Recently (OK, earlier this year or maybe last year!) I started the process of organizing my sewing room. Honestly, it has been in a state of “being organized” for years. I was actually thinking about organization when I went to the Houston International Quilt Show a few years ago with Aunt Pat and Mom. I didn’t actually start organizing my fabric though until I couldn’t find a specific piece of fabric that I needed for an old, unfinished foundation pieced project I was trying to complete. I am almost done with all the blocks. I only need this one piece and the inside can all be pieced together and I can work on the border (also already cut and lost). I’m sure searching for a specific fabric “you know you have” has never happened to you! Turns out, I didn’t have any, not even in my scraps. I ended up taking part of the foundation pieced quilt apart to replace the branch the owl sits on so I can use a different fabric for the trunk on the left side.
But this is about organizing your fabric stash, not your entire sewing space. I’ll be breaking down the Sewing Room Organization one step at a time. Also, to help offset the cost of this website, some of the links here are affiliate links. If you follow a link for a product and make a purchase, I may get a small commission at no additional cost to you.
I started by pulling stacks (and stacks and stacks) of fabric out of the closet I store my cottons in, pressing them, folding them onto the plastic corrugated organizers I got in Houston and realized rather quickly(well, after two days of work!) I didn’t have enough boards. When I looked up the cost to get more and then looked at my stacks of fabric I realized this process wasn’t going to work. I needed another idea…
I turned to my attention to the internet and searched Pinterest and YouTube as well as doing Google searches. What I discovered was that many quilters use comic book boards. Comic boards are acid free so they won’t damage your fabric and they are inexpensive. Some others I saw used foam core board because it’s sturdier than the comic boards. I didn’t want to have to cut down foam board and with the amount of fabric I have, I need my boards to take up as little space as possible, so I chose the comic book boards. I watched some videos that showed different ways to wrap and fasten your fabric. Some people used one board, some used multiple boards, some used beauty supply store bobby pins or little plastic clips to fasten the outside ends while others didn’t fasten it at all. There are a lot of ideas out there! What did we do before the internet?
A little off topic, while watching videos on sewing room/storage ideas I saw a video that mentioned the different types of organization “personalities” by ClutterBug. I discovered that I am very much a “cricket.” I watched a few more of ClutterBug’s videos while I was there and will definitely go back to watch more. (This is called procrastinating or waiting for my supplies to arrive…). The thing about a Cricket is that we like things put away BUT organized. I love seeing fabric on display in other people’s sewing room, but I while it’s pretty, I find it distracting and also when you live with animals, you usually have dust and “stuff”. Since I would rather sew than dust, don’t want my fabric to fade, etc., I like the idea of keeping it organized but out of sight
I also discovered that my fabric stash, which is extensive, is probably reaching hoarder status. I’m not certain anymore that it’s going to fit back into the cabinet I had it in. After all, I do want to be able to see and easily retrieve whichever fabric I choose to work with. I’m thinkin that I’ll have to “re-think” things a bit. Luckily I have time, because I have a TON of fabric to put on comic book boards. Of course, I also have time to think about new projects–just so I can reduce my stash. Anyone want to do an 8” finished Batik 9-patch block swap? Or maybe a strip swap? Jordan Fabrics has been posting a lot of easy quilts that I could make too. Ok, back to organizing my fabric!
Here’s what I’ve been doing and will continue to do because I really like the way it looks.
I am using Golden Age boards that are 7 ½” x 10 ½”. I use one full board for my one yard cuts, I use two glued together for anything bigger (mostly 2 yards or more) to make it a little more sturdy. I cut the board in half (gives me 5 ¼” x 7 ½” boards) for anything larger than a fat quarter (FQ) but less than a yard. I cut the half-yard board in half again(giving me boards that are 3 ¾” x 5 ¼”) for my fat quarters.
I am wrapping my fabric around the board leaving room on both ends. I have been making notes on the end of the boards if there’s anything I really might like to know (9.5” x Width of Fabric [WoF], 2 FQ’s, missing a piece, long and narrow, multiple pieces, etc.—you get the idea). If you have less fabric and a great memory, you can add where you purchased it, yardage, price, type of fabric, etc. This is all quilting cotton that I’ve had for a while so no need for any of that for me. I decided I wanted to clip the outside end of the fabric and purchased those plastic clips I saw. I usually tuck under the end unless it’s a selvage so my raw edges are not showing. I SHOULD have written the number of yards on the ends, but I didn’t. [Later I realized that maybe it was better that I didn’t write on the boards as much as I originally thought I should have because once you use the fabric, you can reuse the boards and eventually you have a bunch of crossed out writing on the board. You could use “removeable” file labels or put a file label over your writing.]
Once I started putting my fabric back into the cabinet, I realized that I wanted the boards of fabric vertical (it was horizontal before). Although some of my shelves can be moved, there’s still quite a bit of space between shelves so I was going to need some additional shelving inside my cabinet. So I searched the internet for ideas-again! I decided against milk crates-too big and bulky, but inexpensive. I finally decided to try a Kousi product. It’s like a smaller, lighter version of a crate or box that you assemble yourself. This would allow me to use them on different shelves and also stack on top of them. If I had assembled it as it shown on Amazon–the one with plastic fabric (which is what I got)–probably would not have been strong enough to hold the quantity of fabric I have. I have to say, my husband hated these shelves but I liked them. They were easy to assemble with no tools and come with everything you need, including a tiny hammer that I used twice. They are basically held together with zip ties and spacer clips. They are thin and light weight which is what I was looking for—no need to add more weight to my cabinet with all the fabric I have in there!
Update: I finally finished! I had to take everything I had on top of the cabinet and put it in storage upstairs so I could put my neutral’s (creams-whites-Greys & Blacks) on top of the cabinet. I sent my Featherweight case to live in my bedroom closet. My Featherweight is in a padded rolling cart with some other things that I take camping with me. My hand dyed fabrics didn’t go back. Not only did they not fit, but they are for one of my next projects, so I just put them in a plastic container and left them out. I had a few pre-packaged kits that wouldn’t fit (still stacked on my cutting table) and there are still a few other homeless things cluttering up my space, but my cottons are all sorted and folded! My scraps went into storage too—that is another topic and a project for another day.
Last night I couldn’t sleep so I was running through all the organizing projects left to do. What are you working on? How do you store your fabric? I would love to know!