Fizzle

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I will keep all same cuts together regardless of their theme. And I also think I will rearrange more than one time! You guys are right. Everyone is different and I guess I need to find what is most useful for me and what I have. I also bet needs change over time anyway...

Thanks for the insight!
Hope you all have amazing days!

Jingle

I save scraps 2-1/2" blocks, or strips. I make lots of scrap quilts. Large yardage 2 or more yards are folded with 6" wide ruler. I donate quilts for foster kids in my county. I have scrappy quilts for I have made for our bed.

toverly

Precuts that I purchase I keep on a shelf to pet and enjoy till I use them. Precuts I make, I keep with their theme. Batiks, 30's and prints. I store in totes.

Onebyone

I keep civil war, Christmas, 30's fabric, separated. All other yardage is by color being the first color I see in a print then that is the color pile it goes to.

Dolphyngyrl

the only ones I store together are ones I have no specific project for I store them in my artbin super satchels. My project ones get stored with all the fabric for project. I mostly buy fq and jelly rolls

kristijoy

My main stash I have folded and sorted by color, with the exception being 'focus' fabrics that are mluti-colored. Those I have in one specific spot.

Then for my scraps - when I'm finished with a project, I cut all my scraps into pre-cut sizes. First 5 inch squares, then 2 1/2 inch strips, then 2 inch strips, then 1 1/2 inch strips. Whatever is the 'biggest' cut I can get from the left over scraps. Then these I sort into color bins with plastic baggies separating the sizes. I think this might be fairly close to Bonnie Hunters scrap saver system.

What surprises me is that most often what jump starts my creativity is an overflowing color bin, rather than a big cut of yardage. If I have a bunch of brown 2 1/2 inch strips overflowing my color bin, my brain starts working on ideas. I might even look for a focus fabric, then pull from other color bins first, before I go to the main stash of bigger cuts.

Plus it's just fun to look through my fabric bins...sort of like digging through grandma's big button jar.

MosquitoBait

Yardage is stored first by theme (Christmas, Halloween, Space, Country) and then by color with the exception of Thimbleberries fabrics (purchased for specific quilts). Smaller cuts are actually pretty haphazard. I try to keep fat quarters together but they aren't really sorted by anything at this time.
Specific cuts or strips such as 2.5 inch strips or squares are stored in labeled boxes for later use. I don't buy precuts as they just don't work with what I do besides of which I prefer to prewash to eliminate pesticides.

Pagzz

interesting topic. I keep bundles together in one drawer. I save 2.5, 2, and 1.5 inch strips. they are in 3 different containers or drawers. however if I have a bunch of one color say I have teal 2.5 inch strips leftover from a project I will put those in a plastic ziplock or similar bag and then add that to my 2.5 inch drawer.

Thanks everyone for ideas. it's a never ending work in process for me.

newbee3

instead of organizing all the fabric I try to just use it

sewingpup

I just keep my scraps less than a fat quarter in clear boxes or gallon baggies separated by color. When I find a project I want to do, I go to the scrap bags of color and pick the colors I am going to use, then I pull out the ones that I can cut into the sizes I need for the project. When I am done with the project, I then put any left over pieces cut to size say 2.5 inch squares, 1.5 inch strips and put them in a clear plastic shoe box that is holding that specific size. Any color, theme goes in these as long as it is the same size. I do have separate boxes of colors all mixed together for strings less than 2.5 inches and selvage edges. fat quarters or more are folded and stacked in my book cases or stacked on edge in drawers. Anything 1 yard or bigger is folded using rulers and stacked in the book cases, I have three sizes of folds. 1-1 plus yards folded around a 6 inch ruler and folded in half, 2 plus yards is folded around a 8.5 ruler folded in half, and anything big enough to be a backing is simply folded and a small piece of paper with the yardage marked on it is pinned to a corner. I used to try and cut all scraps into common sizes right away but found the sorting by color more useful to me and then cutting as needed. I do have an accuquilt and use that. If the scrap makes more than what I need, I just then stick the left over squares, strips into the size boxes.