I have several quilt magazines, by several I mean, maybe 100 or so...that my husband is demanding I get rid of. I hate to give them up because I may need one some day, for a particular pattern...

What I want to do is save the template inserts and certain patterns from each magazine, but am unsure how to go about it. I need to make room and getting rid of the bulk of the magazines is a must.

How do you go about organizing patterns and templates from magazines you no longer want?

Hmmmm, husband demanding, no flippin way! ........

I would like to know as well. I have found that patterns that really appealed to me when I first started out, no longer do. And patterns that I didn't care for too much, now hold more appeal. Anyone else find this?
This make me hesitate to discard any of my magazines. Especially as I have stopped purchasing them due to the expense.

I have big 3 ring notebooks that I label with the magazine name. I put the patterns and templates, etc in those clear plastic sleeves and put into that magazines notebook. Sometimes if the mag. has a lot of patterns I want to keep, I stuff the whole magazine into the sleeve.

:shock: Wow. I'm so sorry.

Do you have a scanner? Scan the patterns you want to save and keep them on CDs or DVDs.

Another option is to clip the patterns you want and put them into page protectors in a binder.

For applique patterns, put the templates into a manila envelope with the instructions and a picture of the quilt or block glued to the front of the envelope.

Ditto!

You can buy a few (4-5) of the 5" ring binders and a bunch of the page protector sheets and gently cut out the pages and templates and place each pattern with its template into one page protector. Place protectors in notebooks. You could also add dividers to use as index or table of contents with mag info for each pattern.

100 mags in various places into 25-30" of space on a bookshelf...problem solved

I'm the same-I continually go thru my hoard of magazines I have for the past 10 years and "discover" patterns I didn't like (or feel good enought to tackle) before, but now I do. I just can't let them go! And really, magazines only take up a small amount of space if placed in those up-right holders and put on a shelf. Quilt books may take more space, but in my case, I have way more magazines than books anyway. What is his reason for insisting you get rid of them? I can't think of any good enough reason to get rid of mine!

It's not so much that he is demanding that I get rid of them. He suggested I sell them, in bundles to make room for our home based tshirt printing business, which needs all the space we can get. I don't mind getting rid of them as long as I can keep the patterns I might want a later time. I think I will scan the patterns, but I don't think I can sell the magazines without the templates pull-out included....not sure if scanning the templates would do much good??

When I get a magazine, I go through it. If there is something that I think I might want to make, I put a little post-it type sticker on that page and save the magazine. If there is nothing in the magazine that interests me, I used to give it away to someone in Bible Study. That was before I joined this group. Now, I have a stack of the magazines that have post-it stickers on them and another stack that do not. When someone from this board is looking for a back issue of something, I go through the 'no post-it sticker' pile and see if I have it.
Sometimes I look at the pattern that I have a post-it sticker on and wonder what it was that appealed to me about that pattern. It may not still appeal to me and I just pull the post-it sticker off and put it on the other pile.
If you didn't want hold on to the magazines that do not have an item of interest in it, put them in a doctor's office, etc. Every magazine will not have something in it that I want.

And what is he going to get rid of? ;-) We use cardboard magazine holders, you can get them at Staples, Office depot etc. Then they can go on a regular bookshelf. I actually don't have many, however, my husband has 'super stock and drag illustrated' going back to the 50's!

I do this as well for ones I am going to make shortly. But, i also scan any pics, patterns, directions, etc. and keep them on a flash drive for future use. Instead of tearing the magazines apart you can scan and keep and sell the magazines. Just a thought!

I too have tons of magazines. On the older ones, I rip out the advertisements and articles I'm not interested in and that leaves a very skinny magazine. And/or, I simply tear out the patterns and staple the magazine cover to them and put them in a magazine holder. A couple of times now I've recycled magazine holders because of the space I've saved.

Okay, but you've got to chuckle at blzzrdqueen's reply. I did, and when I told my husband, he did too!

I don't take out the patterns I like and discard the magazine because I have learned over time that patterns I don't like today will be just what I want one day down the road. But I have found a space saving solution to store the largest # of magazines in the smallest amount of space that works better than any I have tried. I file the magazines alphabetically by title in hanging file folders (several mags to one folder) or cardboard magazine holders in a tall 4 drawer filing cabinet. On top of the cabinet I have a long file box for 3x5" cards in which I have set up a card catalog system. I have the name of a quilt pattern on the top line of the card, then below a listing of each magazine and page # that pattern can be found in. This took a while to set up a few years ago (going through all of the mags and filling in the cards), but it was fun and well worth it. Now I can find anything, and friends ask me for a pattern they need quickly instead of hunting through their magazines to find it. If I just want to browse mags for fun, I can take out a box or folder at a time and swap out for another one when I'm finished.

I have a ginormous binder that I've filled with protector sleeves. Every now & then I sit at the television and cut and stuff. The sleeves hold the pattern & templates. Also remove the patterns in which I'm no longer interested.

p.s. there are many magazines that I want to keep (like a good book). Those I place in stand-up, open-ended magazine boxes.

You could photocopy the templates.

Funny you should ask what he would get rid of...he has NOTHING to get rid of, the whole house if full of MY stuff, lol!!!!

