I have mine on shelves, all folded the same way. Arranged by colors or theme, Blues, Greens, Seasonal, etc. I try to further subdivide by light/dark/medium if I have a lot of one color. Here is how to fold: It is really easy, and then everything is the same size:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkTlaMqRlwo

Kwhite and I laughed to find we both do this exactly the same way.

I sort by colors unless I have bought a fabric family then I leave them altogether.

3/4 of my stash is contained in vertical filing cabinets (with the fronts that lift up (we found these at the thrift stores these are great, very little dust gets in,usually a narrow strip right at the front of the shelf)fabric is folded to fit the depth of these shelves and then stacked, some is by color, but then I have one shelf that is batiks and blenders, one is 30 repro, 2 shelves with christmas, my novelties are birds, dogs/cats, chickens,fall/autumn,fq by color,dots together, projects to be are in bags on one shelf, fabrics that coordinate are shelved together, fabrics that are more that 2 yards I put on the boards from the store and these are in another area, scraps are in my koala cabinet drawers but that is going to change, so you get the idea I have lots of ways to organize but it works for me. Good luck

Mostly I organize by color, but also by themes (children, Christmas, flannels, etc.), and fabric bought for a specific project - hopefully along with the intended pattern.

I sort by color, but I separate out cat fabric, landscape fabric, and Christmas fabric.

me and my girlfriend spent a whole day folding and putting on shelves my dh put up and I hit up fabric shops (who know me well) for empty bolts and anything over 1 yard went up on bolts so we made a little progress. I'm going to put up progress pics as I go along. For about 1 yr. my dh wouldn't even come down here and our theatre system is down here! Now he comes down and praises me for the progress I've made and he is my judge....LOL. More pics later. :oops: for a couple of years I had to buy things I needed (rotary cutters, etc....) cuz I couldn't find them. Now I have multiple of almost everything! I give a lot away.
t

I organize by color; and I have a section for "multi."
I also separate my JoAnn's and Wal-Mart fabrics from my Quilt shop fabrics.

Plastic see thru totes by color!

OMG, I just want to get in there and go thru all the neat looking stuff! :-D

Your my kind of person.

Tracy50's pictures look like my sewing room, but not as large. I took a small bedroom and put shelves on every wall that I could, then purchased plastic bins at The Container Store, that stack easily, and sorted my fabric by color and size. FQs are in one size container, and yardage in larger sizes. One side of my room is quilting, the other side is other craft supplies.

My biggest problem is putting things BACK when I'm finished with them, even if I just get them down to look for something I can't seem to put it back. And also, putting things away when I bring them home. They always seem to end up in the middle of the room, and I have to dedicate a day or weekend, to getting everything where it belongs.

I am not a very good organizer. Right now I seem to be organizing by yardage.

I sort by color and size, then it's all stacked on an open wire shelving unit that I put 12x12 flooring tiles on so it's a solid surface. My light tone on tones, muslin and "other projects" areon the bottom shelf. Then I have a five drawer plastic rolling cart that houses all my cut squares of various sizes, all organized and stacked by color. Another three drawer plastic rolling cart that holds my strips, organized by color, gadgets, some rulers and whatever else. Under my sewing table, formerly a dining table, I have two very large under the bed storage containers that keep all my FQ's small projects and a few special pieces of fabric. It's not ideal for me, but it's what I got and I make it work.

I think that I'm doing good by having them all in the same room.
And none in chairs. None on the sewing table except what I'm working on at the moment. None with a cat sitting on it.

lol.. :lol:

Tracy- is that WHOLE room your sewing room?!?!??!!??! Omg if I come over to clean and organize can I stay and quilt?? that room is huge..

I have sorted everyway possible I think but have ended up by color. I started out by lines but every time I wanted to make something, I had to get every container out to find what I wanted to use. My stash is out of hand and have many containers (clear boxes so I can see inside)but I LOVE every little piece of it. I do keep my flannel separate.

check out alaskasunshine, she has a cool way to organize as well!

