A sewing chest is one way out of a dilemma many of us have—pins, needles, thread and bobbins stowed away any and everywhere! It’s a way of keeping everything together and organized, ready to use and at the same time tucked away out of sight. Unless you can fit everything in your sewing cabinet, of course!
Most sewing chests these days are actually sewing baskets with handles that make them easy to tote around. You can get them in a wide variety of sizes; some stocked with a beginner’s sewing kit, some empty and ready for you to put in your own stash. “Sewing kits” tend to be poor quality and not the items you would chose yourself, so we recommend you go with an empty basket and buy your own selection of pins, needles, thread, and what not.
The Best in Sewing Baskets: Dritz St. Jane
What is the best name in sewing chests or baskets? Most sewers will unanimously say Dritz St. Jane. These sewing baskets are sturdy, stylish, and fit a great deal for their size. They’re easy to organize, easy to use, and you won’t even have to worry about putting them away—they’ll add a classy touch to your living room just by sitting there in the corner.
The Dritz St. Jane Sewing Basket Medium Square is a very nice medium sized basket in bright but classic looking prints. It measures 9 x 9 inches and 6 inches in height, so it’s big enough to hold quite a bit without being bulky. The inside lid has a pocket and a pin cushion, and there’s a removable tray for small items; for the rest, the basket is empty for you to do what you like with. It closes with a magnetic snap.
A similar basket is the Dritz St. Jane Large Oval Sewing Basket, except that this one has a different shape and style. You get the same type of lift-out tray, the same pocket and pincushion on the inside of the lid. This basket also closes with a magnetic snap. The handle here is a fancy metal one, and the measurements are 12 by 6 3/8 inches and 7 1/2 inches in height.
If that’s not big enough for you, there’s also an extra-large option you can pay a bit more for: The Dritz St Jane Extra Large Rectangle Sewing Basket. This one is 15 ¼ by 10 ¼ inches by 8 ¾ inches, and you get to pick between five different colors or patterns: an off white background with black trim Paris print; an off white background with clay coral brown and gray print; white background with brown trim of Paris shoppers and dogs on leashes; off white pink and gray with pink dresses, dress forms, scissors and spools; or, finally, a Paris print in light beige and beige trim of bicycles, red hearts, and the Eiffel tower. If you’ve got more random sewing stuff that can fit in this thing—well, then you need to invest in two, or buy a full-scale sewing cabinet.
More Sewing Chest Options
If you want a wooden or plastic chest rather than fabric-covered cardboard though, there are other alternatives. For instance, the Smartek RX-24W Wooden Sewing Chest With Accessories. This little chest is 10.5 x 4.5 x 5.5 inches and contains two drawers; the top surface of the chest is a thread organizer with dowels. It’s a pretty little thing, in finished natural wood and with nice clean lines, and it is fairly sturdy. The downside? It doesn’t fit a whole lot, and it comes packed with a ‘beginners kit’ of sewing notations which might be useful to a beginner sewer but are probably too poor quality for anyone more serious.
So maybe a better buy would be something like Creative Options Grab N Go Rack System with 2 Deep Organizers 3700 Series and 1 Medium Organizer 3750 Series. This isn’t nearly as pretty to look at—it is a plastic box, and the colors are a little garish—but it is very functional and makes organization a snap. The three clear plastic drawers are different sizes and organized in different ways, and there’s a larger compartment at the top too for your bulkier sewing items. It’s the same idea as a fishing tackle box, but nicer and more adaptable to sewing needs.
What do you think of when you think of a sewing chest, and which type of sewing organizer is a the best fit for our needs?