I have boxes of binders....must quit collecting!

Lynn

In theory you could! That is why you can not return patterns/books to stores. I don't sell the original until I know I am not going to need it.
AND some designers recommend you make the working copy due to the nature of their patterns. Most fusible applique ones for sure.

Me too. I also photocopy patterns out of magazines that I like and put them in the binder too. That way, I don't have to search through a hundred back issues to find a certain pattern.

I recently retired, and when I did I decided to get my house in order, I had shelves of Mag's and many binders full of patterns. I scanned Every thing that I still actually liked. And stored them on CD's (had to many and switched to Flash drives) It is much easier to look at them. I separated them
by Catagories (table, Wall, Blocks, Applique Patterns a-k and
Patterns L-z, Moffits Etc) Saved Lots of space FOR more fabric and books.

Me too! I have white binders and I use dividers. I've indexed all patterns and have a table of contents to help guide me to the right section.

Part of next year's project for me is your magazine idea, I need to declutter all the magazines & books next!

This is what I do too. I have so many patterns that my notebooks are in categories on a book shelf.

That's what I have decided to do, too. I use my computer for all kinds of things and with well over 1,000 patterns (probably closer to 1,500) in hard and/or electronic format, the computer is doing its job here too.

Seems that binders and sleeves categorized by main item, use, etc. is how most are going and I'm glad it's working for them. Actually, I started out this way, but I sew household and apparel items as well. I may want to use a procedure from several and finding each of them has gotten unmanageable without some kind of cross-reference.

So, this is what I've come up with and I figure the transition is only about 25% complete at this point, and already it has proven itself a couple times.

1. Essentially, EVERY pattern receives a number in consecutive order REGARDLESS of what it happens to be. That way, as soon as a new pattern comes on board, it receives the next number in line. For hard copies, that number is placed on the outside of a protective sleeve (yep, I have several hundred; might as well use 'em). For electronic copies, it gets filed in a numerical pattern folder on the computer.

2. Before filing away, the pattern gets listed in a spreadsheet format with ALL appropriate features listed. When I am looking for a particular feature (border, a seam treatment, beginner, intermediate, etc.), a simple keyword search ferrets out the patterns by number and shows if they are electronic and/or hard copy. Now I know right where to go to get it.

3. Because I also like the inspiration of quickly viewing what I have to work with, I have also compiled thumbnail pictures, a dozen or so per page. Those are kept in a binder ... just one binder to review ALL those patterns! (Of course, I keep a computer copy of those pages too.)

A note on the thumbnails:
a) Certain files don't lend themselves to pictures (calculating charts, etc.). In that event, simply skip to the next file number.

b) Resize the pictures so that the largest dimension is a consistent 2.00" and a dozen will easily fit on the page. Each page should have its own file as more would make it too large for some computers to handle.

c) Simply put the number of the pattern below the respective picture. In the event of several items per pattern, take a picture of each item, labeling it with the pattern number and a letter suffix, e.g., #1170a, #1170b, etc. (They would also have a separate listing on the spreadsheet, but copy and paste makes short work of multiple listings, changing only one or two cells.)

d) Make duplicate back-up disks for each the electronic pattern files themselves. Make another duplicate disk set for the spreadsheet. Make yet another duplicate disk set for the thumbnail pages files. This is your life; it is NOT overkill. Computers fail, houses can get robbed, flooded, burn down. KEEP ONE SET OFF SITE. (I put important stuff like this in our safe-deposit box.) The other set is your backup which should be refreshed every 4-5 patterns.

One last note: Many/most electronic download patterns are in PDF format. Many of those do not permit simply selecting a picture and copying it over to the thumbnail pages. There is a way around that with about 95% of them: Go to >EDIT and select from the dropdown menu (about half way down) >GET A SNAPSHOT. Now, drag a frame around the picture you want for a thumbnail and the computer does the rest. To make it easy, put your temporary copy on your desktop, then drop it onto your thumbnail page.

Thank you all so much for your input. For fewer patterns, I believe the sheet protectors in binders - 1 category is very efficient. My needs just happened to get way more complex because of various sewing methods, items, and because in teaching, I have need of accessessing patterns at different achievement levels.

As usual, you all admirably rose to the occasion. Kudos and happy, happy quilting in 2011! Thanks again.

Get a few 3" three ring binders and as many dividers as you need. Then make a list of what categories you want to cover (i.e. Baby, Asian, Holidays, etc.) and use 1 divider for each category you choose. You can or subtract any category at any time. You can also make up more than one notebook covering items alphabetically (i.e. book #1 use A through G, book #2 H through N and book #3 O through Z). I also keep each pattern in its own plastic 3-ring holder. This keeps them clean and separated. There is a small initial cost to get it going, but in the long run it is very convenient. You can even keep an alphabetical list of all pattern names in front of each section for convenience when you start getting a lot of patterns. Hope this helps you.

I also do this but store them on CD/DVD RW compact disks so that my computer doesn't overload, graphics take up fair bit of memory. I label the disks into categories i.e. Kids Stuff (holds patterns for baby and kids quilts, toys, clothes etc), then, Quilts, Home Decore, Clothing, do this to suit your own gathering of patterns etc.