Where's that extra button when you need it? Find sewing supplies fast in this three-ring-binder repair kit.

With just a little retrofitting, an old-fashioned Mason jar can become a new sewing kit with a built-in pincushion on top.

These little sand-filled, pin-adorned pillows will make useful presents for the sewers in your life.

Bits of fabric can be useful in quilts and patchwork crafts; display them neatly near your workspace, where the colors and patterns can inspire you.

This magnetized box keeps a few pins safely within reach, so you won't have to rummage through a box at the risk of your fingers.

To avoid losing replacement buttons, sew them onto the inside hems of the garment they belong to. The next time you notice a button missing, you'll have another one close at hand.

A pincushion that fastens onto your sewing machine will always be at hand.

You may remember seeing charming strawberry pincushions like these in your grandmother's sewing box. Hers were probably sewn from scraps of leftover fabric; ours are made with ribbon remnants, shirting fabric, and felt, which works especially well because its edges won't fray.

When clothes need mending, reach for this book -- its felt pages are designed to keep sewing supplies organized.

With only a few sewing supplies and the most basic stitches, you can repair the hole on any garment.

Learn How to Patch a Hole

Here's a mending must-have: A simple business-card organizer (from an office-supply store) keeps all the fixings for your clothes in one place. Label and tuck your spare buttons, thread samples, cloth tags, and even those scratchy fabric-care labels you snip off garments (or pillows and blankets) into the compartments. It will be a snap to find them later.

These fall-inspired pieces keep sewing tools handy any time of year -- and it doesn't take a stitch to make them.

It just takes a bit of planning to assemble a sewing kit that can see you through all of life's little rips and tears.

To keep a button in position as you sew it on, start by looking in your desk: A piece of translucent tape can secure the button to the fabric. Make the first two stitches through the tape, then lift the tape away. Finish sewing the button.

Sometimes the perfect thread for a sewing project comes on a spool that's imperfectly sized for your sewing machine. The solution: Place the spool in a heavy mug, and position it on your work surface directly underneath the spool pin. Take hold of the thread end, and hook it over the spool pin before threading it into the machine as usual (the thread should form a 90-degree angle); the thread will unravel smoothly as you work.

When using a lot of pins for sewing, it's more convenient to pull them from a magnetic dish than from a cushion.

Keep thread, pins, and other sewing supplies organized in recycled jars with decorative lids.

When working on an embroidery project, you will save time if you keep the needles and threads you're using neatly sorted and separate from the rest of your sewing supplies.

Any table or countertop used for crafts or sewing projects will be improved by the addition of a measuring tape along the edge, just as you see in fabric stores.

Magnetic racks are sold in kitchen-supply stores to hold knives on the wall, but they also work well as sewing-room organizers.

Unless you've memorized sewing-machine manufacturers' numbering systems, you won't always know which needle to use with which fabric. Stay organized by creating a different pin cushion for each type of needle you use.