Friends, I am going nutty here!!

1. Please don't let me buy your fabric. I have no self control lol
2. I am totally going through my sewing room and am completely overwhelmed as to sorting.

I came up with this system so far:

All yardage more than 2 yards in one pile
All batiks, novelties separate from the others.
All smaller yardage by color.

Any other suggestions?? Or any better ones??

I have a lot of gifts to make so it was probably the wrong time to do this. But my DH took out the big bed and put it in another room for the kids and guests. I have the whole room!! And I take his help when I can get it !!

I'm trying to work a couple of hours each day so I can finish it in a reasonable length of time.

Any suggestions are welcome and thanks for letting me vent!
I may even buy that perfect piece from you even though I'm swearing it off for now lololol :D

Sue

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Congrats on your new space! I use the same system that you are using. I have all my WIP's & UFO's in laundry baskets on the bottem shelf of my cutting table. If you run out of room to store your fabric, you can store it at my house! :-D

Any system that works for you is the right system. I sort by main color for general fabrics of a 1/2 yard or more. I also separate batiks, orientals, holidays, and 30's fabrics. If it's a fat quarter up to a half yard it gets folded with fat quarters. Anything less gets cut into my standard scrap strip sizes and separated into lights and darks. That works for me, but anything that works for you is what you should use.

OH Susan you can always send some of your stash to me. !!! Just joking.
You will find out what works for you. I use those 3 drawer plastic stackables for some of my stash. I like them because I can see thru the drawer fronts at what I have.

Don't get lost in your sewing room!!!

Carrie, I just may get lost! What a mess I've stirred up!!

I really have a lot of fabric I no longer want, like cotton calico prints but I don't know if other people would want them. I have too much, that's all there is to it.
Maybe I should do another post when I get done in my room.
I will send yardage or pieces free to anyone if they can pay postage. I wish postage was cheaper :(

I will help you with your calico prints, if you mean it. I know what you mean about sorting! What a job! How wonderful that you have your own room now!

I must agree! If you are a quilter, you are buying too much fabric-it just can't be helped. Do what I DON"T do-get busy and use up that fabric and you'll have less to sort!

So far everyone is making jokes just about hahahaha
I have to laugh too or else I may cry lol

Yes, I mean it. I would be happy to give fabric away! I'm the kind of person who gets overwhelmed and then I can't do anything creative.

But I love the humor so keep it coming :D:D
We are such a sick group, huh???
Jane, you are too funny lololol

I am beginner quilter and could use any fabric you want to give away. Let me know if you are serious. I love calicos.

Friends, I am dead serious!!!!!!!!!!!
PM me if you want a flat-rate box (10.70) of fabrics. They are not scraps. I don't even know where those scraps are yet.
Your only charge is postage. Paypal, check, or money order but Paypal is safest. Let me know if there are colors you really don't like. The only color I don't have is orange.

If you get too overwhelmed you can send me your extras. LOL Good luck on organizing.

I have my fabric sorted into: children's, flannel, Christmas, large pieces for backs, and anything non-cotton. Then all the rest of my fabric is sorted by color.

My room is supposed to be set up by color. But I've been just pitching stuff in so now it's a jumble.

But I'd suggest a color system. if you're using containers, maybe keep a smaller bag in the corner of the container with really small pieces.

Hey I hear NY Yankee fabric is on sale since they're not in the Series!!! Just kidding!!
Good luck with your sorting; if your room is like mine you may be lost in there for days (or until DH wants dinner)>

Jan, you are SOOOO BAD!!!!!!!!!
You really know how to hit me where it hurts LOL
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

pm'd you!

oh my I am tempted =but haves bins all over I am de stashing-is it a disease?????? so tempted

Hi Susan, I am new here and I read you have too much calico prints. If after filling the boxes for the other ladies if you have any left over I would be happy to pay postage on a box.

Tammy

I know what you mean. I have way to much and just keep buying. I am storing up fabric for my retirement.

I think e4 has a good idea. I understand your predicament. I decided to take 30+ years of fabric and wash it all. It is taking me weeks and I'm still not through. But what a difference it makes when you organize your colors so that it is like going to a quilt store and you can just pick fabric out and use it when needed.

Your time is growing short to get your Christmas presents done, so I would do this to get some sort of order in your sewing room. You can always go back after you finish your projects and do a better job of folding and organizing. By then you will have a better idea of what is & is not working for you.

First thing I would do is get some bookshelves. I have 3 – 7 foot bookshelves in my sewing room that I keep my fabric in. This is for the larger pieces of fabric that are at least a half yard or more. I sort out my fabric by color, fold it simply and put it on the shelves. For now, use big groupings of basic colors like black, red, blue, green, yellow, etc. You can go back later for fine tuning as you find out what your preferences are when working.

