It was 1991 and I was getting ready for a July 4th event. I had a pair of earrings that I had made from buttons. They looked like American Flags. I looked in all my jewelry boxes, I looked in my jewelry cases and I couldn’t find them anywhere.
It was a shame since I only was able to wear them once a year.
I ended up going to the event anyway, but the next morning I got up and emptied all my jewelry out on the bed. I found the earrings hidden in the back of a large broach.
After looking at the mess on my bed, I decided to go out to the fabric store and look to see what I might be able to find to organize my mess of earrings and lapel pins.
I found material which is used for curtains to black out the light and heat. It is white and has a plastic feeling to it, but it is not plastic at all. One of the clerks recommended I use a 10 point clear plastic to lay over it.
I took the material home and cut it into a 2′ wide by 4′ long piece. I have an Overlock sewing machine which trims and seams simultaneously. I sewed rows 2″ high and columns 2″ wide.
Then I was able to make pockets to put my earrings and pins in, but I could actually see everything I had.
I put it on the heaviest plastic hanger I could find and finished it off with lace around the edges.
I was exhibiting at craft fairs around the Bay Area at the time, so I ended up making about 20 and took them to the next event. I sold all 20 in the first couple of hours.
Many years later after making earrings and necklaces for nearly every outfit I had. I would make earrings and necklaces just because I had found great beads and because I had to take the time out on Sundays.
So eventually, I had to make a bigger and better jewelry hanger to have all the earrings in one place. There was at least one row for every color. I had two rows for country western earrings and two rows for specialty earrings and pins I had for holidays.
On the sides I made two ultra suede strips with Velcro fasteners to hold the barrettes I had made and along the bottom I took a 2″ piece of oak molding and put brass cup holders every half inch to hold the necklaces.
The necklaces were placed exactly below where the earrings were in a line. It made it so easy to find them when I was in a hurry in the mornings.
I put casters on the bottom so it would be easy to move around the room when I decided to rearrange the bedroom furniture.