Handmade Laundry Room Organizer- "Missing Socks"

If you are like me and hoards of other people, you have scores of mismatched socks. Where do missing socks go once they leave the dryer, if they ever really do? I guess the logical conclusion is that they cling to the insides of paints, arm sleeves, etc. On more than one occasion, I put on my yoga pants only to discover a renegade sock stuck to the inside leg. 

Sometimes they take longer to turn up, if at all.  After a couple of months of hanging onto mismatched socks, I usually just give up and find other uses for them. Some of my socks have turned into sock monkeys, draft stoppers (I once fashioned a long white sock into a snowman draft stopper, it was quite cute actually) or sock puppets. My dad uses them to wax the car.

I once designated a basket in my laundry room for the purpose of tucking away mate less socks in hopes that they would eventually be reunited with their partners. And do you know what, I did eventually match them up about 95% of the time, which still left a few for becoming snowman draft stoppers.

The missing sock phenomena inspired me to create this wood board plaque, perfect for storing mate less socks until a successful reunion can be made with its partner sock. Its more decorative then my basket and I can see which socks are missing at a glance.

 I raided my fabric scraps and torn them into strips, each measuring about 2" x 8." (The length and width of your torn strips will vary according to the size of the die cut you will be using, discussed a bit later) To join the strips together, I simply overlapped the pieces slightly (1/4") and sewed a straight stitch down the center. I joined together three strips, mixing and matching prints and solids.

Since I was using the Sizzix BigShot Die Cutting Machine and Bird die, I cut a card stock bird out first to make sure the fabric strips covered the entire die, and I didn't end up with a bird with no tail or beak or something.

Once I was ready, I set about die cutting my birds from the joined fabric strips, three of them.

Here is a quick look at my die cut fabric scrap birds.

Pretty but I thought the needed a bird more detail. I used my sewing machine and black thread to free form sew around the edges of the birds.

These turned out to be cute little scrap fabric embellishments for my laundry room organizer!

I chose DecoArt's Americana Acrylics in Lamp Black and Cadmium Yellow to paint the wood pieces. Bear in mind that Cadmimum Yellow is a transparent paint. It will take several coats to cover the board or you can use a more semi-opaque paint such as Lemon Yellow for a similar shade and color. I painted the sign board, which came from Walnut Hollow, black first, along with the clothespins, which I painted all black.

To create an aged effect on the board, which gives it a little more interest and matches my shabby chic decor, I painted yellow over the black and sanded the surface to let some of the black show through. The opposite applies to these teardrop shaped wings. I painted them yellow first and then black.

If you desire different colors to match your existing decor, DecoArt has a multitude of paint colors to choose from.

Once I had all my pieces painted, It was time to begin assembling the board. I used DecoArt's new medium, "Deco-pauge" with a foam brush to apply the birds to the sign board.

I used a heavy duty adhesive such as Beacon Adhesives Gem-Tac to attach the clothespins. Make sure you use a liberal amount of the adhesive as these clothespins will be handled frequently.

Finally, I used some 1" alphabet stamps and black pigment ink to stamp "missing socks" on the surface of the board. Several small bits and pieces of embellishments later, and a handmade laundry room organizer was born perfect for keeping track of those "missing socks." Maybe this will save me money replacing all those socks I never found and matched up with its mate!

Live Life Creatively,

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wow, I love this idea. I wish I could sew alot better great tutorial!!!