{organizing with style} Clothing Divider Tutorial

Thanks to everyone who checked out our organized nursery closet earlier this week.  Now I'm back with a quick tutorial on how I made custom clothing dividers to organize the different sizes of clothes.

I purchased the plastic dividers at the Container Store for only $.99 each.  They are also available on Amazon if there is no Container Store near you (although it makes me sad to think that anyone doesn't live near a Container Store!).  If you are shopping on Amazon, search closet rod dividers.

To make the labels, I used printable glossy sticker paper which comes in full 8.5" x 11" sheets.  The plastic dividers have a lip around the edge, so I took careful measurements and created a template in Photoshop for labels that would fit nicely within the lip.  I was able to fit 6 labels onto one sticker sheet.

Click here if you would like to download this template as a JPG file. Once downloaded, you can use Photoshop or your favorite editing program to change the color and add your own text and patterns or images.  Just be sure to print the file at 100% (do not choose any "scale to fit" options) and the labels should fit perfectly on dividers purchased from the Container Store or other 3.5" plastic rod dividers.

To customize my dividers, I used each of the colors found in our nursery design (light and dark teal, red, yellow and green), and added some of the white animal silhouettes that I had drawn for the nursery quilt.  I created labels for different sizes of clothes, including:  Newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months, 12-18, 18-24, 2T, 3T and 4T.  

Once I had the labels designed, it was simply a matter of printing them onto the sticker paper, cutting them out, and sticking them onto the plastic dividers.  Cutting them is a bit of a time-consuming process (especially because I labeled both sides of each divider), but using sharp, fine-tipped scissors (like my favorite, the Cutter Bee Precision Cut Scissors) makes it much easier to cut the inside of each circle.

After cutting out each label, I peeled off the backing and stuck the labels onto the plastic dividers.  The sticker paper has a strong adhesive and is difficult to remove or re-position, so be careful to line the sticker up correctly before sticking it down.  I recommend holding the sticker just above the plastic while aligning it, and then sticking the top center down first and smoothing it out around the edges moving toward the bottom - this helps to avoid wrinkles or bubbles.  (Wow - please ignore my nail polish in these photos...I promise I repainted them the next day!)

These clothing dividers have been a huge help in organizing our nursery closet, ensuring that we can keep track of all the different sizes of clothes and that nothing gets overlooked and outgrown without being worn.

Of course, clothing dividers can be useful in any closet - not just in a nursery.  My friend Jen at IHeart Organizing (ok, so we're not really friends - but we totally would be!) made similar dividers to plan out her kids' outfits for the week with labels for Monday through Friday.

Photo from IHeart Organizing

If you want closet rod dividers, but don't want to go to the work of customizing your own using my downloadable template, you can simply write directly on to the white dividers, or you can find many cute options for sale on Etsy.  If you are specifically interested in the clothing dividers that I customized with the animals - email me and we can work something out! :) 

Check out these links for all of the posts about the nursery...

Are you looking for more tips for organizing your life with kids? Here are some great posts that you might be interested in: