A while back I showed how to make a great earring holder built out of a picture frame. Well, since making that, I’ve moved all my costumes and costume jewelry to another room (namely my art room) which doesn’t have an appropriate place on the wall to hang an earring holder. However, there is space in the closet. The original one wouldn’t work because it stuck out too far. So I set out to make some hanging earring holders that have a lower profile that I can easily hang inside a closet door. The following is a tutorial so you can do it, too.
Start out by getting some dowels. My dowels are a foot long because that was the limitation of the my closet door. They are 1/2 inch in diameter. I sanded the edges to make them somewhat rounded and smooth after I had to cut them since the dowels come in 36 inch lengths.
While I was making these, I was also using glitter and modge podge and I had some left over so I thought it would be a fun way to decorate the dowels. (Okay, to be honest, after doing glitter and modge podge I wanted to make everything glittery and this was the closest thing. I’ll link in that project once I post it. Update: the project is the glittering hair flowers) I started by painting them with a gold base. I used the Martha Stewart gold paint.
Then I painted them with my left over glitterific modge podge. Aren’t they sparkley? I love it.
Next you’ll need something to hang the earrings on. I used some white tulle that I had. It has pretty big netting so you could use something with smaller nets and be just fine.
You’ll want to cut a rectangle with the following dimensions:
- width: <dowel length> – 2 inches
- length: <ideal length> + 3 inches
In my case, my dowels were 12 inches, so I my net was 10 inches wide and my ideal length was 16 inches so my net was 19 inches long.
Fold over and press 1.5 inches at either end of your net/tulle.
Sew 1 inch from the fold (or 1/2 inch from the raw edge). I found the 1/2 inch from the raw edge was easier to use as a guide because I could see through the net/tulle. I used a smaller stitch length (1.5) to make sure I caught the net properly.
Next use some applique scissors (or regular work just fine really) to cut off the excess net/tulle past the stitching. You can skip this step and leave the extra net/tulle. Or you can skip this step by folding over a little less fabric. I found it easier to just cut after I was sure I had sewn it properly.
Insert your dowels into the opening. As it turns out, the modge podge glitter business I did worked out well since it gave the dowels a roughness that prevents them from sliding around in the net/tulle casing. I have two because I was making one for gold jewelry and one for silver jewelry.
Cut some ribbon the length you want for hanging. Mine was 16 inches, for reference.
Stick a thumb tack through the end of one ribbon.
Stick that thumb tack into the center of one end of a dowel.
Press down until it is fully in the dowel. I tried to center it, but only did okay. Fortunately, this part isn’t super visible. Repeat for the other side of that dowel with the other end of the ribbon, being careful not to get any twists in your ribbon.
Hang up and enjoy! Mine are hanging using 3M hooks that remove cleanly. I like those even though they have that weird tab coming down from them.
There are a lot of parts of this that are optional that would let you finish this project in 15 minutes rather than 1/2 hour:
- You don’t have to paint your dowels.
- You don’t have fold over quite as much net/tulle if you want to eliminate the cutting step after sewing.
- You don’t have to use the thumb tacks on the end — you can just tie the ribbon around the dowels if you like.
