This may have been a topic before, but... do you all have nice tidy sewing rooms?. where do you keep your stash of fabrics?, do you ' hide' that new fabric, you just couldnt resist?? i have been buying boxes and baskets to organise my stuff.. labelled as well.. at least i can find things now... only got small space for my sewing.... :cry:

I only started maybe 6 months ago and I have to say - I totally hide the new stuff! I have a big 3 drawer rolling thing that is just packed full. When we painted the living room where I kept my sewing stuff, I thought the rollers were broken. DH reminded me it is becuase each drawer is stuffed full of fabric - and it's not light :)

I keep mine out where I can see them, I have two shelf units in my closet, a shelf hanging on the wall and fabric laying on my cutting table. I can't figure out why some feel the need to "hide" the fabric they buy, unless of course it's for a quilt to be given as a gift.

There have been a couple of threads on this before.
I have some really nice built in cabinets in my sewing room where I place my stash. I also have some rolling drawer carts for my fat quarters and scraps and then several clear Rubbermaid tubs in the garage for the overflow.

I can't sew in a messy place. I try to pick up and put items back in place as I go but that doesn't work all the time. I fold the fabric and find a place for it on my shelves. If it is for a specific quilt I put the fabric and pattern in a storage box and label it. I don't hid anything I buy. DH couldn't care less what's in my shopping bags. He knows he spends as much or more. A price of a football game ticket will keep me supplied in quilt kits for a long time. Sometimes a fabric will catch his eye and he'll say how pretty it is.

" nice tidy sewing rooms" --- HAH - I try, mom! I REALLY do -- the imps come in at night and mess it up -- REALLY!!!!!

Seriously -- I try, too, to keep mine clean, but in the middle of a quilt -- it's a MESS!

I keep my stash in plastic bins -- both shoe box size for small pieces, and big ones for yardages. We live in a dusty area so I like to keep them clean (and the cats insist on sleeping on them if left out)

I don't label -- I buy clear boxes....takes too much sewing time to get TOO organized!!!! Besides, when searching for one fabric, I'm libal to find something else totally interesting~!!!!

My room is a disaster, but my fabric is pretty well organized. Even after I clean the room, it only takes about 10 minutes, until it looks like a tornado went through it. My "excess" fabric that aren't in the cabinet drawers are in the big(55 qt. or bigger) plastic,opaque totes. I do try to have them organized as far as background colors, or fabrics.

nice, neat sewing rooms? what language is that?

and why would you talk that way to me? did I make you mad or something?

I try to keep mine nice and neat. Currently I am cutting my scraps to make a log cabin quilt so there are a lot of fabric pieces laying about. Cutting table is covered as well as sewing machine and cabinet. My housekeeper straightened it up a little for me on Tuesday.

Mine is always nice and neat! Ok, in my mind it is, but in person? Ummm.....can you define "neat"?

I'm laughing out loud. I store my fabric (well, the stash that fits) in clear plastic containers in cabinets. Since it is separated by color, I pull the bins out and audition as I need it and the bin goes back.

Now I am involved in the Boomerang swap and I have to (get to) work with all the colors of the rainbow. Translate - almost every stash bin is sitting around and I have piles of pieces all over. Recently, I even started the Eleanor Burns method of tossing leftovers (trash) behind me.

As a result, my sewing space is a real disaster at the moment.

I keep mine in clear plastic containers. It is so nice to be able to see what is in there and not have to open every one.

As to hiding the new stuff. I don't have to. My hubby says as long as the bills are paid, I can get what I want.

I have mine all over, in bins, on shelves, and in the closet. I do have to say, that I sew as a business too.

I keep all of mine in closed up chests. That was the way my grandmother taught me, not to leave it in the light. :lol: :lol:
It's all the other things that are thrown around :roll: :roll:
Too many books, and tools :lol: :lol: and yet, I had to search for a seam ripper today :shock: :shock:

I have all of my fabrics folded on fabric boards and stored in a bookcase. This system makes it possible for me to see what I have and I think it "decorates" my sewing room
During a project my sewing room gets pretty messy, but I clean it up afterwards. Everyone has their own way. For me, I have to be organized.:)

Mine is stored in totes under my frame.....and in my closet.....and everywhere. When DD goes shopping she is always on the lookout for totes for me. I have no problem filling them. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I use the cheapest ways I can find.
Target has plastic coated wire shelves (tricky to put togather) for 14.99 one sale. It makes six shelves. Also you can get those fabric hanging shelves on sale for around six dollars.
I buy plastic baskets at the dollar store for fat quarters.

Well, I have to admit that I used to carefully hide my new stuff for a while until DH wouldn't really notice it. Then I noticed that HIS stash pile was getting way out of control....all piled up, nothing organized. So....I stopped hiding anything new, and he NEVER notices!!! Ha-HA!!!

I needed a place to store it all, so we bought a 7' tall restaurant rolling shelving unit with wire shelves, 48" wide, at an auction and I use that. I love it!! Heavy weight, and if I want to move it it rolls really easy.

You ladies are a total crack up!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

You can't be neat AND creative at the same time........

I agree it's pretty hard to keep the room neat, but my fabrics are pretty organized. I have floor to ceiling shelves along one long wall and folded yardage is in there. I remade old drapes to fit three shelves each and thumbtacked them in place. Fabric exposed to light FADES so I'm careful to keep everything covered. I have cabinets with drawers for strips, labeled by color and precut (by me) squares and scrap in opaque boxes. The rest of the reoom (and house) is not so organized, but, in time, should I live to 150, might be. Do what works for you. Have some kind of sorting system, and try to prevent fading. Good luck! http://www.quiltingboard.com/compose...opicnum=39891#

Tidy? Sometimes more so than others.

