To rip or to not rip
 

I'm sure I'm not the only one with a stack of quilting magazines hiding in the corner, right? Currently I am sitting on the floor under my drafting/cutting table looking through the mags searching for a way to use some of my stash. Yes, I dog-eared the corners when I first read them and then forgot about them. There has to be a better method. I've thought about tearing out the ones that look good & putting them in binders. The problem with that is my taste and style has changed drastically in the past 4 years so I hesitate to toss the ones I don't rip out, which still leaves a stack. Plus, I don't want to look like a hoarder. The fabric stash is bad enough, lol! Quandary!!

So...tell me, what do you do?

Only one stack? For those magazines you want to part with and have not had any pages torn out, check with your public library to see if you can donate them. When I lived in a big city, they would accept the magazines and charge 10 to 25 cents each. In the small rural place I live in now, they are free. Magazines also sell at rummage sales. The notebooks for what draws your interest can be gone through from time to time to weed out some as your taste changes. I buy boxes of the plastic sleeves and try to put every other pattern in a sleeve.

When I read a magazine, there is usually only 1 or 2 patterns I think I would like to use. So, I photo copy those and put them in binder plastic sleeves. I have a binder for baby; florals, traditional, etc.

I did that (cut out the patterns I like and put them in clear page protectors and a binder). I now have 3 or 4 binders that I occasionally look through. MOST of the patterns I still like - some of them I wonder at my state of mind at the time. Some of them are still on the to-do list and some of them are just there for inspiration. IMO it is much easier to look through a binder of things that matter or mattered at one time than to spend a lot of time thumbing through the entire magazine. I also unsubscribed from all magazines as there is SOOOOO much available on the internet (blogs, pinterest, etc).

I'm thinking I need to weed out my magazines too. My current plan is to go through a year of a time of one specific publication, keeping anything I really want a copy of by scanning it into my computer. Then I will take the bundle and gift it to a fellow guild member I've mentioned this to, and when she is done, she will re-gift it onwards herself.....

I keep a small collection of complete magazines. If a magazine only has an article or pattern or two that I like, I cut it out & scan it. So much easier to find what I like when I have it as a digital copy than to sift through magazines. Most of the time now I find inspiration online through Pintrest or Instagram or Google images so I just try to put good enough descriptions on my digital files that I can find what I want by typing in a few search terms in File Explorer.

Love Quilting magazines, I go thru them and rip articles and patterns that I like. Then I take the magazine to the Guild and put it on the free table. Since that's the source of most of my magazines, I know that others do the same thing. As my tastes change, I toss the pattern.

I put post a notes on front of mag with the names of the patterns I want to make. I purged over half of my quilting magazine. If there is just one or two, scan them and print them out.

I rip out the patterns I like and put in those sleeves then in a binder. There is so much free stuff on the internet also. The only magazine I get now is Block and consider them a book. I often get magazines on the free table at guild. Most of them are very old and just do not inspire me. I think I have about 10 magazines that have quite a few things I like in them. They live in the bathroom.

I go through the binder occasionally and toss out things that no longer interest me. I have a very small sewing room and just cannot put too much stuff in there, One binder for charity patterns and another for all others.

When I began picking up quilting magazines years ago, I started an index of types of quilt and u Dee heading lists the name of magazine, issue date, page #, designer etc you get the idea...saves a lots of looking for patterns and ideas I remember having. I no longer subscribe to quilting magazines for all the reasons already mentioned. I do enjoying the magazines I have in my library.

Judy in Phx, AZ

Jim got me a scanner a few years ago. I scan stuff and put it on a flash drive. Paper all gone.

I just get digital magazines!

I love magazines! Something about opening that mail box and getting a new one. But they do accumulate so once a year I go through all my mags and pull any that don't have at least 3-4 patterns that I love--I keep those and put in mag boxes--sometimes ones from previous years get toss the next year. If it only has one pattern I want to keep, I copy that and leave the mag intact cause I donate to our guild garage sale where they go for 10/$1.

