Organizing
 

Ok, I say I creatively organize. I really need help in organizing my fabric. Do you put colors together, no matter the size? Organize by size? I do have my holiday fabric together, but that's it. Help! I'm determined to get this done! Thanks!

I organize by colour.

I keep "theme" fabric together and if they are multiple fabrics all of the same collection together. Otherwise by color. I don't have near the stash as many on here, so I'm looking forward to hearing other responses.

My flannels (non-holiday) go together in one section, holiday fabric (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, 4th of July) and can be a mix of fabric texture. Solids in another by color, then by color quilting cottons. Knits have their own section (small). Most on comic book boards with amount of fabric attached with post it notes.

Mine is organized by color and specialty (Christmas, Halloween, 30's, solids, etc.) I didn't use comic boards -- didn't want to take up the space. I ruler folded my fabric. It is stored in drawers--all sizes are together.

I keep all my fall colors together and Christmas. Other than that its by color, unless I have several pieces in 1 line , than they are all together.

Most of my fabrics are sorted by background colors, with the exception of Christmas and flannels. The flannels are all in large plastic totes, since I don't use them a lot.

this is the way i do it too. except mine is in a storage closet on shelves

I also sort mainly by background color. I need to see all my stash, so I have it folded on shelves. When I buy several fabrics from one line, I keep those together. I keep scraps too small to fold in a bottom drawer, and when that's full, I transfer to garbage bags.

I pretty much go my own way on that. I have Christmas in one box, but some others are by color, EXCEPT for the batiks. They are together. That might seem a bit silly for some, but it works for me. I can find just about anything I need.

I keep mine in the following categories: Christmas, Halloween, flannel, baby prints, and the rest is sorted by color. Most of my fabric is in quilt kits comprised of jelly rolls and yardage to match. I also have quite a few Charm Packs.

I have mine organized by length of cut and generally by color within that. All the fat quarters are together and arranged by color, all the half yards are together by color, and all the yards are together by color. All of those cuts go in dresser drawers. Anything bigger goes on foam core boards on shelves and they're mostly arranged by color. I have several groupings of fabrics that I keep together though.

I think stash storage options are driven by the size of the stash and the type of storage available. As your stash increases (or dwindles), other options may make better sense. The key is to organize the stash so that you will be able to find what you want, so you will use it, decrease the stash, and make room to store more. :)

I organize ruler fold yardage (most of my stash) by dominant color. I do have several bolts (white and black) that I just leave on the bolt stored on a shelf with my other solids. Flannels and holiday are separate. I have very few bundles (fat, jelly, charms) but they are stored separately as well. I really need to figure out something for fat quarters as currently they are stored in a container with no rhyme or reason to it. I have smaller containers for spare squares and blocks (left overs).

I have a box of Christmas, kid prints, flannel, oriental, 30's repro. Anything over 1/2 yard I ruler fold and store by color. Anything under 1/2 yard is in a box by color,.... red, green, blue, etc. I don't do fat quarters, charm packs or any of that. I hang strips by size (1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", etc.) And I have a few bolts of fabric. I don't think my stash is huge but it's a good size.

I use plastic totes. I organize by color, but since I have quite a bit of fabric, i break it down by small pieces vs. large pieces, for instance "Brown - Large", "Brown - Small." I also have separate totes for solids, Christmas, Halloween, batiks, wool. Then I have a giant tote for multicolored pieces.

My tonals are sorted by color and the rest by the type of prints they are such as watercolor, plaid, Xmas, reproductions, etc.

I buy for projects and stay in the same line so I just keep my project fabrics together

I have some wonderful cabinets to put my fabrics in Pieces larger than 4-5 yards are stored in one cabinet, Florals/Asian, in another, batiks are separate. Christmas fabrics are together as well as fall fabrics. The childrens prints and animal and military fabrics are separate. FQ's are in drawers and the rest pretty much is sorted by color. I fold my 3 + yards over a 6" ruler and the 1/2 yd to 2 1/2 yard are folded about 4" wide. So I know at a glance If there is enough for borders etc. I do keep coordinated fabrics together if I am planning on using them together. I do have some (about 8 totes) "overflow" fabrics. Most of those are really large pieces. Oh, and all the flannel is separate from the rest.

