Hello,

I have fallen victim to the infamous "fabric stash" that everyone on the forum talks about. I inherited some more fabric tonight (and I haven't finished a project yet but have several on the burner).
Do you organize by color, patterns etc.?
I think about a lot I want to do but just have to do it.

Thank you,
Pat

I sort by color, as well as the holidays have their own sections.

My stash isn't very large either. Right now I just put them in order by amounts. Then I fold the piece with a ruler and pin on one of my yardage cards and file them away standing up in baskets. Works well so far.

A picture is worth a thousand words!

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-55359-1.htm

I keep collections together so I can find them faster. When I know the exact project that I want to do, I stack those together and tie them with a nice ribbon. Include the pattern name on the top if I have it. I keep plaid together, dots together, and stripes together.

Organize??? What's that?? LOL I wish I had time to organize my stash, but I'd rather be quilting.

I sort by theme, and the flannels are together. Heavier material is separated, too. (For bags, jackets, etc.)

Not very well I'm afraid..... lol.

Posted a second time to add about 'dedicated' fabrics - fabrics bought for a specific project/pattern in mind. These are stacked together - with the pattern usually or at least a name - bundled together and stacked on a separate shelf in a different cabinet. That way I am not tempted to pull from one project for another and end up with one fabric missing. If the pattern is from a magazine I make a copy of the picture page and - on theback - make a copy of the yardages needed. That gives me all of the information that I need and also tells me which magazine it is in. These are the sheets that I take with me to the store to pull fabrics for. When there is a good sale I will usually take 8 to 10 'project' sheets. I hate when I go shopping and find fabrics that I think is just perfect for a project and don't have the yardage information. I also listed on this sheet the sku numbers, names and stock numbers for each of my fabrics in case I do need to go back and find more.

I saw this post when it was first put on here. I organized my fabric by color. Now I am making sampler blocks, so my colors are all mixed up again. But I love this shelf idea.

My system is: All my fabric is confined into ONE room. For me that is ultra organization. :)

I just stick my most recent purchase in the cabinet wherever it will fit. I have tried to organize, but seem to get lost during the process.

I am a fabriaholic. If I bought coordinates the are stored together. Then Christmas themed fabric goes together. After that I sort by colors. I store all mt FQ by colors a well. I love fabric! I have my walls lined with shelves that have sq cubbies. They are all filled with fabric. Looks like a small quilt shop.

I sort by background color

I m still wanting to get my lil fabic stack to turn into a stash, right now it is in a drawer and loaded by size of each piece, yardage on bottm and fat 1/4s then strip scraps.

fat quarters and large scraps folded and sorted by colors in shelf case. coordinated fabrics from same 'line' tied together and stored in rubbermaid tower drawer labeled "sets." Future projects stored in clear plastic envelopes with pattern and intendee's name. Themed fabrics (aunt grace, holiday, baby, child, animal, etc...) in plastic boxes and labeled and also in rubbermaid drawers marked Themes. quilt backs folded & stacked on shelves.

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!
I organize by type, then color. Ok, first by amount, the fat quarters have their own special home in a couple 3-drawer carts. The "backing" size pieces, (over 6 yards) have a cabinet and the rest are in the garage in clear rubbermaid totes. Scraps are in a 3-drawer cart and the rest of the fabrics are neatly folded to fit inside my special fabric cabinets.

I organize by color, but have separate piles on a shelf for diffent holidays, fall, winter. And my fat quarters are filed neatly in an under the bed shoe organizer. It works out great for me.

It is in my sewing room, the only real organization I have is my seasonal fabris, hand-dyes and the projects that I am doing now and in the future....

I sort by printed, batiks and solids. Then I sort within these groups by color, and there's always another sub-group under printed and batiks for multi-colors. I also keep my kits and precuts grouped together in a section of my 4-door cupboard. And last, I keep my home dec and clothing fabric separate from my quilting fabrics.

My husband bought and installed wire bins in my sewing room closet. My stash is out of direct sunlight, and the fabrics can breath. My fabrics are color sorted. Childrens fabrics and holiday fabrics, solids,my tone on tone fabrics, and backing fabrics are separated as well. Easy to see and pick out fabrics when I start a quilting project. The bins slide out or can be removed.
After shopping for fabric, I sew up the ends of my fabric, wash, press and place in the color coordinated bin.

Color.

QBeth - What shelving units are those??????? That is an awesome idea.. I love it.. and you can close them to keep sun and dust at bay... Im super impressed!!


i have them separated in groups on their own separate shelving units, along all the walls..

1930 then by color
fat quarters then by color
Batiks then by color
baby, non holiday novelty- again sorted by colors
holidays separated and are in labeled plastic totes tucked in my walk in closet (xmas, valentines, st pattys, Halloween, Easter, 4th, birthday,etc, )
Rest all on bookcases by color/patterns/floral and such..
anything smaller than a fat qtr but bigger than a crumb gets folded in a wall cd case holder

IMHO you are wayyyy to organized. LOL

My stash is basically sorted by color though sometimes it's hard to keep it straight. I do have other stash that is also labeled as specific category such as Christmas or Upholstery. Alas, my stash is kept in plastic bins with labels huge labels that tell me what's hidden inside but still have to do the unstack, open, look, unstack, open, look, etc. Too much stash, so little time!!! LOL

This is a great idea.. I have mine in a pile of to do's but I like your organized version a whole lot better- thanks for sharing..

Color and holidays and specific projects I want to make

just curious, why do you sew up the ends of the fabric before washing? do you sew a seam along the raw edges only?

DITTO!

my husband put 2 4 shelf book cabinets together for me & I sort by background color - makes it real easy to stand back & decide what I need. Also works well when I am replenishing any of my stash.

I try to organize but everything gets tumbled and rearranged when I start another project. I really need more room.

I have my fabric sorted by color in resin 4 drawer "dressers" bought at Wal-mart for $50. I have 4 of them. Each drawer has it's own color, then I have a drawer for "baby/kids" fabric, Christmas/Snowman fabric, flannel fabric. I also have a 10 drawer rolling cart that has a drawer each for: jelly rolls, charm packs, and several fabrics that I do not have a lot of, like r/w/blue, etc. Then I have all my scraps sorted by color in gallon size zip lock bags and they are all stored in another drawer.

I try to sort by color but it never stays that way. I think when God gave out organizing skills, I went out to lunch.

I have a huge bookcase my hubby made and I sort by Color (broke down into solids and prints),with the Holidays having their own section, as well as Horse fabrics and Western fabrics having their own sections, and also the Batiks. I have a dresser that I keep special projects in. For Fat Quarters I have some of the old slated Wooden crates that have cleaned up and I stack them in, their not in any real order mainly because I like to see the colors all together.

organize................that word is NOT in my dictionary!!!!!!!

I do put them by color but then I put them in a tub. When I go through them I need to reorganize them again. It's an ongoing thing!

okay, here's what not to do. I'm taking before and after pics. I had a number of operations and we thought of moving and my sil just put everything in boxes, so i've been trying to 'fix' .... well.....ok.....get ready now.....

I organize by color, then broken down into florals, geometrics, etc.

Oh my gosh, how did you get into my sewing room to take pics?

Tracy, You are funny!! :D