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-   -   I am tired...stash sorting? (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/i-am-tired-stash-sorting-t48511.html)

bstanbro 06-06-2010 08:15 AM


Originally Posted by MistyMarie
I organize mine by color and theme. I put all my 2+ yards on organizers and store them vertically on bookshelves. All my 1 yard cuts I store horizontally by color on another bookshelf with dividers between. My fat quarters are in a dresser, organized by color and by theme. Some of my FQ are stored on DVD stands vertically around organizer boards.

I'm green with envy. I have a lot of nice fabric, but you've got me beaten.

zactanls 06-06-2010 08:30 AM

I have my stash in every room in my house. In the closet in totes and in under the bed boxes. I need to go through and reorganize everything.

sylvia77 06-06-2010 09:41 AM

I sort my fabrics by color and type. I'll have batiks together by color, children's fabrics, and so on.

quiltluvr 06-06-2010 10:00 AM

I have two plastic under the bed storage bins made for sweaters with my FQ's arranged by color: whites, pinks, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, teals, blues, purples, browns and black. Then lightest to darkest amongst those colors. Same with the stash that is on a chrome open shelving unit.

All my 2", 3 1/2", 4", 5", 6" & tumblers, are in a plastic 5 drawer storage tower on wheels. My strips are in a plastic 3 drawer tower on wheels. All of the them sorted by color the same. If I only have one of a particular print/color they make up their own stack, by color again.

Finally my scraps are sorted by color and in plastic shoeboxes without lids except for the top one.

I'm not crazy about the way it's all stored and am getting some really great ideas seeing everyone's pictures for when I get to set up my new sewing room when I move.

MistyMarie 06-06-2010 10:04 AM

The picture I took on the top was after I pulled about fifty fabrics off my shelf for my sister to use when she had a quilt booth at an expo to sell her organizer boards. I need to take a picture of what they look like now. Now I need to get my books organized. I am starting to use book sticky notes to mark pages of quilts in my magazines and books that I might want to do. I am starting off by labeling them with different colors and writing on them a quick discription. Pink is a project that I REALLY would like to do. Blue is a baby project for when I have a need for a baby quilt. Yellow is for when I need color inspiration. Green is for technique help. Purple is for block ideas (like when we did the funky chickens...) It is going to take me YEARS to go through all my books and magazines, but as I go through them, if I don't place a sticky in the book or magazine, I am putting it in a pile to give away.

marla 06-06-2010 10:19 AM

I bought fabric for specific projects and keep that fabric in smaller zip bags that pillows or other linens come in, along with the pattern. It was mixed up with my regular stash and then I would have problems finding the fabric I needed. I then keep my regular stash in those larger plastic drawers on wheels and label each drawer for the reds or blues or greens, etc. My Christmas stash is in it's own seperate bin. I suppose you could do one for other holidays too. I keep garment fabrics in another bin and hang the quilt backings and attach a tag with the amount of yardage. Jelly rolls are harder to store and I have them on hangers too. I do like the way some of you have yardage stored on bolts but I have no ambition to redo it. Just want to get my projects all done.

MarthaT 06-06-2010 10:48 AM

Just a tip on helping it look neater in stacks...fold all fabrics the same width so when you stack them they make perfect stacks. It really saves space. I use a piece of cardboard cut the right width as a guide. Fold the fabric by wrapping it around the cardboard guide. Slip the cardboard out, then fold in thirds or fourths depending on the depth of your storage shelves. I learned this in the book, Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space, by Lois L. Hallock

MarthaT 06-06-2010 10:51 AM

A little bit more on the folding: The picture on the front cover of the book shows shelves with fabric stacked this way. Bigger yardages are thicker, small yardages thin, but you can still stack similar colors together because the width is all the same. If you don't have the book, you might can find in online and see the cover pic.

ann clare 06-06-2010 01:08 PM

No wonder you are tired. I bet you are very happy and when you get your fabric folded you will not know yourself. Lucky you. Enjoy.

Joanie2 06-06-2010 01:47 PM

I keep all of my Holiday fabrics separate from others.
My FQs are sorted by color; I keep boxes for 2 1/2" strips. I used to separated them by color in with other same color scraps but decided keeping all 2 1/2" strips together makes it really easy to grab when doing strip quilts. Other scraps are in separate containers. I do have separate boxes also for each size squares, ie 3, 3 1/2, 4 and so on up to 6 1/2".
Then I just added new shelving for larger pieces and have them separated by color. I've folded them so that they are approx 12" SQ. When I want a particular fabric I can pretty much tell at a glance how much is there by how many times it's folded. I had a photo of my closet as my avatar for a short time. It took a long weekend to get it this organized but it was well worth it.


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