I tried so hard not to, but we got new fabrics in at work and I could not let them slip into someone elses hands, at least not until I got my share. My question is - does anyone label their fabric when they buy it as far as date, price, where they bought it and size? Since some of what I bought will not be used for a while and some I bought for that common reason "Just had to have it, not sure for what"....
Thanks.
Merry Christmas to all!

boy, there have been times that i wished i had labeled my fabric...once i even tried to be so organized that when new fabric arrived in the mail i would scan a piece of it, print it off and put all of the vital statistics on the paper...great idea, lasted about a day :)
i am so very bad about documentation and pictures...many people, every day, remind me to take pictures...label that quilt... document time...
ya, what ever...sorry, i try, but things seem to get away from me..
.i meant to take a picture, but then the recipient showed up and i gave up the quilt before the camera came out, or, i'll write it down later...always poor excuses, but i use them anyhow...

I don't - but that's not a bad idea. I may start that with the new year. Thanks for the idea (even though it was in question form)

I don't but I probably should.

Here is a label I came up with on the quick. Tell me what you think, or suggest other or different things to add to it. Feel free to copy it if you want so maybe in 2010 we can all be organized. --- At least for a week or two.

Click on the download and I hope it shows up for you. If not let me know and I'll resend it another way if I can. It's a word doc using Word 2007.

I have always taken a picture of my quilts. I am just now after several years starting to throw all my pictures in a book. It has been really fun looking back at what I have done. Some of them I had forgotten exactly what they looked like. So I would encourage you to at least take a picture or two. I would still be interested in knowing how much exactly I spent and the time I have spent on each quilt.

My husband's aunt documents all the details of her quilts. She had 3 ring binders that she uses. She includes photos, when it was started, when it was finished, who did what ie piecing, quiliting, who it was made for, what pattern was used, and more. She also has a front page on each of her binders (She is on # 3 of 3 inch binders) that tells her personal story including the guilds, awards, how she got started, etc. SHE is organized! I hope to be just as organized.

What a good idea!

Thanks and Merry, Merry Christmas to you and yours.

I measured all my, then, fabrics and put a piece of paper on the edge, with a straight pin, with the amount on it - but then, like a big dummy, never changed them when I used some of each of them... a good system if one (ME!) would use it!!

Morning Busy Bee,

Love the colors of your Irish chain quilt in your Avatar.

Nice combination.

Happy Holidays!
Quilter68 (AKA) Kathleen

Thanks, I love this quilt also. One of my favorites that I have done. I did this quilt for a friend of ours that did a lot of backhoe work for us for free. It was our way of saying thank you.

I document my quilts, not my fabrics. :? Has worked for me for decades so I'll stick with it.

I document my apparel fabrics so I know what I have on hand when I or one of my daughters needs new clothes. But my quilt fabric is another story. For one there is 5x more quilt fabric than apparel fabric. Two. I always buy three yards of every fabric I buy for a quilt unless it's a remnant. Then I just leave the tag on.

I do sort my fabrics by colors. So there is a box of blue and purple and one of red, orange, and yellow, etc. Then I have a box of what I call focus fabrics those with lots of different colors. that I use to pick the colors for a project. Sometimes the focus fabric goes in the quilt and other times it doesn't.

This is great, folks. Keep it up!
I love hearing how everyone has their fabric and stuff organized.

Makes me think that maybe one day I can do it, too! :| :|

I know that there are a few people here who document their fabrics :D:D:D
Me??? It is never going to happen...as wonderful as it would be to know all of this info... I would never keep it up :roll:

I like the labels (printed on file folder labels) that some online merchants send. For me, this is especially useful for garment sewing. For quilting, I don't really need them. The fabric content is usually 100% cotton, the fabric line is usually printed on the selvage, and I can tell by the way I folded yardage about how much I bought-- it is going to be FQ or one or two yards.

My goal is to have more strips and squares cut and organized into the carts with clear plastic drawers which I bought a few months ago. I already have a rule that once I cut something from my stash, I have to cut the rest of that length of fabric into strips or backing squares for my drawers. I need to spend my limited time on cutting fabric into usable units rather that fuss with labelling or otherwise organizing my yardage.

I think it's a great idea, but, like Amma there's not a hope in the world I could keep it up. Looking for fabric in my stash is often like a treasure hunt, perhaps that's why I'll never have a "system".

I have started keeping a notebook about the quilts I do. This is because, sometimes, I will find that the block I used worked great, or it didn't and I list changes that I do. I also put a picture of the quilt in there, and who it was given to, and the reason for giving it.

I also write down things I would like to do differently next time, and things I learn along the way.

I figure it will help me, but also my children may learn something from it.