I Put my favorite patterns in those clear plastic notebook sleeves and arranged them according to type ie,.traditional, Christmas, etc. I put labeled note book dividers between the types and set them all in a wooden crate I have. So far so good :wink:

i used to keep all my mags. found the same problem as others that over time my wants, needs, likes changed. also, many of the "new" patterns are just different fabrics. then i realized that with rare exceptions i find something i like in almost every mag. this led me to decide to let go of the mags and just enjoy the new ones. i keep about one year worth, go thru them periodically and remove the patterns that still appeal, put them in binder.

the other thing that helps is the digital subscription. really like that. i can go back ten years online and i don't have to make storage space.

hadn't thought about scanning the pages i save. i may have to hook up the scanner and get to saving.

Tell your husband they are your magazines, you are keeping them, end of discussion. Then tell him to go soak his head. For a long time. Till no air bubbles rise out of the water. :mrgreen:

I have found that my tastes haven't really changed, but my ability and confidence has. So patterns that I never even considered in the past because there was NO WAY I could have done them, are now appealing. And I'm now confident enough to try techniques I wouldn't have considered in the past. Let my family pitch them in the recycling bin after I'm dead! LOL

As do I. Inspiration at different times, comes from different sources. What you "loved" 3 years ago--you probably won't "love" now.

I decided I didnt want to keep all the magazines, so I also use binders. I cut out the pattern and then file them by categories. For example, I have one binder for pieced quilts and sub-categories for bed quilts, baby quilts, wall quilts. Then other notebooks hold applique quilts, combination quilts, and other things like single blocks, or applique templates. I also have a section for finishing, and helpful hints. It works for me, but I had to make sure and mark the contents on the spine of the binder so I could find things easily.

Oh...I also have one category just with "inspiration" pictures. Sometimes the advertisements have beautiful quilts or fabrics pictured, and it sparks an idea, so I put that in the inspiration section. I also put pictures that I have taken at quilt shows in there.....with one section just for close ups of some of the FMQ that I have taken pics of....

I use a binder and protective sheets. The pattern and the templates all fit in one of the binder sheets. I can also store the tearsheets from magazines or free patterns that I have copied from other sources or printed off the Internet.

I took a large binder and sheet protectors and filed the template, directions, and pics together. separated with tabs for different types.
I also fixed one for crafts and one for sewing.

what a great idea. Will have to use that for myself

I decided on my own that if I was ever going to make any of those quilts I needed to organize them for my own sanity!

I went through every magazine and tore out the quilts I liked. I then put them in the top loading sleeves (got mine at Staples - 100 per box) that can be put in three ring binders.

After this was done I organized them into categories. For me it was applique quilts, baby quilts, traditional quilts, Christmas quilts, etc.

I then put these categories into binders. I bought the 3" binders and then some tabs to divide my categories.

Everyone thinks and works differently, but this is what works best for me.

I know someone who could NOT even think about tearing her magazines up, so what she did was take a color copy of the quilt she liked in each magazine. Usually the magazine name/date are on the bottom of the page, but if not, she would write that in. She then organized all of her magazines on a bookshelf. This way she could look through the copied pictures (she also put these in binders) and when she came to one she wanted to make she only needed to go to that magazine on her bookshelf.

Have fun!

Suzanne in VT

This is what I do, including the rethinking about some patterns. I put the post-it at the top so I can put the magazine in one of those holders. Once in awhile I will go thru a holder to see if I still am interested in that group.

I was tearing out the patterns I wanted to keep and storing them in a 3 ring binder, but then that got out of control. Now I scan them and store them on my computer. Much easier to find and they take up much less space.

I understand the "out of control" thing *LOL*! I actually re-evaluated my subscriptions and ONLY get AP&Q now. There had to be an end to the madness. I'm 46 and will NEVER make all of these quilts in my lifetime.

Suzanne in VT

Yes, the very reason I WILL NOT throw them out.

I too use the big binders with the plastic thingys to hold magazines. Sat down last year and thought about throwing them away but just couldn't do it. Love those old old Quilters' Newsletter magazines!

I use three (3) binders. You notice the s on binder. When I find something I love I either tear it out with all directions or I copy it and place it in my binders. Then get rid of the magazine. Saves lots of space. And occasionally I will go through them and discard things that I have changed my mind on like: "What was I thinking?". I refer to them all the time, they are so helpful.

Can you scan and copy onto a cd. Think I'm going to try and maybe give my magazines to the local quilt guild for their library and have it all still available.

This method works well for me also - only difference is I have them sorted by type ie., stars, 9-patch etc

I use the 3 ring method also - and the magazines are donated to our LQS - with or without removed pages - and the magazines are shared by many. Our LQS has a large basket where we can take any magazines for FREE.

Is your husband upset because he thinks they're too messy???? I bought several of those cardboard magazine organizers.. you know the kind that you put the mags in & the back faces out? anyway,,, they look nice & clean, hold like 10 to 12 mags, generally you can put a little label on the front.. I flag the pattern using a write on tab store the mags by publisher & date, then you can look for a pettern without pulling every magazine out and going thru the whole thing ( although that's what I'm currently doing while my machines are in the shop)

What works for me is tearing out the patterns (have to remember to check for templates as I forgot a few) and stapling them together and putting them in folders labeled: bed quilts, wall quilts, runners, lap quilts, etc. then I put them in an upright crate and file them. Then I can go through them and eliminate some that are not workable, and file some possibles in another folder. I do not want to keep a lot of magazines on hand and this is a good wayto cull out what I do not want. I also keep the hints and helps in another folder.

Great topic! I will buy a magazine just for one pattern !

I wonder if color zeroxing the pattern and pitching the magazine.. but sure to note the magazine and publisihing info and date.

Good one here ! Fold out accordian folder with tabs of style,
I really like this post !

Thanks for making me think of another organizing way to help my clutter! Really trying !