Prism99

Well, here is what I have gleaned from my experience of doing it over several times.

If you are going to use plastic containers, don't get the biggest ones! They get too heavy to move around easily. My favorites for fabric stash are about 8"x12"x6" high, plus some that are the same size but only 3" high. The smaller ones are great for single project UFOs (big enough to hold the magazine with the pattern for the UFO) and for smaller categories of fabric or scrappy cuts (such as 3" squares). All of the containers should stack on each other, and preferably all should be see-thru including the tops. I like to use notecards for labeling, and I tape the notecard *inside* the box. This makes it easy to change labels if I decide to re-arrange my stash. (Gummed labels on the outside can become difficult to remove.)

With the smaller plastic boxes you can afford to divide your stash into more individualized categories. For example, I have a box for black prints, Asian fabrics, Walmart sparkles, Christmas reds, etc. I don't tend to buy fabric lines by designer but, if I did, I would have a box for each designer line too. I have a box of flannels, a box of plaids. Still have some too-huge boxes that need to be divided up. I would probably have a box of florals (because I want to make a floral log cabin one day). I have a box of sky fabrics, boxes for light/medium/dark batiks, a box for blues. I have a box of large scraps and another of small scraps. I have a box of "trees" -- small amounts of green and brown fabrics. If I had solids, I would have a box of just solids.

In other words, I don't use just one way to categorize fabrics. I tend to organize them by how they might be used in a quilt.

I use larger boxes only for batting (which is light in weight).

Edit: Oh, and I have just recently started to put together boxes of coordinating fabric for future projects. For example, I have some snowmen panels and their coordinating fabric together in a project box for Christmas.