I have mine organized in bins by solids, prints, flannel, animal, minky, chinelle? animal, upholstery.

I separate my flannels, orientals,cats and holidays.
Everything else is organized by colors.
Of course when I'm making something, its a mess, but I do
try to keep it organized when I my tops are finished. It
usually works.

I sort by color. Pepper Cory, a nationally known quilter, says she sorts by dark, medium, and light. To each his own!

When my DH first built me a very large cabinet for my stash I organized by color, then I moved fabric around and put fabric that when with other fabric together--now I have 8 shelves of assorted mess... I pull out something to use, change my mind and shove the fabric wherever I can find a spot.
My best fabrics--from Italy and Japan, I keep in a special container and take them out once in a while and pet them and then put them back to rest.

What organisation?

Ha ha ha ha ha!! ROFL. Organize fabric! Too funny!

Really, though, I started re-organizing this weekend. I bout 16inch tubs at walmart and I have them organized by theme of fabric, 1 or 2 projects in a tub, and scraps. Using clear tubs so I can see what's in there.

Color, pattern, size and texture

i sort by color and then a seperate for holiday fabric

I have 2 of the cube storage units that DH and I got at Target. Each cube is sorted by color. Though I do have one spot for batiks (only just starting to get into them) and another has winter themed fabric. I have 1 huge plastic tote that has my flannel and other "different" fabric, velvets and corderoy.

I sort by collections, specialties (Christmas, flannels, minkee etc.) then by colors (ROY G BIV).

Me too.

I cannot lie. Sometimes (like right now) mine looks like this. I keep wishing for the good fairies to sweep in and organize it all but alas I have to do it myself. Then as soon as a pull out stuff for a couple of quilts it is back to a mess.

ditto!

Hi, this is my first post...love this site! I organize by color and by collections in kitchen cabinets my husband mounted on the walls of my sewing room. For FQs I use 2 shallow bookcases designed to hold CDs. They are 5 feet tall but only 7" deep which means I can fold my FQs and sort and stack by color without having them fall over. The nice thing is that when I come into my sewing room I see all the rainbow colors of my FQs lined up and it makes me happy. Hope this idea helps someone.

I sort by color and have separate "large print" fabric sections. I also sort by holiday, flannel, and plaids. I have a book where I keep a small swatch of every fabric and have the book sorted by colors. This helps me remember what I actually have in the stash, plus I can take it with me shopping, etc. Of course it's not perfectly up to date.

Remember that light affects the fabric. My fabric is in boxes inside a closet and I try to close the doors (it's overflowing in that closet).

If u live near me - anyone - sure, invitation is open, pm me! I live in Fleetwood, PA. I've actually been trying to get people to come help me and then u can have what u want (as long as it is not my Robyn Pandollph...LOL). When my girlfriend helped me, I gave her the fabrics she liked, and she left here with a kitchen trash bag of fabric! Sure, I'm open to any and all help. I some progress....I'll take update pics. But, today I have to go for an injection in my hip at 10:45a.m., but I'll be back this afternoon!

oh yeah, it is 1100 sq.ft., so yeah, it is big. My whole basement.

Mine is by color, or type. I have one bin that is Civil War Repros, another that is 30's, another that is Kid's, baby and novelty and several more that are Batiks, hand dyes, Christmas,Asian, and African then they are all by color. Anything larger than 4 yards is rolled on "The Fabric Organizer" and in larger bins. I have so much since I inherited a stash in February.

this is me, too. when I start a new project, I often get everything out and audition it, then put it back however the mood takes me.

I tried to sort it when I bought a bookshelf for it to go on. I put holiday fabric in one spot, flannels in another, solids together, fat quarter prints together. It doesn't seem to be staying that way very good, tho, every time I get more fabric, it just kinda gets put somewhere. Then every once in a while, when I'm looking for one, I start seeing stuff I forgot I had!!

I'm with you! Who has time to organize? Hello from Maine, by the way! Where are you in Maine?

Very carefully. No really, by color hues.