How do you organize everything?
 

I have been collecting, fabric, notions, lace, thread you name it I got it. I have one bedroom filled with stuff, one wall and a half has shelfing for my fabric, but its not enough I have containers, cardboard boxes, plastic shoe boxes, plastic drawers, a huge metal filing cabinet for patterns and a path to get to any and all of it, plastic tubs also. The bedroom also has a slanted ceiling on 2 walls. I also have the whole upstairs except my bedroom filled from one end of the house up to this other bedroom that is filled with plastic shelves that run the length of the wall, for fabric, I have a corner desk for my computer, and my cutting table, ironing board and 3 tables for my sewing machines and 1 industrial machine, all are used. I also have an on-line business because what I make I sell on there, so I can't get rid of anything, what an how can I store my on-line business items in (tote bags, coin purses, purses, baby quilts, vintage patterns) slanted ceilings are a problem through the whole upstairs and since I rent they gotta stay. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

the Quilting Board has a forum http://www.quiltingboard.com/mission-organization-f23/
this may give you some ideas
right now, i desperately need organization as well - just moved to a new house where everything goes in a different place than it was in the old house [sigh]

I feel your pain. I have slanted walls in my upstars sewing room as well. Since they are slanted due to the roof slant, there isn't any way to re-model them away. A serious waste of wall space.

My quilt stuff is gradually taking over the whole house. Organization? ha! The problem is that a lot more stuff comes in the door than goes out.

For me; organization seems to be an on going thing. As soon as I think I've found a good system I find something else that I like better. I've just switched up to a slightly larger but still very small sewing room and slowly getting all of my fabric out onto shelves. As I'm doing it I'm realizing one thing; most of it I never knew I had because it was out of site. This made me realize that I need to get it all out in the open; the fabric anyways. I have the cube book shelves with the canvas totes in them from Walmarts and I put projects in them if I haven't finished them along with a picture of the project on the outside so that I don't forget what's inside. On the ones with notions, etc I put a label so that I know what's in side; or I'll forget. For me, out of sight is really out of mind and that's not good when you are on a tight budget. I'm still working on organizing my new sewing room and liking the fact that as I'm doing it I'm discovering some things about how my mind works. You'd think I'd have known by now.

Is your avatar a picture of your storage? That's some serious 'stuff'!!

Jan in VA

Organize???????????? o r g a n i z e ??? define please!

My intention is to use clear plastic containers for small things and bigger bins for other stuff. Note, I said "intention".

I put all my fabric on the comic book boards and that greatly reduced how much space it took to store it all. Plus, it is so easy to see now with then all on shelving. You can't believe how much less space it takes using this method. I was shocked. I actually had empty shelves when I got done. I got the comic book boards on-line at Amazon.com, but if you have a local comic book shop they will have them.

Having just taken advantage of a great Janome quilt show special (7700 plus table, rolling cart for machine, a 3160 machine and a few other things:)) I am also going to be in need of serious re-organizing. Right now I have a lot of clear plastic storage boxs that are stacked up under my old tables, but they are going to have to go some where else, as one of the tables has to leave. And the boxs aren't going to fit in the closet, 'cause the shelves are full and need to be re-done.

I have the exact same problem. However, I also keep bringing more stuff in while I whine about how unorganized I am & how I can't seem to find anything (so I have to buy another one to replace the one that's buried under the mess). It's super frustrating!!!

I have floor to ceiling bookcases in the family room and in a double garage. Also a rolling bookcase.

I thrive on chaos........ bah humbug.. ORGANIZATZION!

Just walked out of the sewing room - and thought I need to stop and get it organized again-----------I try to put everything back in it's place but don't seem to manage it.

I like being organized. It means I get to spend time sewing and quilting instead of hunting for stuff. Designate specific places for things and put them there. Like with like. All of my needles and pins of any kind go in one drawer. Design tools go in one drawer. All chargers and extension cords go in one drawer. I have small bins for things like glues and patterns. If I need a glue I know exactly where it is. All of my quilt basting and marking stuff is together in one drawer. That makes it easy to just grab exactly the thing you want instead of spending time hunting for stuff. If you have a label maker label the drawers or bins or whatever you use for things.

Being organized really isn't hard to do.

"Organize" is a dirty word and I wish people on this board would clean up their potty mouths!

You are absolutely right. It's sometimes a lot of work to get there, but once you're there it's pretty liberating and so much easier to find things. Before I got organized I would spend hours looking for something specific or just go to the store and buy something else. Of course as soon as I got home I would find what I had been looking for. Guess it's not for everyone, but for me getting organized was a blessing.

I thought I was organized, but everytime I go to look for something I can not find it.

I have a gambrel roof in my sewing area too. I have some tall bookshelves on the slanted wall that makes a wedge shape of storage for batting and such behind them. Organizing is always a challenge.

Would it be possible to hang toy nets, from the slanted ceilings? Those can hold lightweight items. You may even be able to hang tiers of nets, if there's room.