My keeping only those that have 3-4 patterns I like also allows me to look at which magazine I really seem to like the patterns best--reason I dropped Love of Quilting, Quilting World (although I sometimes pick up a copy at the store) and plan to drop McCalls maybe.

I recently went through my Magazines and have two boxes to take to the quilt guild and give to others next meet. I have lots more and cannot bear to tear pages out.

What do you do with the pattern inserts? I found much of the magazines were ads and stuff I'm not interested in, so I take it all out, leaving what I want along with the inserts and with a nice cover page. Helps to make room for more. And yes, I too have decided to scan and put them all on usb - not so much for the kids to clean out (or hoard) when I kick the bucket. Don't worry, there's a long list to be completed in that bucket. lol

I started doing this when we were moving and I needed to de-clutter. Only got partly done and brought rest of small collection with me. Need to get back to it.
For many years I've digitally collected many, many patterns in sewing, quilting and knitting. If you bookmark a website with a pattern you like, months or years later you will find it has disappeared. Making a copy to keep in you computer is much easier. Now I have a digital hoard! At least it doesn't take up any space in my home.

I dog ear the pages, and then I put the magazine in a stack of other magazines with dog-eared pages. Periodically (no pun intended), when the mood strikes, I get down the stack and go through them again to see if the same patterns catch my eye. If they do, I keep the magazine. Sometimes I find a new pattern to like, reflecting my changing tastes and abilities in patterns. Sometimes I don't pause on any pages, even the ones I've marked previously, and those magazines get moved along.

Binder the patterns you like. The rest, scan and put on a thumb drive. Donate the magazines to the local guild.

I save them until I have certainty that I want to get rid of them. If I'm unsure, I keep them. I also give my old magazines to the quilt group my friend belongs to. Not everyone gets magazines and they love getting them.

Every time I'm tempted to subscribe to a magazine, I go look in my closet at all the old ones. That cures me.

I scan interesting patterns into my computer and donate the magazines to our local senior centers.

This is me as well. When I'm tempted to subscribe I start to go through the magazines I have, and actually try to winnow them down in the process. But I find I have so many patterns I still love and want to make, and a lot of times the new magazines (browsing through them while in the stores) don't have anything at all I'm interested in, so it makes me feel good to save the money.

Go online and use Pinterest and throw out the books :)

I put post-it notes on the page w/a word or two for a label. I'm just not into ripping mags apart or going to expense to photocopy. The post-its help me find all the instr for free motion quilting, for example. I use my mags a lot and I really look forward to getting new ones. I also use the mags at my library but it's a joy to get issues in the mail. When I get reorder offers to give a gift subscription, I use my library as my friend to get the gift. The librarian said they had so much interest in the issues they got, that they reordered the magazine for the next year. I was delighted that the mags were so well received. No one in my family sews or quilts so I'm pleased the library can use my donation.

copy the patterns you like and want to keep then put them on eBay for sale; lots of magazines there!

I like them as is, but it's up to you. How would you enjoy looking at them more?

Since we are planning to move, I have gone through most of my quilt mags and ripped out anything of interest. I just cannot justify moving "weighty" boxes. I'd rather move a box of stash which I plan to purge also.

My friend who has been quilting for over 30 years has started passing her magazines on to me. I photo copy the patterns I like and put them in plastic sleeves in a binder. I'm then able to donate a "complete" magazine to our local library/senior center. The ladies there are always so excited to see me bring in a stack of them.

I would not cut them up. I just suck it up and look thru the magazines and make sticky note stick up out of the magazine noting quilts I like and put the color on the marker of what group in my stach they would be great done up in.

I personally have everything as pictures on my iPhone or iPad. They just go in the cloud and are there whenever I want them. Just make sure the picture is clear enough to read or scan them instead.

You can make the old magazines into a display wall or table top under glass item or do what my brother did with old law textbooks. He drilled a hole through them and make it into a lamp. Might not be ideal for magazines but it would work. :)