I just finished getting my sewing room together. We added a cutting table, extended the size of the area, and rearranged the furniture. I have a bunch of material that I hadn't put out yet because I didn't have a place for it. I have a 3 foot tall pile of fabric to fold and put away. I am excited but exhausted.

I am waiting til after dinner to start folding, sorting, etc. How do you arrange your stash? By color, type, plans?

I do mine by size, and then color within that size.

I put fat quarters together, then 1/2 yards, 1-2 yards, etc.
and I arrange them by colors. I have a tote full of larger yardages for backing. I also have some smaller clear totes with all the fabrics for certain projects that I labeled "ready to cut". Then after I cut that project is done, I can use it again. I try to cut projects in the fall and winter to get me through the first part of spring and summer because I am so busy outside that I only find small blocks of time to sew, and when they are all ready to go it makes it so easy!

I will be getting a new sewing space soon, and have been thinking about how to arrange it, but OMG if I do that, my DH might see how much fabric I really have! That could be disasterous!
Good luck with your sorting and folding!

I sort my fabric in the following way:

Christmas fabrics
Prints (med. and lrg.) by color
Blenders by color

This works for me. It is a lot of work getting everything organized, especially if you have a large stash. It will be worth all the effort though, and it will be easy to keep it this way because new fabrics coming home with you will already have a spot to land in. :wink: Please post pics when you're finished.

I keep my Christmas fabric, FQs and solids separate from the rest of the stash. I arrange all of the fabric in my stash by color then from light to dark within the colors (i.e. lightest shade of yellow to darkest shade of yellow). I just love opening up the closet doors and seeing all those beautiful colors. It's so much easier to locate what I want. Believe it or not I even hang my clothes by item and then color! DVDs and video tapes are in alphabetical order. These things might sound crazy, but I never have a problem locating exactly what I need! Does that make me anal??!!

I like this idea. :D

Sounds like you might have "CDO" That's like OCD, but the letters are in the correct order as they should be!! :lol:

I sort by color, and categories,ie Christmas, 1930's, reproductions, batiks. Also seperate, fabrics for bindings (strips, geometrics etc. that I think will make an interesting binding), and backings.
All my FQ are in 2 drawers sorted by color, another drawer for red and white, and sorted seperately black and whites.

Too funny!!! :lol: I prefer to think that I'm just really organized -- at least in that part of my life!!! ;) The good thing is that my fiance is just as bad!! 8-) To use it's just the logical thing to do! :P

Yes it does...welcome to the club :lol: :lol: :lol:

I sort by categories, 30's reproductions, batiks, novelty, Asian, Christmas, etc.

I do categories as well, 30's, red-white-blue-patriotics, black-white, Asian, Christmas, tone-on-tone, florals, etc.

I keep strips and scraps in clear shoe boxes, by color.

FQ (and some smaller chunks) up through yardage, I keep in drawers, sorted as
a)neutrals (black-grey, beige-brown, whites
b)cool colors (blues/greens/some purples)
c)warm colors (yellows, oranges, reds, purples and pinks d)novelty prints and seasonal patterns

For collections that I purchased together, pre-cuts, or things that i specifically intend to use in a single project, Ill keep them together in a clear show box.

I have some neutrals that I use for backings and sashings, etc, on the bolt until they get into a more manageable quantity.

As a new quilter I have a great system too ... I fold my fabric and scraps and put it in two pink crates in my sewing room. When I need a fabric, I scratch through the crates trying to find the piece I need ... the whole time saying, "I know I have some fabric in here that will work." I am really envious of those of you who are so organized. You have given me some great ideas to get myself organized before I get too deep in fabric. Thanks ... I love this Board!

I sort by type first - Christmas, batiks, homespuns, flanels, border fabric, baby, and florals. Then in each catagory, I sort by color. Then my colors I sort dark to light with darks on the bottom of each pile. And yes, I think I do have a touch of OCD!

awesome

I sort by type too, but right now its a MESS!

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.

Mine are in clear plastic containers in catagories such as, Fall and Halloween, Christmas, doggies, and the like. I also have some in groups of when it was bought. I started getting 2 yards of whatever I buy, just last year. The newest stuff is all together.

I sort mine by size and than color. Sounds like a busy yet productive day.

I feel to ashamed. I have a tool cabinet with shelves:

Top shelf I can't reach, so I keep parts of my machines and things I know I will not need in a while. Second shelf Fat Quarters Third non-fat quarters and bottom magazines. Is a real mess but I know where things are and use up my time sewing instead.

That's me also, I've been trying to reorganize my small space to utilize it better. All my fabric is in totes by color, theme & FQ's in clear totes.

I have been wrapping my fabric on the comic boards. First I glued two together for more stability. Have wrapped 92 already, three shelves and have six shelves to go.

I find it best to sort my fabric by color, I fold it like they are on the bolts.

All of mine are in labeled bins:

Christmas
Red, White & Blue
Childrens
Flowers
Fall (Halloween)
Flannel
Kits (These a kits that I bought and fabric combos that I have put together for a spacific project.)

I have 9 draws of fat quarters labeled by color. My closet has shelves that has flannel by color). A large antique dish cupboard full and it is by color. Backings and big yardage is in another cabinet. Then there is those draws on wheels three sets of those with mostly strips squares and scraps. And I can't pass up a sale. My name is Nancy and I need help!!!!

Sounds like you are in the same place I was 6 months ago. Since then I've remodeled my sewing/office room. I now have plenty of drawers for my fabric. Small prints, larger prints, plains, don't know what to do with. Keep the confusion at bay somewhat.

MistyMarie-----I LOVE those shelves. They are just beautiful

Unbelieveable!
I am so envious.

When I first took over my big (15' x 25') room, I had everything arranged and sorted. Three years later, everything is still arranged, sorta. I tried arranging my stash according to colors sizes etc. but that was a waste of time after awhile. When I go thru the stash to pull out fabric for PP etc, I take out many pieces to see what works together. Of course, they don't all get put back cause I'm in a hurry to got to something else.

Right now I am clearing the decks, but fabric is still not sorted. The way I have it stacked in my cabinets, I can sit back, scan the whole thing and usually spot the two or three colors I want. Saves time cause I'm not going to put them back where they go. Sometimes, I'll see a fabric stacked on top of another that I thot would never work together but realize they look good together. A bonus.

I sort mine by color in plastic drawer-style bins. However, I have large bucket-style bins with Christmas fabric, cat fabric (my favorite), landscape fabric, and something else I can't think of. Also, if I have some fabric paired up with a pattern, I put those together in smaller bins. I like looking at those things occasionally. Sometimes I change my mind about which fabrics should be paired with which patterns.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.