Thanks so much for your ideas!

Mostly by color. Batiks, Christmas prints, solids, 1930s, homespun plaids and vintage are my other categories. You have to do what makes sense to you.

I think the best approach to organizing stash is to figure out how you work, then design the system to support your work style.

I've tried many systems of organizing and the one I have used for many years (about 12) is a cubicle storage system in a closet. I work predominantly by color, so I organize by color. My fabrics are sorted by one color per cube with the exception of a few specialty stacks on a shelf - ie. 30's, batiks, solids. All sizes of one color go into one cube - yardage on the bottom, smaller pieces in a basket on top. There are also a few cubes with UFO's and WIP's - in boxes and clearly labeled.

When I want to work with reds, I pull the whole red stack and basket out of the cube and set them on a table. If I want to include reds from the specialty stacks, they are easy to find.

I generally sort by color but keep solids separate. If it is at least 1/4 yard or bigger. Anything less than 1/4 yard is in a scrap bin but also sorted by color.

I like mine all done by color. I don't really have any holiday fabrics. Yet. Lol

Solids - Sorted by color on shelf
Christmas - Tote
Other Holidays - Tote
Panels - Tote
Fat Quarters - Sorted by color in small totes
Yardage - Sorted by dominant color on re-purposed DVD shelves
Scraps ( anything smaller than a FQ ) - get cut into strips and sorted by width of strip in small stacking plastic drawers
Charm Packs - drawer
Jelly Rolls ( purchased, not my 2 1/2 inch scrap strips ) - Small tote

Yes, I am a tad OCD LOL, so my room tends to be organized even when its a mess !

I have plastic boxes for colors and then one for Christmas, fall, children, batik and 30 vintage. Then one for patriotic.
Before i use to put projects and their fabric together, but found the solid fabrics needed to be with their color box.
so I did not buy more of that color.
happy organizing and labeling. In the end" have it your way".

I organize by color excluding stripes, flannels and collections. Those I try to keep together. Oh yes, kiddie fabrics are usually separate too. Guess that's not much by color is it now???? Anyway, most are by color, on comic book boards or if more than 5 yds., I have them on bolts. Fat quarters are by colors in plastic shoebox size totes and scrapes are by size. When it doesn't fit the comic book board, it becomes a fat quarter or scrap.

I have a dwindling stash because I used it to make tote bags for Christmas. (10 all together). But, found that I can
re-purpose those plastic boxes that salad mixes come in. They are clear and they stack. I have them arranged on the
shelf in the closest, by color, holiday or fabric line. Not only, out of the way, but looks pretty too. I never had a huge stash to begin with, but this is working for me so far.

In order to fins what you need in the future, you need to organize what makes sense to you. Read all the suggestions, then pick one the goes "ah ha!". That's the one.

Smaller than a yard is sorted by color, in an eight drawer dresser, larger pieces are in another cupboard, not sorted because I tend to buy these as needed or find at rummage sales, fleece in one huge tote, pre-quilted in another huge tote, faux fur and flannel has it's own cabinet, patterns, trims, and closures, on a shelf in this cabinet, thread in an old thread holder, rulers on a nail (but looking for a better idea), liquid supplies on a old set of library shelves, batting on top of faux fur closet, and all polyester or non-cotton fabric stored in a huge antique horribly painted (several times) solid oak dresser, with four 1 foot deep drawers, that was hand made sometime before grandma was born. I keep all collections and precuts in their own dresser. I like to sun proof all of my fabric, so drawers and cupboards are a must since I have a cloth shower curtain on the window for diffused light.

