I am wondering how you organize your fabric. I am a beginner quilter and don't have much fabric but when I get some would like to be sure it is all organized. Hubby has been unemployed since July 2009 so $ is tight for us. Have a wonderful day!

I just came across this link and thought I would post it here to see if anyone else has used this organization idea.

http://featheredfibers.wordpress.com...-and-tutorial/

Karen

I do mine by colors. Fat quarters by color and yardage by color.

Me too. :D :D :D :D

I am kind of half and half on that. Some are by catagories....Christmas, Halloween, doggies, stuff like that. Then I have two plastic containers of BLUE, and another of tans and greens. Guess I just can't make up my mind....

Am I the only one that doesn't organize? My fabric is a mess. It's all over the place...in closets, drawers, bags...I think I need help! I have to admit I should organize it so I can find stuff. I spend a lot of time digging around and getting frustrated but it seems impossible to get organized! Who wants to come help me???

I will come over and help you, if I get to keep every other yard..... :lol:

I have 2 bookshelves in my sewing room where I put my FQ's in color groupings. And large tubs that I keep the larger pieces in. Also have the seasonal things together and the Bali fabric in another group.

I also sort by color and theme. Black and white together, novelty. I also keep flannel all together.

I have a dresser I keep all the fat quarters in by color. The rest of the fabric is in a cupboard by length of cut. I can see what color it is and there's no point in pulling a piece of fabric out if it's not the right length. That way if I need a 3 yard cut I'm only looking at 3 yard cuts and longer.

I use my "stashtamers". See my ad in the Classifieds section. LOL!
Had to put in that plug!!

MJ

I don't know if I could part with any of it. LOL Isn't it funny how we continue to buy new fabric that we LOVE and just have to have. Then we forget about all those past purchases that we just LOVED and had to have.

Funny someone should mention this.

I am knee deep in my sewing room in fabric and notions. Reorganizing everything after we added a new shelf and bookcase in my sewing room. I have two piles going, one growing mess is pieces big enough for fat quarters and the other one is the scrap pile to be cut into 3 or 4 inch squares. Those are for scrappy quilts and other brainstorms I might have.

Well, we moved to Texas last March and couldn't find a 4 bedroom house. So, my sewing area is in the middle of the kitchen/dining room. What a mess for all to see. I didn't have any other choice...I have to sew. heeheehee My DH is wonderful. He never complains even though it looks like a tornado came through and dropped off tons of fabric.

I sort my stash by colors and also seasonal prints, juvenile fabric, flannel, and wide backing fabrics.

I fold fabrics that go together in a bundle with the pattern I have chosen at the time. I often change my mind about the pattern but when fabrics go together, I try to keep them together.

i'm half and half, too. same cabinet from ikea. (mine is messily filled with books)

I had my fabric nicely stacked on metal shelves by color, seasons, novelty. Then we needed the room for an exchange student and she had to have a closet so all the fabric went into plastic bins. I carefully placed them in order BUT when it came time to put them back, DS wanted to "help". Got the picture??? Now I'm in the process of reorganizing the sewing room so everything is back in plastic bins. I'm following the 'organizing' threads very closely to try to do it right the first time, again. There have been such great ideas. Please keep them coming.
Wendy

Most of my fabrics are organized on this shelving unit below in my closet. Most are arranged by color, a few others by category, ie, Christmas, Fall, Novelty, Baby, Juvenile and Sewing. Home Dec fabrics, flannels, fleece and batting are out in my 'annex' in our attached garage in plastic tubs with labels.

On my bookcase of quilty books are my FQ's, a Jelly Roll, Charm Packs and Printed labels in/or shoebox size plastic boxes as cleverly disguised bookends, lol. :-D

Are those comic book boards pretty strong? Thanks.

Hi vicki75

I will come and help you!

Karen

I just found this video on how to fold your fabric neatly!

http://www.howcast.com/videos/56027-...ng-Fabric-Tips

another link about organizing your fabric and wow that lady has a blog how to organize everything, really fun to read for ideas

http://www.marilynbohn.com/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,11/p,545/

All my printed fabric is stored in the closet, I have most of it in plastic containers according to what sort of fabric it is--cats, kids, xmas etc..fabric i might be collecting for a project.
I have stacks of fabric for backings.

the second pic is where my solid color fabric is stored...under the yellow table cloth is 4 rubbermaid drawer containers-each color has its own drawer.

I have a tall slender bookcase I am going to add to the closet for fat quaters now that i found myself using them more.

Wow, i love the way you store your fabric

very neat quiltgranny and craftiladi! i would love to have your fabric stash!! :lol:

I bought a real bakers rack from the restaurant supply store 10 years ago, now I have (3) bakers racks. These hold a lot of weight. I divide my fabrics by color and type and they are out where I can see them all them time which is inspiring.

