I am happy I started out with a great system for keeping my sewing machines organized. Now that I have (*cough*) several, I'm actually losing track of what came with, and goes with, what. Fortunately, as soon as I bring home an orphan I put all the bits and pieces into one of the snapware Snap 'N Stack containers. I should have invested in the company earlier on!
Each machine has a section of the container labelled with its model number. These snapwares are great because I can mix and match the trays (there are two deeper and one shallow shelf per set) as needed. Some machines only come with a few extra bobbins and some come with all the Singer attachments and feet, including the chunky ruffler, and those require a bigger section.
I can add manuals (back then they were small, flat booklets), lightbulbs, and any additional goodies the seller included, like old fashioned wooden spools of thread or packs of vintage needles. I've also bought little black notebooks for each machine in order to keep track of its history, purchase details, and maintenance schedule. At first, I purchased a set of three gorgeous Moleskine pads but they are really expensive, relatively speaking. I switched over to similar looking, but very cheap, regular notebooks that cost $1.29. I print out a label on the computer with the model of the machine, date of manufacture, serial number and given name and add that to the front of the booklet. I know, I'm a little squirrelly!
I have all these snapware containers rowed up on my open shelves and they are starting to look quite impressive! It is so easy to pull off the one I need for the machine I'm using that day and I know everything inside is a perfect fit. Happily, I discovered a source for these here in Canada. I had been stocking up on them every time we visited the States but of course, I kept running out! It would be against my nature to use anything other than matching containers so now I can just keep a couple in stock at all times and pop to the store when I need a couple more.
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