Organized?? Who is?? And how did you do it??

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02-24-2011, 08:19 AM

#31

haylillan

Senior Member

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: mid mo

Posts: 509

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pamela Artman

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother. That must have been a terrible holiday season for you and your family. I wasn't always a good organizer, but I started organizing my office at work many years ago after taking the place of a very disorganized person and it felt so good, that I gradually started becoming more and more organized, both at work and at home. I'll give you an idea of what I would do. First I'd buy or have built, a whole wall of shelves in your sewing room. Then I'd buy some plastic bins that would stack. Then I'd start with the category that has the least amount of stuff, whether that's cross stitch, knitting, etc. and sort through everything in that category, and then find a home for it. The secret for me has been finding containers that fit the purpose. I have baskets for balls of yarn, (which fit in 2 baskets) and a bin for all the skeins (which fill one big plastic bin). If you are short of space, think vertical. Buy or build tall bookshelves, add high shelves above windows, sewing tables, etc. It's so easy to pile things up on the floor, but once you have shelves, it's easier to stay organized. I'd move a portion of the stuff into a spare bedroom and clear one end of your sewing room and start there. I would look through everything carefully, and if you think you will use it in the future, I'd put it away. But if it's not to your taste or something that you probably will never use, I'd start a bin for future donation or sale. It might be hard to give any of your mother's things away right now, but if you put stuff in a bin and look at it again in 6 months, you might feel more able to part with it. Good luck with everything! Take it slow, but work on it steadily and before you know it, it will all be organized and easier to find and use!

i agree with pam been there many yrs ago

02-24-2011, 08:20 AM

#32

BJ SewKkrazzy

Senior Member

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: Idaho

Posts: 422

I am sure you will get lots of ideas here from all of us...and I can say from experience, you will enjoy sewing even more when organized!

Here's how I organized my fabrics by color which sit in a closet and can roll out individually.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]135195[/ATTACH]

these are my ribbons

[ATTACH=CONFIG]135327[/ATTACH]

this holds my beads, threads and other tools for my machine

[ATTACH=CONFIG]135564[/ATTACH]

Attached Thumbnails

02-24-2011, 08:23 AM

#33

kathymarie

Super Member

Join Date: May 2010

Location: Southeastern West Virginia, USA

Posts: 1,026

Hugs and prayers on the loss of your mom.....mine is 81 now and I just dread not having her around....even if she lives a long life it's not going to be enough time to suit me.

First of all, I'd try to neaten some, but I would wait until you're in a good emotional place to be objective about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. Then, maybe think about things or organizations that meant alot to her and either donate to them or sell them and give the proceeds to that organization or charity or church. I know it's hard to live with the disorganization but don't part with something you'll wish later you kept.

Smile....you've got lots of friends here....

02-24-2011, 08:43 AM

#34

ShirlinAZ

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2010

Location: Prescott Valley, AZ

Posts: 1,329

So sorry for your loss. I have to stay organized or my creativity vanishes! Separate each craft into clear plastic totes if you have them. Big boxes will work for a start if you don't have totes. Once you get them separated you can start organizing each craft. Picking out the right storage containers or furniture can take awhile. Just get things separated for now, then you can decide the right storage for the type and volume of each type of craft. Don't try to do it all at once. Take one step at a time.

02-24-2011, 08:52 AM

#35

polly13

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2009

Location: NYS Finger Lakes Region

Posts: 1,178

Your mom left you quite a legacy! You should be set for quite a long time. Sort by sizes and see through plastic containers work best for me.

02-24-2011, 08:53 AM

#36

polly13

Super Member

Join Date: Oct 2009

Location: NYS Finger Lakes Region

Posts: 1,178

Quote:

Originally Posted by BJ SewKkrazzy

I am sure you will get lots of ideas here from all of us...and I can say from experience, you will enjoy sewing even more when organized!

WOW! Love your organized area! Congratulations. You have certainly provided a role model.

02-24-2011, 09:43 AM

#37

IBQLTN

Super Member

Join Date: Aug 2010

Location: Jacksonville, FL

Posts: 1,389

Quote:

Originally Posted by QweenBee

Oh yeah the balloons where from my birthday, and my Christmas tree never got decorated. I was with my Mother the whole month of December until she passed at 3:18am December 26, 2010 :cry:

So sorry to hear of the loss of your mother. I'm glad you got to spend a lot of her last days with her.

I lost my Mom the morning of December 23rd. The 'visitation' was suggested to be the 26th but I realized it was my birthday and moved it to the 27th. I didn't want to associate her death with my birthday. I will always cherish the time I had with Mom and with being able to give her my love and support through those 80 days of her illness. I will keep you in my prayers.

As for staying organized, I finally got same-sized containers for storage that I could stack on one another plus a couple of matching bookcases for fabric and books. I also bought some decorative boxes to put the WIP's that I will actually work on first and displayed those on top of the bookcases. Having everything a uniform size has helped me feel not quite so overwhelmed by having too much stuff for too small a space; but I'm still not as organized as I'd like to be.

Peggy

02-24-2011, 09:55 AM

#38

samsews

Junior Member

Join Date: Feb 2011

Posts: 113

Quote:

Originally Posted by QweenBee

I know everyone is not a fanatic about keeping everything organized. I'm not, and I'm trying to get everything organized, but I do feel as if I'm just treding water, or should I say treading in fabric, patterns, paints, crochet needles, CCStitch, knitting needles, yarn, garment fabrics, garment patterns, scraps of fabric. OOOOh so many sizes, and I could go on and on!
Really, how do you organize a ton of different size pieces of fabrics? I've got the big sections down, Holiday, everyday, garment, home interior. So, what about everything else. If you are wondering why I'm asking these questions, My DEAR MOTHER, passed away the week of Christmas, and was a avid quilter, seamstress, crafter, painter, jewlery maker... and since I was only girl I got most of her craft stuff. So here is how my dining room looked for a couple of weeks! I had to move it out of the dining room, I was sick of eating on the couch, gross!
Anyways so now most of it is stuffed into my sewing/office and the side bedroom! Please I'm embarassed enough, I need help organizing, not comments about how I should give her things away. I do the same crafty things as she did!
Thanks for reading!
Qweenbee

Buy clear plastic bins with snap on lids. You can stack those and see what's inside without having to open them. That's what we use and we stack them 4 bins high. They could probably go higher but we're both short.What we're using is the largest bins that Walmart had.When I'm sitting they measure from the floor to my knee. We also have smaller clear ones for stuff like templates,thread,needles,stuff like that. If you have seasonal fabrics you can put all your seasonal stuff in one bin and put it under a table or in a closet til the season comes around. Hope this helps and I'm really sorry about your mother.

02-24-2011, 09:57 AM

#39

Matilda

Super Member

Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Michigan

Posts: 2,199

I am pretty much organized. But I have to work at it and reorganize especially when I go through my tub of fabric I have to dump out and reorganize. My threads and notions are pretty well in their places.