I must have at least 10 different kinds of storage boxes from clear plastic to solid colored rubbermaid types. At one time I went through my whole stash and seperated everything by color. The only problem is that when I bring new stuff into the house the tubs, boxes or whatever for that particular color are already full. I also have some containers broken down into oriental, cartoon novelaties etc. etc. Then there are the tubs and boxes with yardage just for backing, batting or finished quilts. I also have 4 plastic drawer units full of thread as well as an 2 antique thread cabinets. I have a lot of sewing, serging, quilting and embroidery thread. Most of it is organized by color or purpose but it still takes up a lot of room. And then there are the stabilizers and extra hoops etc. for the embroidery machine. Those are stored in a former bedroom dresser whose top serves as a cutting or ironing surface in my sewing room. Most of my shelving units are either plastic from Walmart or garage type metal shelving also from Walmart. My stash is in three different rooms.

I try to keep my fabric stacked by color but some get mixed and it is never neat. I have a walk in closet with shelves and the standing bins with drawers. They keep things clean and neat. Keep all scraps in large baskets and just dump when I want scraps. It is fun to see what you have saved. Other wise a neat sewing room is an unused one.
Happy Quilting

I try to keep my fabric stacked by color but some get mixed and it is never neat. I have a walk in closet with shelves and the standing bins with drawers. They keep things clean and neat. Keep all scraps in large baskets and just dump when I want scraps. It is fun to see what you have saved. Other wise a neat sewing room is an unused one.
Happy Quilting :lol:

I have plastic bins that I put Holiday fabric in. Plastic boxes are for fat quarters by color. And my larger yardages are on rolls, by color in a closet on shelf. I don't like to have it out as the sun will fade the edges. I also have a recipe box that I put a small piece of each fabric on a recipe card with date purchases, yardages, maker, location, etc. Then it's filed by color in its recipe box, each color has it's own box. When I want to make a quilt, I get the recipe box, find a matching color and go to work. .

Hi All,

I first bought some IKEA Antonius storage systems. Then I separated fabrics:
- batiks
- hand dyed
- by themes: Christmas, Halloween, Cats, etc
- then by color

I fold fq's differently from 1/2 yds and so on.

With my fabric in the bins [which don't rust] I can see all I have very easily. Two systems fit one on top of the other in my stash closet. One system fits under a raised table in my studio where my embroidery machine resides, and it hosts my UFO's.

I also have a white board/cork board above the light switch in the studio and list what I want to do. I bough some neat magnet/push pins by OXO to use.

Works for me.
alice 8-)

I keep my fabric ( 1 yard or greater ) folded & placed on a hanger in the closet. I can put a few different pieces of each hanger. Baby patterns and holidays are seperate but the rest is color coded. I can see it all in a flash since it's a double door closet.

Beachbound ... since you store your fabric on hangers, you may be interested in this hint I learned from watching Fons and Porter: Save the selveges you cut off of fabrics or the long skinny strips that are waste, then wrap them around the base of your hanger and secure. Now when you hang your fabrics, they won't slip off!

A soulmate, and we're both in the Pacific Northwest. The sun is shining today and I have to clean house for company, a non-sewer who probably thinks of what I call creativity as a mess.

I do most of mine by color. But, I sort all the Christmas fabric together and also the batiks together & the flannels together.

If you go to Joann's fabrics or almost any other fabric store they are happy to give you their fabric storage boards for free. They put them in the dumpster if no one wants them. I have many full and partial bolts of fabric left over from sell out of my quilt shop when I moved, I removed the boards to make it easier to move the fabric in tubs. When I got to Ohio, I went to my local Joann's and they were happy to get rid of there used boards.

Where do you get the comic book boards to wrap your fabric around to organize your stash???????
Thanks Kathy kjym

I have shelves in my closet and I just toss my fabric on those but I do keep them together based on what they are - flannel, cotton, knits, etc. I keep cedar hangers in with my fabric to discourage bugs.

I have holiday fabric in separate plastic boxes. I have a box for Christmas, another for Thanksgiving, another for Easter/St. Patrick's/Valentines, and another for 4th of July.

I have my fabrics sorted by color (must be 1/2 yard or larger). They are rolled on a ruler and folded, then placed in cabinets on shelves by color, theme, etc. All collections are sorted and placed in tubs which are labeled. All fat quarters are also folded and sorted and placed in small plastic containers then placed inside a cabinet. Scraps (smaller than 1/4 yard) are sorted and placed in zipper bags, and placed in tubs which are labeled. Fabrics for specific projects are kept together in a tub of their own. I am not perfect, there is a tub of "what the heck is this" because I just don't know what to do with it!

Hi Karen,
Welcome to the board. I organize my fabric stash and scraps by color so I know what have that coordinates well. :wink:

Hi Karen,
Welcome to the board. I organize my fabric stash by the yard and scraps by color so I know what have that coordinates well, I have a six foot wide closet that I've been storing my fabric but I am slowly weaning myself to better organization so that I can see the color variations that I have in a particular color group, similar to the color wheel that artists use. The scraps I've organized baskets by primary color schemes.