Pieces smaller than a half yard I would put in those big see-through plastic bins, again, by color. Pieces smaller than a fat-quarter, I would just put all together in one bin as scraps.

I would do as e4 suggested and keep Asian fabrics, holiday fabrics and specialty fabrics, etc. on a separate shelf and not mix them in with the regular fabric colors. It will make them easier to find later on. All non-cotton fabrics are put away in plastic bins and do not get mixed in with my cottons at all.

You can get bookshelves for FREE on Freecycle in your area. You just have to be able to pick it up.

I also use the shelves that I don’t put fabric on for those plastic drawer sets you can get at Joann’s. I put all my tools in these drawers and label the drawers so I know what is in them. Additionally, I put all my patterns in a plastic shoe box and my quilting books on the shelf. I really love using my bookshelves for this purpose, it keeps everything neat and I can see what I have at a glance.

I hope this gives you some help in organizing your sewing room.

Best of luck with your project, at least you are trying to organise. I buy old suitcases of all sizes at thrift stores, auctions, etc... and put fabric,ufo's, patterns, whatever in them. You can stack them, put them under beds if you have room. Plus alot of them have pockets for misc. I know me tooo well, there is fabric, patterns, all over the spare bedroom, then when we have unexpected company, I can put the stuff in one of the suitcases pretty fast.

I am SO GRATEFUL to all of you!!! The ideas are wonderful, and the kind words mean so much to me!!
I think this time of year has to be the worst for what I'm in the throes of- I may just do as mac says for now and fine-tune after the holiday madness is over :D
Thank you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!
HUGE HUGS,
Sue

Oh my gosh, it's going to be like a fabric feeding frenzy for you! :lol: And if I weren't doing exactly the same thing you are right now (trying to organize an overwhelming amount of fabric and sewing/quilting stuff) I'b be right there along with the others PMing you and getting more...more...MORE!! Fabric, ooo fabric...when is that next meeting of Fabricholics Anonymous?

I sort my fabric by color, fabric for OBW's, Christmas prints, multi darks prints, multi light prints. One small drawer has scraps, I can use to test stitches on w/ small strips of leftover batting. They are in covered plastic boxes, stacked around the perimeter of the room and under my sewing/cutting table. This works for me. The boxes have gotten larger over time. :lol:

I would love some of your calicos. I also have a paypal account, since I shop on Ebay. Let me know how soon I can set up to pay for two boxes. And, thank you!

I just did mine and I have 2 boxes of "why did I buy this?" and "I'll never use this!" that I'm donating to the local guild for charity quilts. I'm trying to cut back my purchases too, not so much for financial reasons (although that's always a consideration) but for space constraints.

I would like a box I have a pay pal account. I neede to get more fabric I sold my stash and DML's be for I moved I just didn't think I would get back in to it. pm me with your account

Friends, please be patient with me. I am filling 2-3 orders per day and spending a lot of time in my sewing room.
As you can imagine I'm getting lots of requests!!
It pleases me greatly, I just wish I had more hands and hours lol
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Sue

Sent you a PM. Although I should be doing what you are doing and destashing also. I finally told my DH that I am a fabraholic. He just laughed and said he already figgured that one out!

I do my stash this way and it works great for me. The only thing not mentioned that I do is....Any fabric that is large enough to use for a backing I fold differently (mine finish up about 8" x 22) and I stack in a section all by themselves.

My only problem is that I need more shelves :lol: :lol:

I will take that calico off your hands. PM me

Look at Pat Sloan's website and she said how to sort UFO's.

Get rid of things you don't like.

I would be glad to send you postage for a box of fabric and I use paypal

O my dear...hang in there. About the time you get the sorting done, you will need to pull out fabric for the next 10 quilts and the sorting will be in even more piles. I do have mine in somewhat colors and size of piece of fabric. Just sort-of. Keep at it.

I see nothing wrong with your system; although I might separate the batiks entirely from the novelties.
In my own stash, I haven't separated Christmas from everything else, but I'm forever having to dig through the piles, so maybe I should have them separated.

I wrap my fabric (1/2 yd+) on corrugated plastic boards. I place these on DVD racks. I have them coordinated by the predominate color in the pattern.

I did separate out fleece and upholstery weight fabrics, but all cottons I organized by color.

For 1/4 yd to 1/2 yd cuts, I have them on even smaller boards on their own shelf.

For anything smaller than a 1/4 yd (scrap), I have these in show boxes based on size/shape. one for strips, one for squares, one for larger or odd shaped scraps.

PM'd you about Christmas fabrics needed to make stockings for homeless shelter.

Hi, You might want to use clear plaster bins with lids to store your fat quarters and scraps that we all save for a later project. They are very helpful. Sherry

I agree with several of you on the clear palstic bins. I especially like the drawers as opposed to those with the lids you have to remove to get to all that lucious fabric !!!