I found out that you CAN have too much fabric in your stash! I store my stash in sweater organizers that hang from the bar in my closet. The bar is part of a wire shelf. We returned from vacation to find that the entire shelf had ripped out of the wall! Fortunately the shelf above had mostly empty boxes on it! The only machine that fell was my embellisher and it seems okay. (Maybe it was the tiny Maryland earthquake that happened while we were gone and not just the weight of my stash). Anyway, I need to redo my closet and am looking for suggestions.

I have some built in cabinets in my family(quilt) room. The over flow is in clear rubbermaid tubs in the garage, about 12 of them. These are the large 60 quart size. I like being able to see through them to get an idea of which tub the fabric I might be looking for is in. However, they are heavy and with my bad shoulders, I am not supposed to lift them (but I do sometimes) I usually have to get my DH or one of my kids or their intended or spouses to move them for me so I can get into them

I have no system. It's in 2 chest of drawers, tubs, rolling carts and a boat load at my Sister's house. (She quilts too) I have to dig for whatever I might be looking for or I just go to the fabric store (Sister's house) and get what I need. I seem to buy more then I use. I need professional help!

I don't have too much stash yet, somewhat new to quilting. Sounds as though you just may! Maybe you can have your husband install shelves to the closet from top to bottom for storing your fabric.
And the earthquake was something eh! I did not awaken from it and live within it reaches! It was kinda shocking to hear we had one that size.
Good luck with the stash.

This isn't funny but my sister had some kind of thing to hold her shoes. Same thing happened to her. We laughed b/c she's a shoe addict!!! Always teasing her and then that happened!! :D

I bet you're the only person on the whole board who has more fabric than she uses ......... wink, wink :D

My son re-vamped my walk-in closet to hold all of my fabrics, etc. Here are some photos. Notice the small space where my clothes hang. I know what's more important -- fabric!

What you can't see in this photo is what's above on the left -- rows and rows of plastic boxes that each contain cut pieces for various projects or patterns. And what's really bad is that even though I have all that -- I still shop to buy the newest fabrics on the market!

I am putting all of my fabrics longer than two yards on to coroplast boards and putting them in bookcases.

I got the coroplast boards on ebay. I think the seller is a board member.

I have two sets of plastic drawers on wheels, about ten plastic shoe boxes and a number of very large plastic totes. I need to get a couple more of those. :oops: :oops: :oops: I swear that stash is growing on it's own.

Right now my stash is in totes and I don't like it much, I have to empty the tote and dig for what I want. ---- At one time I had all my fabric in a chest of drawers and I did like storing it there. In my fantasy sewing studio --- fabric will be stored in built in cabinets on shelves that slide out.

I am putting up shelves in a spare room and have tons of the clear totes

I have mine stored in plastic totes. I like the clear ones you can see into.

I finally put all of my "stash" in plastic boxes according to color, kits in another place, and the big fabrics, (more than 3yds or more folded flat in another cabinet. In other words, too much. I am trying to "use" stash instead of buying "new" but it sure is hard. I love fabric, LOL JO

I have a dresser that I store it all in!

Ha, ha, ha, ouch! Oh my. One can have too much fabric.

Now that walk-in closet gives me an idea. Except, where would I put my clothes, and my pantry goods, and all those extra things I have stored in there?

OK You win - you have more fabric! :lol:

I want to have my stash out where I can see all the fabric. I have those shelves you can buy just about anywhere. I try hard to keep the sun out and have not yet had problems with fading.

I've got a linen closet for my fabric, but also have some totes. Then I have a couple shallow totes that are designed to go under the bed, and I have "pulled" fabric for my next projects in there.

I have a whole room (spare bedroom) dedicated for quilting. A chest of draws full of patterns, tools, kits, etc. A double dresser with 3 large drawers where I have trays of smaller pieces of fabric sorted by color & laid out so that I can see all pieces as I do mostly applique. Under the bed are plastic storage containers with larger pieces sorted by color. Closet has washed & ironed fabric pieces on hangers, filing cabinet, rolling cabinet with drawers for threads, etc. Rolling cart for TV has drawers with notions, etc. & then my sewing machine cabinet has drawers & shelf for iron, etc.

I could not believe how much you could stash in one room until I had to remove everything to have carpeting restretched last year.