I sort mine by theme, civil war, country, christmas etc. I ruler fold them and put on shelf. My projects or in totes in another cupboard. My long arm quilter told me if the fabric is not out where you can see it you forget about it. She showed me how to ruler fold and boy was she right. I found a lot of fabric I forgot I had.

I only organize topic fabrics like dogs or breast cancer. The rest I don't organize at all. For me, it is the "mess" that inspires me. I get so excited seeing all those different fabrics and end up choosing fabrics that I'd never would have thought go together.

Other than Christmas, I TRY, notice I said "Try" to keep colors alike, pink, purple, blues, etc. However, no matter how many times I try to do that, I pull fabrics out and then I'm bad about putting them back where they belong. However, I do keep all fabric sent for family reunion quilts together, religiously, so I won't be tempted to use for my own use. I should explain that every 2 years we have a family reunion, and several years ago, I started making quilts - after the first two quilts with asst. family colors, I would pick a theme, red/white/blue, blues/reds/etc. and next year's quilt will be with purple that family members will send to me. I find a great sense of accomplishment when I complete a quilt, and although I have not been lucky enough to win one yet, hope springs eternal. I began it as a way to remember our family and to hopefully have the quilt treasured as a family keepsake; and the quilt is always a hit. Last year's quilt was black/white and it was a gorgeous log cabin quilt. I find that I love the challenge of making a quilt from fabrics I did not buy, and making scrappy quilts - I think it's made me a better quilter, now if I can only keep organized. LOL.

I usually organize by color. I have Christmas, homespun, batik and baby prints separate. The other exception is if I have a selection for a given project, then it goes together.

Right now, I organize by project, but once I figure out this comic board system, it will be color themed all the way! :)

I'm working on this very topic in my head right now. I've got three quilts going so can't reorganize fabric yet, but soon. Since I've gotten into making scrappy quilts from Bonnie Hunter's books and website, I am rethinking my fabric storage. I do have large pieces (FQ's and half-yard pieces) that I have sorted by color, others by theme (patriotic, Christmas, etc.), too. Recently, though, I've been cutting a lot of scrap pieces and strips and sorting them by size (1.5", 2", 2.5", 3", 3.5", 4", and 5"). I have a tall 10-drawer plastic "cart" I used in the classroom into which I am now putting scraps and strips as I cut them. I've two "Leaders and Enders" quilts in mind and am collecting pieces for them.

Since the drawer cart is pretty flimsy and doesn't work very well and since the casters on my cutting table have broken, I have asked my DH to make me a new table. He's really, really good at woodworking and furniture building! I've decided to have him built two columns of shallow drawers on each side into which I can put my scraps and strips by size and leave an open area between them for batting and a couple of large plastic tubs into which I put scraps for animal beds and current projects. It's taken me a few years and the making of a variety of types of quilts to finally arrive at a solution for me. It may or not work for anyone else. I suspect everyone has his or her own solution, with some commonalities.

Reproduction fabrics together, Christmas colours together, flannels together, chicken and farm fabrics together , batiks together , Asian fabrics together, and then I sort by colour. It would be so much easier if I could stick to one style of fabric but I can't! I love them all. All my fabrics larger than a fat 1/4 are folded all the same way. Using the ruler method and kept in a tote I line them up in the totes so they look like books on a shelf.The fat 1/4's are all folded the same way and keep in another tote. All these totes are stored under our beds. My quilt room is our guestroom and really small. Hope this helps.

I have mine all ruler folded except fat quarters. Everything is by color except holidays and theme fabric. Boys, girls, farm, hunting, baby, patriotic etc. It is all folded and put on shelves in hutch and cubes that are along one wall in one of my rooms for quilting. I like to see everything clearly.

How do you protect fabrics from dust when stored on shelves? I'm ready to use comic book boards but worry about dust.

Totes. They only work if they are clear so you can see what is in them. I have no suggestions but are reading the ones on this thread !