A place for everything and everything in its place has always been a guiding motto in my life. I love - one might even go so far as to say "crave" - organization and delight in finding storage solutions that range from plain and practical to fun and creative for all of my collections. I like to think that the approach outlined in this post falls into both of those categories.
Like approximately 10% of the population, I'm allergic to nickel (highly allergic), which means that all of the earrings I make or buy, have to be nickel-free. At various times in my life, these have been easier to find then others, but over the years I've amassed a wonderful little collection of earrings that I can safely pop in any time, anywhere without the slightest worry of a bad case of contact dermatitis breaking out.
As my collection of stud earrings in particular grew, I began to feel like I needed a better way to store them than the perforated metal earring storage hanger I'd bought several years back from Claire's (it's very cute, don't get me wrong, and I still use it to house some of my hoop and dangle earrings, it just wasn't the most convenient method of storing multiple pairs of studs).
At first I tried stringing them onto a long strip of twill, which looked cute, but wasn't overly practical (and eventually the twill began to break down and get little holes in it and removed and replaced the earrings time and time again).
Next I tried miniature ice cube trays - an idea I recalled reading on a beauty forum some years back - the only problem was, the wee ice cube compartments were so tiny, that (even having fairly small fingers) it wasn't always easy to fish the earrings out, or to see them all at once glance (unless they'd all been arranged facing upwards).
It was while I was cross stitching one afternoon last year that the idea struck me, why not use a tightly woven cross stitch cloth or similar fabric to house my stud earrings. Scurrying to the linen closet, I found just what I was looking for in the form of a cute pale blue woven cotton napkin I'd picked up for something like a dollar at a Fabric Land clearance sale a few years back.
A couple pairs in, and I instantly knew this was the stud earring storage method I'd been searching for!
As you may recall from posts such as this one, I've always been keen on organizing things in a rainbow pattern, which I did with some of the types of stud earrings that I have here. All of them were grouped like with like, regardless of colour, and are instantly visible (and super easily accessible) at a glance.
This woven napkin measures about 14 inches x 10 inches and even with quite a few pairs of earrings on it, still still plenty of room for my collection to grow and expand, as you can see (and should it ever blossom beyond this napkin, I'll just start a second one).
When not in use, I fold the napkin into quarters (it could just as easily be rolled as well) and tuck into a tiny drawer in the counter of our en suite bathroom, where it takes up about the same about of space as a small stack of folded handkerchiefs at most (it's also super lightweight, which makes it an ideal way to take my stud earring collection with me while traveling).
I know that many of you love to collect and wear stud earrings as well, so I thought it was high time I shared this wildly easy, incredibly inexpensive, and massively quick (you can't beat that trio!) method of storing smaller sized earrings.
You could also use a woven fabric like this for dangly earrings as well, just be careful to space them out so that they aren't as prone to tangling, if you're planning on folding or rolling your napkin or piece of cross stitch fabric up.
As mentioned above, I still use my perforated metal earring storage hanger (pictured above), these days, however I reserve it for dangly and hoop earrings, as well as a a few necklaces and one of my favourite floral brooch/hair clips (which you may recall from this spring 2012 apple orchard outfit post).
If you've been trying to find the ideal approach to storing your stud and smaller sized earrings, I encourage you try this woven cloth method out. You could always take things a step further and attach some pretty ribbon, lace, sturdy rickrack, or seam bidding to the top of your fabric as well and then hang it as a decorative (and highly functional) way of displaying your earrings on a wall or the inside of a wardrobe/closet door as well.
So at long last my collection finally has a proper place when it can be seen and utilized in a glance, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Here’s to the hope that you enjoy many years of happy earring collecting and well organized storage now, too!
