In preparation for Project: Sewing Room, I cleaned up my own sewing room and sorted out my fabric. I usually sort it out once a quarter or every six months. In the beginning, it is so nicely folded and organized. Do you know what I mean? When I start to dive into my sewing projects, sometimes (just sometimes), I get lazy and just start to throw things back in without folding and color coordinating. My fabric cabinet has doors for a reason! Out of sight, out of mind.
How to sort fabric? I have sorted by color, by size, by project, by collections. What is the best way? Honestly, I haven't found it out yet. I have read books about it and didn't really understand why one would sort out by color. I usually sew in collections.
Every time I sort, I seem to do it different to see what works better for me. The last time I sorted, I folded everything nice and neatly into about 3" x 8" fabric-fold stacks. This optimized my cabinet space to fit a lot more in and stayed relatively flat instead of towers of fabrics. This time, I folded my fabric into quarter bundles. I put all of my colorful fabric on the top shelf, where I will see it and use it more often. I also put the contrasting colors in front, because I like a lot of contrast. The neutral blacks, white, brown, grays got put on the middle shelf. I hardly use these anymore.
I keep the larger pieces separated - pieces 1/2 meter and more go into their own groups. You can see these at the bottom. I will usually use these for backing fabrics.
Honestly, it doesn't look like I have that much fabric looking at this picture! But I also sorted out fabrics for special projects I am working on. My Hasenbach, North Pole, Kitschy, and Mod/Mod Block Lotto all got new project totes. I bought these at our local home improvement store - Bau V-Markt; they fit great into my cutting table shelves. I also have a few smaller collections of fabric stored in plastic bags in the other cabinet. I store my scraps, other projects, batting and notions inside that one.
Now, I really don't think I have a lot of fabric, but who ever really has enough? How do you organize your fabric and why? I would love to hear from you!
I sort in stacks by color and also store my big pieces, 2yards and more, on the bottom shelf. Have a bad habit to just lay pieces where ever they fall when I am working on a project and then......what a mess!
ReplyDeleteMy fabric stash for garment sewing was packed up three years ago when our youngest daughter returned home. It is still in packing boxes but soon to be liberated as I have reclaimed the space and am planning a new studio!!
ReplyDeleteRight now, my quilting fabrics are in shallow, clear plastic under bed boxes by color. Fabric collections that I intend to use as is, are left bundled together and marked with project names. If I am as far as cutting for a project, the project gets bumped up to a new box of its own that's large enough for patterns and notions.
I do the stacks by color, and it all is in stacking baskets. The larger fabric is in a big under the bed tote that is on top of my fabric shelf. I also have a few sub categories, like shot cottons, voile, and Christmas. I tend to sort every 6 weeks at least. It seems I need to sort every every project cycle!
ReplyDeleteHallo Karen,
ReplyDeletedas sieht alles sehr schön organisiert und durchdacht aus. Ich finde Du hast es ganau richtig sortiert. Es gibt nämlich für die Ordnung der Stoffe kein Richtig oder Falsch, wenn es Dir so passt ist es so genau richtig.
LG
KATRIN W.
I'm currently working on folding all of my fabrics onto 4x12 cardboard bolts. Before folding them on I measure the length and tag it. Then I add it to a master inventory list on my computer in order of yardage along with a brief description. Then I arrange them on my shelves in order of yardage. I have wanted/needed to organize them for a long time. I'm hoping this helps me stay organized!
ReplyDeleteI'm currently working on folding all of my fabrics onto 4x12 cardboard bolts. Before folding them on I measure the length and tag it. Then I add it to a master inventory list on my computer in order of yardage along with a brief description. Then I arrange them on my shelves in order of yardage. I have wanted/needed to organize them for a long time. I'm hoping this helps me stay organized!
ReplyDelete