Need Suggestions to store my fabric
 

My sewing room is very small and I currently have a bookcase and an old shoe rack I store my fabric on as you can see in my pictures. I thought this was going to work great and would be able to find things but I am constantly finding myself digging through the piles every time I end up looking for something. Does anyone have any ideas of how to store my fabric better? Most of the material on the bookshelves is various fat quarter collections I have collected at shops while on sale or from Connecting Threads. In my other picture in the shelves is all of my kits and or projects I have all the materials for projects I have in mind. My room is quite small and I don't have much money to spend for storage but any suggestions of how to make it better?? Thanks for all suggestions in advance.

Looks like you just need to utilize your space a little better...have you thought of using comic book board? It doesn't cost as much as the vinyl / plastic fabric boards....usually $8.00 - $10.00 / per pack of 100....depending on where you get it....THEN, you could stand your fabric up...like the fabric shops do....you'd be surprised at the extra space you get, and....you don't have to worry about your stack falling over. Have fun :thumbup:

I second this. After studying Alaskasunshine's posts about wrapping and organizing her fabrics, I invested in some (well, lots of) Coroplast and comic boards and went to work. It was the best thing I could have done for my quiltmaking. Every project since then has been so much easier from the very start. I love knowing exactly what's in my stash and where to look for fabrics I need.

I just set up a couple Closetmaid cubeicals in my sewing room. You can stack them on top of each other and each one holds quite a bit. I used the 9 slot ones.

Put your fat quarters in the plastic boxes, sorted by color. Yardage can be put on the comic book boards mentioned above or use the ruler folding method. Do a search here for this method and stack these folded fabrics on the bookcases by color. When you choose a fabric to pull out of the stack of folded fabrics, put a magazine in the stack over and under the fabric you want and pull it out, the rest of the stack will stay put. The hanging rod is a perfect place to sort fabrics by project - put them in a plastic bag and hang the bag on the rod. You've got some lovely fat quarter collections - leave them out as decoration or better still - make a quilt! Once you've got it all organized, you will love sewing in there!

I use the plastic boxes for my storage. Looks like you have some of the clear Sterilite boxes already. I use the shoebox sized boxes for projects in process and then supplies - and label them on the side that wil show. I use the next size up to store my fabric. I fold it and put it in so that the fold shows against the side of the box. This way, I can see what colors I have. I use this for yardage up to 2 or 3 yards. Larger than that, I put on a hanger.

I don't know if you have a closet in the room, but you might want to put shelving in a portion of the closet. I plan to do this with my closet using the Elfa system from containerstore.com. It's a little pricy though (but currently 30% off) but I've seen similar shelving at Home Depot by Rubbermaid. The nice thing about these systems is that the shelves or clothes rods hang on tracks that are suspended from a horizontal track that's screwed into the studs up by the ceiling, meaning nothing on the floor. :) The systems are adjustable so you can move shelf heights as your needs change.

Good luck. Being organized will feel so good.

Light is a fabric's worst enemy. The best way to store it would be inside a closet or in shelving with doors. I've picked up lost of fabric over the year that has been stored not covered with fading and fold lines ruining it. If you're not going to use it right away, keep it out of the light.

Change the brackets on your shelving. Put the strips where you can easily add shelves all the way up/down the strip. That way you can adjust and add shelves.

I'm looking into the boards too. I'm not sure what to get either.

I agree with everyone above.. Id Either get tall bookcases ( my first choice) and or take down the brackets and make some sturdier shelving to hold the weight of fabric.. I TRY to keep mine organized..

This is how I organize my room:
These are in 30 gal tubs no matter what size pieces they are:
Holiday- each holiday (xmas, 4th, halloweenie, easter, etc) have its own tub
Flannel
Vintage fabric (35in xWOF)- all goes in one tub
Authentic 30's feedsacks

All my Bolts (3+yards) are on the bookcase and in walk in closet.
All my 1-2 yards cuts are ruler folded, then separated by theme (floral, kids prints, asian, etc) and solids, blenders, and the rest are seperated by color on bookcases

Batiks are in a see thru sterilite three drawer separated by light med dark..
Fqs are separated by color, floral, novelty in it's own sections on wall cd racks, closet maid 24/36 bin shoe organizers.. Each area has its own 'theme' so i can find what I'm looking for.

My scraps are in specific see- thru bins, tubs and drawers depending on size..

Each Accuquilt Die cut shapes have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own- I do have most if not all the dies already.. lol..
strips less than10 inches but longer than 5 inches of has a a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Strips longer than 10 inches but less than WOF has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2 inch strips are hanging on the back of the door
1.5 x wof has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2.5 x WOF strips has a a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3x WOF strips have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
5x WOF strips have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
all other strips x WOF are separated by colors and has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Crumbs have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
Scraps less than a fq but larger than 6x6 has a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own- these are waiting to be cut with my Accuquilt
2 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
2.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
3.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
4 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
4.5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
5 in sq have a see thru sterilite drawer all of its own
And my selvages are kept in recycled plastic Ice cream tubs by length..

just in case you are not the 'buy-a-board-and-then-spend-all-your-time-folding-instead-of-quilting' type...(like me)... I trim all strings and skinny points off my fabric when cutting for sewing...put trimmings aside. Take the scrap...is it more than 1/4 yd? then fold and put back in the correct color stack. is it less than 1/4 yd? then cut immediately into YOUR preferred size strip (mine is 2.5") and put into shoe box, pizza box (my choice, no wasted space and they stack 10 high if you need them, cost a quarter at my local pizza house and are free at safeway because their 'brown and serve' pizzas are sealed in plastic, so the box is clean). There will be tiny scraps after this strip cutting...add them to the trimming pile. Now take all trimmings and slice back and forth several times with your rotary cutter to make 'confetti'...if you like the confetti quilts...if not, chuck out all the trimmings...

Now you know that there is more than a 1/4 yd in every pc on the shelves and that you have lots of strips ready to sew into any project or quick quilt... maybe a donor block... whatever...

keep a banker's box or basket on the end of your work table...every project STAYS in this box till your project is done... if you cut and trim when cutting your quilt, they will be folded and ready to put away...i only keep them in a box on the table to keep it all together in case i need it before the quilt is done.