I love striped cats.

Grey tiger striped are my favorites.

thanks again for suggestions.

aardvarq love your idea of making cards or templates to fold your fabric to keep it a certain size. i think that is a wonderful idea if you have a specific size of container/drawer/shelf to store your fabric in.

everyone have such great solutions for questions.

all we have to do is ask.

Now that's what I call organization !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been told and then tried it...sew the two cut ends of the fabric together with a basting stitch (easier to remove later) before washing and it does not tangle...

it worked.....

I bought the (canvas) sweater hanging storage shelves. There are six shelves in each storage and are 12"x12", thus taking up only 12" of the closet pole...
.
You can also buy drawers that will fit into the shelves, great for patterns and small stuff.......

I also bought the shoe storage hanger which has 10 bins, 6"x12" and you wouldn't believe how much you can fit into the compartments.and when the closet door is closed, all is hidden.

Your's is much neater than mine.
craftiladi- your kitty is so pretty. I love cats and have 4 of them, two I had to bottle feed as they had been dumped at my granddauthers apt.

STOP. NO. STAY RIGHT HERE. :lol: I was a sewer. And now a "quilter." You'll learn to relax and "go with the flow." When you've got a quilt in mind, pull out the fabrics and see what's available for that particular quilt. I still have hang-ups about working with scraps, but I have high hopes I will overcome that hurdle.

I think the thing is here that there is some madness to our "organization." And some of us (definitely not me) have proven to be more organized than others. But there is still a lot ot spontanaity in our lives. Stick with us -- we're having fun.

OMGsh -- that makes so much sense! That's awesome advice! Can't wait to wash more fabrics.

thank you GailG for the encouragement. possibly i read more into the reply than was intended.

mjsylvstr sewing the edges before washing sounds like wonderful idea. i will try it on my flannel especially. i nip the corners but it still ravels a lot. what a mess when washing more than one piece at a time.

thanks everyone for suggestions and pictures. there are lots of ideas .

I overcast the edges of my fabrics before washing - either a longish fairy narrow zig-zag - or a serger stitch .

Kind of depends on what color thread I have in the serger at the time.


I overcast ALL edges (of a FQ or larger) before sewing. When I've forgotten or neglected to, I've regretted all those loose threads.

I always prewash using the gentle cycle to minimize the agitation but that's all I do to reduce the 'thread trash'. I know many quilters, myself included, who save it and use it for embellishment on art quilts. It's great stuff!! I've never lost more than a quarter inch from any raw edge of fabric so it's just not worth worrying about for me.

Here is my method.
I use a 2-thread serger on the cut edges. Just keep feeding one piece after the other, cut apart when done.
Wash and dry until still damp enough to iron. I shake the pieces out, then fold and roll, then into a clear plastic bag.
I iron on my big board I made for my fold-up metal ironing board.
I fold selvedge edges together.
I use either hardboard or a piece of plexiglas 11 1/2" wide by 24". I fold the fabric around the board. I figure the folds will give me a total of 12".
I slip the folded fabric off the board. you can then just count the folds.
You can always tell how much you have left even if you have cut off of it.
Joyce