Sewing box - advice please!

[BlueEyeshadow]

I could do with a new sewing box and thought I might ask for one for Christmas. Trouble is, I don't know what sort I want. I already have a big plastic crate full of fabric and designs; an old battered sewing basket with a tangle of threads, pins and other bits and bobs; several plastic boxes with embroidery thread and cotton reels.

I can't decide whether I'd be better to get a big, cantilevered wooden box to hold everything, or lots more of the plastic ones, each to hold a different type of thing... Any thoughts? Anything you swear by? Thank you!

It depends how you usually sew, I think?

I'd find the cantilevered ones a pain in the bum, because I'd have to stop sewing, get up, open it all out and rummage to find what I was looking for.

At the moment I use a cheapie £10 drawer unit I bought from WHSmiths which sits within arms reach of my sewing machine and holds everything nice and neatly - feet all one one drawer, bobbins all in another etc :)

I have switched from a wooden cantilevered one to a set of nice cake tins because the little sections of the wooden boxes were quite small and I couldn't fit very much in them. I do have quite a lot though, so maybe if I didn't hoard have quite so much it would have been enough.

I've got a cantilevered wooden one and love it, although tbh I am a bit of a fair weather sewer (that's sew-er, not sewer ). My mum bougth it for me though and she has the same one. She is frequent but functional, curtains and repairs rather than arts and crafts.

I have a John Lewis one, not this pattern but looks like same design.

The cantilever ones are nice I think, they keep those little bits and bobs organised better than sewing boxes imo. But won't hold everything I'm afraid, you'd still need other containers to store everything else.

I'm actually considering that option helvetica!

Absolutely. We've got to think out of the box haven't we? To store all those things in one place?

OP, do you think maybe just a good old red handyman's cantilever tool box like so would offer the same practical use as the wooden cantilever sewing boxes? And it is cheaper. I wouldn't mind using one of those if I needed one... just make sure the builder who comes and does repairs doesn't take yours home by mistake.

Thanks everyone. Tiger, yes I did consider a tool box. I just wanted something pretty. Sigh. Anyway, I have put a selection of useful-looking boxes on my Christmas list, so we'll just have to see what turns up... :)

I second the tool box, mine is very like the one Helvertica shows except it has a few more draw things, which are for screws and the like but v handy for buttons, tape etc, they just don't come in pretty colours, but if they did I bet they would cost an arm and a leg :(

I was lucky to find a Victorian box on legs, painted to resemble rosewood and now holding assorted boxes, but for current sewing projects I can recommend a (lightweight, raffia) tray which is large enough to take whatever items
are needed with fabric neatly folded to cover messy bits. It sits on top of the sewing box and is easy to move to where-ever I'm sitting.