My sewing room looks like Joanies, only its not in a closet, the shelves line 2 whole walls, with additional clear bins & fabric lined boxes with patterns, misc. in them. Have fun re doing your studio!

Mine are in totes that are not too deep and it's been working ok.

I am in the 'thinking' part of rearranging my sewing area and I'm gathering ideas.

I do not have a mountain of stash yet,,lol... but I have mine in the clear tubs, seperated by prints and then solids, my FQ are folded and put into a filing drawer,, hope this helps,,

I have 6 large totes that I store in my laundry room, the drawback is that they are in two rows, so it is heavy lifting. I feel better reading this, though, I thought I had too much, but I am looking more normal by the minute. And I feel good about that.

In my parsonage (my family still lives at home, so this is my domain for a good portion of the week)the dining room has floor to ceiling built-in china cupboards. Alas, these are full of fabric sorted by color group. Two of the drawers are full of fat quarters. I have seven totes of folded fabric (remember, I am the 'Remnant Queen') I have a large round folding table set up on gallon paint cans for cutting surface. In the closet there is 6 large shopping bags full of scraps (for our baby/child quilt ministry). Who needs a dining room anyway??

Look at it this way, at least you are using good space, a dining room..what could be better...very few people I know actually use their formal dining rooms, except maybe at Christmas. The rest of the time they sit there looking formal and untouchable.

The good thing about using a walk-in closet is that the sun does not get in and neither do my cats. I can see at a glance most of my yardage and all of my boxes are labeled.
I used to have 2 dressers in there to hold the fabrics.
And I did have to downsize a bit when we put it together.
It was difficult at first but in the end I passed on stuff that I was either no longer interested in or was not going to finish anyway.

I have a bureau--one drawer is all yellows, another for blues, one is all batiks, the other is hand-dyed fabrics and the bottom is for all the stabilizers. Then I have a bookcase with all shelves full of fabric sorted by color. I also have big tubs where I have my collection of fabrics with gold threads, then on my cutting table, on shelves made with glass bricks, I have see thru shoe boxes with the smaller (1/2yds.) pieces. I won't say what all is in the garage, but there are two plastic Iris carts. . .

i am the same way ,i can have it all organized and then i start a project and it blow up , :?

I store mine in plastic totes on shelves. Also some on bolts that I stand up on shelves

I have mine in many large Rubbermaid totes. I wish I went with clear, since I always need to dump to find a fabric.

When I shop for fabric, one of the first things I do is look for fabric that is down to the last bit of yardage and if it is a color/design I know I can use, I buy it and ask to keep the cardboard the fabric is wrapped around and 90% of the time they give it to me. I also mention I'd be happy to take any of the fabric cardboard they have waiting to be recycled, and if they have some they let me take them as well. I figure, it can't hurt to ask...

Someone suggested (maybe here) that a DVD case was good. I just happened to have an extra one. It's the perfect size for the fat quarters. There are plenty of shelves that you can easily adjust too. When I get around to it I will probably add a simple fabric front to keep out the dust.

My husband installed wire baskets in the closet of my sewing room. They are stacked and on runners, you just pull them out as needed. Or they can be removed. I like them because the fabric can breath, you can see the fabric at a glance. I have my fabric sorted according to color. They were purchased from Lowe's, inexpensive and easy to install. And it helps me keep my stash under control. When my baskets get full I get quilting. Until I use up fabric I don't have room to store more. :thumbup:

I keep mine in the inexpensive bookshelves so I can see what I have. Also, we shop at Sam's club and buy those big salads that come in a plastic shoe box type containers. I store my FQ in those. I have a big bin of strips and little scraps for those that I will use some day to make a strip quilt. I also store my NICKELS in those plastic shoe box containers... good luck organizing.. would love to hear what you do...

I store mine in rubber maid tubs, and some in a drawer.

...and you have some cloths in there too. :-) I keep mine in tubs, and two 6ft tall book shelves.

No, no clothes, just fabric

My sewing room looked like this for about 10 minutes a few years ago. As soon as my first new project began after getting it organized, it started turning into the complete
disaster that it still is today! I can have a neat space or a working space--not both :)) rusty


http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...59435252IQWtbH

Same here. I do have a closet that I have other smaller clear storage for tools and what not, some fabric on bolts and some cut pieces.