Originally Posted by weezie

I was running "my mouth" earlier in this thread about my awesome organizational skills (yes, I am now making fun of myself!). Watterstide wisely suggests we share tips, so I have one here to share.

My "problem" may not be your problem, so this info. may not be useful, but here goes: I get overwhelmed by huge quantities of anything, notably of fabrics and the vast array of different colors and shades and values and what fabrics go really well together, etc., so when I go fabric shopping, sometimes I think my eyes will start spinning around in my head just like the googly eyes on a toy. (Does this help explain my clutter phobia?)

Your photos show me that many of you have fabulously neat rows of fabrics, by color, in drawers or on shelves, but I cannot do that; I have to divide and conquer. On one deep shelf (out of the way behind other things) I have all my really ugly fabrics. When I need something to practice on, for example, I know exactly where to look. On 2 other shelves, I have bolts or partial bolts of coordinating fabrics; on another are smaller pieces of fabric, also more or less coordinated and on another, yardage that I'll probably use for quilt backs. In a huge plastic box, I keep small pieces for future applique. When I use the term, "coordinating fabrics" it means I store by fabrics that complement one another rather than by color chart; I do those match-ups on the day that I bring the fabric home from the store. More often than not, I already know when I buy a fabric exactly what other fabric(s) I want it go with.

If you are overwhelmed by your fabric stash, as in where and how to store, you might want to consider my 'divide and conquer' method. It can also cut down on "mess" when you get to digging around for "a fabulous quilt idea" fabrics ... it allows you to "home in" on a specific area ... or at least one area at a time.

Has this long "tip" made any sense at all? If I can be of help to just one person, I'm happy!