I'm with Busy Bee, I never took pictures and relatives would yell to me. now i have everything on cd and in my photo album. sometines i label and but most of the time i just put it in a pile and go through it when i need something...LOL

hey yall, i'm the most un-organized person in the world. i can't find anything. i've probably got 2 or 3 of "everything" - forget where i put it and go buy another. i looked in a dresser drawer the other day and found about 10 years of fabric, don't remember when or where i bought it, i think it just hatched in there. i have a sister that is organized (at least by my standards) and i just can't stand organized people, lol
donna

When clothing construction was my "bread & butter" I HAD to keep everything labeled or I would never know what I had on hand, what I needed to reorder, etc. Quilt fabric? Not likely to happen. I do try to keep like colours together, but that is about as far as I want/need to go as I am trying SOOOO hard not to allow my stash to grow beyond what I can manage. Yeah right. HAHAHAHA

I usually just write on a piece of paper the info and pin it to the fabric. Also, whether it has been washed. Or put it in a labeled bag, if it is for a particular project.

That is a great idea, I never thought of that but I have been in a bind trying to remeber where I bought it. Thanks for the tip!
Merry Christmas!

Not sure what you were told, Loretta, but my understanding of insurance claims is somewhat different. Receipts for fabric used for quilts will be questioned because you are using it, thus reducing the value. More appropriate is the replacement cost, so all you would need is the total yardage that was lost and a photo of the stash (easier than most art supplies to account for I'd say).

It might be worth spending a day adding up the yardage currently on hand, then adding the yardage of any new purchases as you get them and subtracting yardage used in projects as you make them. That way you'd have a running total of yardage on hand in case of fire or flood for insurance reasons. And if you have more than 100 yards, which many of us do easily, then your stash is worth thousands, not hundreds, of dollars.

I put a little note--postage stamp size--with the amount of fabric, and I have a different way of pinning if it's been washed. Also how much I paid for it.

I'm lucky I get it all in one room and on the shelves.

When I cleaned out my sewing room (Honest, I did :thumbup: )I sorted all of my stash and put all of the matching pieces together in large zip bags and labeled them. Now when I wnat to work on something I don't have to do a major search to find everything. Of course there is a down side. I don't have to go to my lqs nearly as much for fill in and matching pieces.

I have thought of doing this, but don't. In the past, one time I wanted more of a fabric that I had a small amount of. The store I'd bought it from, didn't have it any more, so I ended going online to find it and did! I do label the amount of my batting though. If I need a piece for a project, I can quickly look at the corner of each chunk (where the amount is written on a small piece of paper pinned to the corner), to see if there's enough or do I need to cut into a new piece of batting. All the quilting fabric I buy is 100% cotton and I usually make Art quilts, so my fabric doesn't need to be washed first, before using it. I do store it in plastic covered boxes by color: red, blue, teal, etc. I also have a box of bright multi colors or dark background multi colors.

I don't label the fabric, but I leave the cash register reciept folded in the fabric. When I use the fabric I write on the reciept what the project was. If I buy specific supplies for a project or something I've run out of and need to replace, I write that info on the reciept. All the reciepts then go in a sheet protector (like for a note book) and I have them handy to sort through when I am figuring how much I paid for supplies when I'm getting a quilt appraised (you have to know the $$ spent and the time used to make the quilt). This is easier to do than trying to remember a year or so later. haha

oops! could you send it another way?

I serge the edges of new fabrics before washing, so I can tell instantly if I've already washed a fabric by checking to see if the edges are serged. Now I'm thinking I should use a Sharpie to write date and price/yard on the selvedge, too - just for fun. Some of my stash has been around for DECADES!

Sorry, would you be able to resend it? I must be the only one that can't open it, Thanks

Hi, I could not download please post again
Stemsam

Nope, don't label, don't measure, don't mark. I sort mine by color (mostly) or some other hair -rained scheme.

When I get ready to start a new quilt, I browse through my books or magazines and pick a color line. Once I go through the bins with that color, one of three things will happen:

1. I find what I had in mind and there is enough to do the quilt. (rare event)

2. I find that I don't have enough of the fabric and find an unexpected alternative which, of course, requires a change in pattern. (regular event)

3. I decide to buy new fabric for the initial pattern choice. ( yeah, that's happened a time or two. lol)

Hi stemsam, welcome

Not another unplanned trip to the lqs, guess the dishes and housework can get along without us for a couple of hours ,,,new patterns or fabrics, agony LOL

What a great idea. I haven't done it though. Wish I had in some cases.

I can't open it either, but I'd like to see it. Please repost.

This is the imformation on the label I created. I do need to add a spot for the price per yard. You can put any information you want on your labels and know mine will change over time.

FABRIC LABEL
Fabric Type ________________________
Fabric Yardage _____________________
Purchase Date _____________________
Store ____________________________
Possible Usage _____________________
_______________________
_______________________
Pre -Washed ____ Not Pre-Washed ____
Photo taken: Y____ N____
Other Infor __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __