embroidery hoops for THE Dream Machine 2 easily hang on the wire rack. The smallest hoops fit on the smaller hooks on the top.

Storage TIP 4

My friend Nellie made this cute little bowl in a pottery class. I sat it in front of THE Dream Machine 2 so that it can hold clipped threads and the small pair of scissors that came with the machine. Since it has a wide top, it’s easy to get the threads into it and because it’s short and heavy there is little chance of it tipping over. It works perfectly!

Storage TIP 5

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what these were when I first found them in the box. I discovered in the manual that they’re bobbin clips! Ten come with THE Dream Machine 2 and they help to prevent the thread from unwinding from the bobbin and making a mess in your storage container.

The bobbin clips can be snapped together so they’re more easily stored and to prevent them from rolling around if they’re dropped. And you can make them into different shapes – how fun it that?

Storage TIP 6

In my QUILTsocial post on August 28th, I showed you how the lid of THE Dream Machine 2 can be removed in order to add the spool stand. But once you’ve done that, you’ve got the lid of the machine to store. Since my spool stand is installed on the top of the machine and I use it all of the time, I tucked the lid on the table behind the embroidery unit. It’s out of the way, and doesn’t interrupt the movement of the carriage.

I’ll admit I’m a messy quilter but I do really love it when I’m in between projects and can tidy up and organize my sewing space. Now that I’ve shared some of these tips with you, I hope that you’re inspired to get your creative space organized too!

Join me tomorrow for more quilting fun.