I bought a book on Amazon on Organizing crafts. One of the things I have done and love the way it turned out is to buy hangers some with clothes pins and some not and eight hung or pinned the larger pieced of fabric on them and hung them on a clothes bar in my sewing room. Very easy to see what you have and doesn't take a lot of room. I also bought a shelf that is suppose to be used for CD's and put my fat quarters in it. It holds a lot of them and you can see exactly what you have. If you don't want to but the shelf, get card board boxes that ar narrow and shallow and stand them up in that. I have some in those to. It just takes a while to ge it exactly convient for you but you will eventually will and with your business I'm sure it's very important to get it done.

I have spent a lot of time organizing my sewing room. I have a triple dresser with an ironing board top that DH built. It has six medium sized and two large drawers as well as a cabinet in the middle. Lots of storage space. I have two large white cabinets full of fabric which has been ruler folded. My cutting table has a 16 drawer cd cabinet on one end that is perfect for fat quarters, rotary cutters, scissors, etc. I have a large sewing cabinet that has room for 3 machines. It has 2 drawers and 2 shelves on each end. I have a 2 drawer file cabinet and 2 book shelves. I love my new 12 x 23 sewing room. However, now that everything is organized and put away---I can't find anything! LOL

I'm not complaining---I just have to get used to all this organization! LOL

My two quilting buddies and i each spent a saturday together sorting and organizing our stashes. Lots of laughs, discovery, and what-were-u-thinking moments. we used baskets and bins for 'together' projects and someday quilts, and sorted everything else by novelty, color, batiks, baby, and weird.?

I saw a tutorial on how to fold fabric and I took all my fabric out of bins and folded it as directed. I was amazed; what took 8 shelves is now on 3. Best part is I can now see all of my fabric at a glance. No more fumbling through bins looking for a piece of fabric. I love, love my new organization. All the bins now hold projects and are clearly labelled. It's easier to find and work on my projects.

I can sure relate to that. Can't imagine what my house would look like without all my sewing/craft materials.

I'm so excited--my sewing room is truly becoming less of a bedroom and more of MY sewing room! I just bought at auction an old china cabinet/hutch so that I gained cupboards below and a glass fronted shelving above--now I can but both finished quilts and material in and keep the dust off! I've also bought a trundle bed so that I don't lose the extra bed, but also don't have it in the way--and I'll make the trundle more of a sitting bed so that I can take a break. Two "wants" on my list for a later date--ripping out carpet and replacing with laminate and getting my son's old computer repaired so that I can dream of getting EQ7! But both are down the road a ways due to $$---I spend to much on fabric!

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with this problem!

I share my sewing space with hubby. He has about 4 feet of a 12 foot table for his computer and printer. His hobby is photography. We recently had to put a freezer in here also so I lost some space and had to spread to the guest room. I have drawers for FQ's and scraps, a bookshelf for larger pieces, drawers for lace and ribbons and other crafts. All my UFO's are in numbered totes. I have a printed list in my computer of what is in each tote so I can find any UFO without going through all the totes. My goal for this year is to use up scraps, use stash as much as possible, work on UFO's and for every 2 UFO's I finish I can make something I have been wanting to but I MUST finish it. Hopefully the extra "stuff" will no longer have to be in the guest room.

My organization trick: new stuff on top of the pile, just remember what's on the bottom.

It depends on "who's looking and who's judging" whether I'm organized or not. I think I'm organized. I know where everything is. If I try to rearrange things to look more "organized" to certain people, I lose things. So, I keep things as they are. I add to my stash and dust every couple of weeks and vacuum, but I leave everything in the same place, otherwise I will never find it again. My brother, when he's looking and judging, thinks I need to organize my room. My husband, when he's looking and judging, has never said a word about my room being organized or not. So, I think my brother is wrong and I am right. I have to live with it. Also, I don't like people who look and judge, I found out!

Dunster I have the same thing..I can usually find what I am looking for and some items--needles, marking pens, sewing machine items organized for each machine and fabric...that needs something done but the intentions are good and then I start sewing!

You got some serious stuff. I recently started buy those Sterilite storage cabinets Walmart sells, simply because I couldn't stand all my stuff out in plain view any more. It helps me a lot, although I still have stuff on top of all of them. Still an eyesore but not nearly as bad. I think I need another whole house for my stuff.

My set-up all just works like a filing system and for the same reasons. I want to be able to put my hands on something instantly so i can spend my time creating and not searching.

The studio has separate areas for separate functions (cutting, sewing, pressing, designing, research, etc), and items are stored in the area in which they are used, like things together. Often used items are closer at hand than seldom used items and are more 'visible'. Fabrics for all but the current project(s) are stored upstairs in another room and all fabrics are in (28 qt) clear bins. Perhaps most importantly, things get put away when I'm finished using them.

If you Google storage ideas for sloped ceilings, you'll find lots of photos and ideas that might help you out.