Building Stash
 

When you are building your stash how do you determine what to put in it? I am trying to maintain some type of control. And then how does everyone Organize their stash when you have strips and squares and yards? Thanks
Diane

This is how my room is organized..

These are in 30 gal tubs no matter what size pieces they are:
Holiday- each holiday (xmas, 4th, halloweenie, easter, etc) have its own tub
Flannel
Vintage fabric (35in xWOF)- all goes in one tub
Authentic 30's feedsacks
(under cutting table are the old-er fabrics, the rest listed i keep in my walk in closet)
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All my Bolts (3+yards) are on the bookcase and in walk in closet.
All my 1-2 yards cuts are ruler folded, then separated by theme (floral, kids prints, Asian, etc) and solids, blenders, and the rest are separated by color on bookcases
(its hardly ever this neat!!)
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Batiks are in a see thru sterilite three drawer separated by light med dark..
Fqs are separated by color, floral, novelty in it's own sections on wall cd racks, closet maid 24/36 bin shoe organizers.. Each area has its own 'theme' so i can find what I'm looking for.
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My scraps are in specific see- thru bins, tubs and drawers depending on size..
( i have different size see thru bins, this one is the largest/widest one)
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Each Accuquilt Die cut shapes have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own- I do have most if not all the dies already.. lol..
strips less than10 inches but longer than 5 inches of has a a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Strips longer than 10 inches but less than WOF has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2 inch strips are hanging on the back of the door
1.5 x wof has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2.5 x WOF strips has a a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3x WOF strips have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
5x WOF strips have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
all other strips x WOF are separated by colors and has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Crumbs have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Scraps less than a fq but larger than 6x6 has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own- these are waiting to be cut with my Accuquilt
2 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own

4 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
4.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own


And that's how my room is organized..

I followed Bonnies method.. www.quiltville.com.

I have organized by color using the ruler folding method for yardage- exception are the backing pieces of 5 yds or more just get ruler folded but not in half and then stacked. I have the clear IRIS shoe boxes (got at Costco) for strips, charms and bricks again done by color- I use an index card with color/s written on them so they can be changed easily. Layer Cake sizes are put in the large see thru flip top boxes you get at Joann's in the scrapbooking area. Projects that are cut are put in clear boxes with index card that says Kit ready to sew. I found that if I put them in bags they disappeared. I also keep a binder with these sleeves. I cut a small piece of fabric, glue on an index card cut to size(half a card), and then write manufacturer, name of fabric if on selvage and yardage. Then if I am putting together some pieces and want to match, I can take the card and not the piece of fabric. http://www.amazon.com/25-Ultra-Pro-P...7094165&sr=8-1 But only you can truly organize to your liking. Check out other posting to see tips.

I will try to post a pic of these tomorrow when I have time.

I organize by 'main' color ~ tans, blues, reds, white, green, etc. Then some of the 'busy' fabric patterns might go into another pile. Christmas has its own area. Now my scraps is another story .... grrr ... I need to take care of that mess. I might have to use Bonnie Hunters system; http://quiltville.com/scrapusersystem.shtml

Good luck, organizing!

I used to just buy without any consideration of what the fabric would likely be used for. Now when I find those great focus fabrics I buy enough that it can be used in the blocks and for the borders of at least a queen size quilt. That means at least 5 yards and 6 is better. Then you also need great neutral backgrounds. I used to buy 1/6th yard rolls at Great American Quilt Factory but they closed. The rolls usually had 30 different fabrics and were great for scrappy backgrounds. If I use a single background it generally takes 3 to 4 yards so when I find a great background I tend to buy 8 to 10 yards. For the go with and blender type fabrics I generally buy at least two yards. If it's a color that I'll use a lot of, like a great green, I may buy 4 to 6 yards of it though.

I store everything longer than a yard on the coroplast boards in bookshelves. I have everything 1 yard and shorter in dresser drawers. Anything smaller than a fat quarter gets dumped in the scrap bins. Since I have no idea how they'll get used once they hit the scrap bins I leave them as is. If I was going to cut it into strips and squares I'd look thru the plastic storage aisle at Wal-Mart or Target for bins to store them in.

The one thing I don't do is buy more than I have room to store. I have enough fabric now that it's pretty easy to work from mostly stash. But it's also easy to work mostly from stash because I have enough of any one fabric for the job.

I usually buy fabric lines...fat quarters, jelly rolls, charms, layer cakes and yardage of a line of fabric I like. It seems whenever I buy just one fabric, I can never match it with anything. I keep my fabric stacked on my bookcases, in rubbermaid slim tubs, lined wicker laundry baskets, fabric boxes, dresser drawers, any place I can find room.

Wow "luvtooquilt" I love all the fabric. Thats my dream to be able to decide I want to do a quilt and go into my sewing room and have the fabric (other than maybe the backing). but my Husband would probably have a heart attack if he walked in and seen that much fabric. But thank you for sharing the Pics. It really got my mind working.

Diane