I look at tidy that way I look at "normal." The definition depends on some other person's idea of it. :twisted:

There are days I enter my "lair" and feel quite proud of my housekeeping, there are others when just opening the door makes me tired. :oops:

When I remodeled my FL room to be my sewing room, (15x20) I had two very long walls. One went for the machines lined up like nice little soldiers and the other has four plastic cabinets from Walmart's. They're 7' high and 2' deep and 28' wide with adjustable shelves and double doors. They were under $30 each.

I keep my FQ's in shoe boxes. Just the right size. I can slide the boxes out to check for colors without having to hunt thru a pile of fabric. I fold my larger pieces to fit the shelves which will then hold two stacks side by side. Won't tell you where I kept my stash before.

I don't have a sewing room so my things are in several different places. My sewing machine and cutting table is in our master bedroom. The cutting table folds down so it is in front of my closet and my fabric is upstairs in the family room closet in bins. :(

My husband installed wire baskets in my sewing room closet. Just love them. The baskets pull out. Fabric can also be stacked on the shelf between the baskets. My fabric is stored according to color. Fabric can be seen easily and the fabric can breathe. They were a great xmas present from my husband. He purshased the set from Lowe's, installed easily and quickly.

neat + sewing room = oxymoron!!!

Since I have been at this for 40 years my stash is huge. I do have it fairly organized. I have two plastic six foot high shelves in my laundry room with plastic bins of fabric which are labeled. Next I have a larger room on the other side of that wall that holds 4 more of those shelving units with plastic bins, also labeled. In addition that room houses my large cutting table and my ironing station. Both have storage under them. At this point I have 4 large plastic bins of Linus fabric on top of my cutting table. I also have lots of batting and sewing related accessories in plastic boxes in that room. That is all in my basement. In my upstairs sewining/computer room I have two tables that hold my sewing machine, serger and embroidery machine. One six foot shelving unit with plastic bins of fabric and thread storage bins. A former bedroom dresser that serves as my small cutting and ironing station. I have rolling bins for thread and notions under the table that houses the serger and embroidery machine. I have racks meant for wax paper. foil etc. attached to the sides of the dresser that hold my rolls of embroidery and sewing stabilizer. The drawers of the dresser are full of embroidery and sewing supplies. I have open shelves and lid racks above the dresser and table that holds the serger etc. The racks make great storage for rullers ect. The room was formerly my daughter's bedroom. It has a small half bath in one corner. The closet is great for more quilt related storage and I have an antique thread cabinet on top of my grandmother's former dropleaf diningroom table. Of course the room also contains our computer system with all of it's componets and a stand alone copier as well as a 20" TV.
One of these days I will get some pictures posted. I prefer the lightproof plastic storage for my long term stash storage.

my stash is mostly neat. especially since you all have been talking about storage, I got in the mood to refold and organize my material. I went through my books( craft, crochet,cross stitch,etc) and decided to put the ones I will never use in the next garage sale. that's where I got most of them. My eyesight is getting worse so I don't think I will do much other than the quilting. My sewing room is an extra small bedroom. I allow my DH to put his roll top desk in one corner. everything else is quilting stuff.The closet has lots of shelves and hanging area. He made me a neat u shaped sewing center with drop in machine hole and a table that has two drop leaf parts that open up long enough to cut on, or can be folded up if we need to. He's so handy and wonderful.

I have a small walk in closet where I have been keeping my fabric for years. The upper shelf is fairly neat with stacks of fabric up there, and then more hanging on hangers on the back rod. Then more sorted into bins all stacked up. It was a disaster. I didn't open the door for nearly a year, but decided to clean it out last January. I pulled out stuff that works for quilting and started putting that on foam core boards.
I love having some of the fabric where I can see it and know what I have. Makes me happy, and I get much more done.

I can't hide a single thing cause I have run out of room. My DH keeps asking if I have enough yet, I just keep saying no not yet. I have a very small space for storage but it works for me.

I always tell 'em, my dh lets me have all the fabric I can sneak past him. When he sees it in my sewing room he asks if that is a new fabric, I usually tell him, naw, I had for some time (notice I did not specify how long a time). I got to start using up some of my stash though, I fear the quilting police will get me for aiding and abetting (?spelling) the fabric industry.

My sewing area is a royal mess right now, but I am working on putting some new stuff away. I bought 72" high x 48 cabinets for the stash a retired quilt artist gave me and now they are filled up and spilling over. I recently went to a country store in SE Ohio and bought fabric for $2.49/yd and will return because they are getting a new shipment in from Californi. A lot of what I find there is available at the local stores only priced much higher. So where will it all fit? Dunno....there must be a place somewhere. I have no more room for another cabinet. When the doors are closed and I am not working on anything, it's neat. As soon as I begin to work, it's a mess. Love being in my sewing "studio" though.

I don't like to store in plastic tubs but where the fabric can breathe, hence the cabinets. I do keep my projects and pieces in a nice storage box I pick up at WalMart for $3. They are great and can be stacked, carried, laid around. They are about the size of the expensive quilt project boxes at JoAnn's.

I have mine on the tall plastic shelves with clear plastic shower curtains around them to keep the 'dust?' off them. That way I can drool over them while I work on something else. Keep them out and enjoy them, that's part of the fun..Linda

A nice, tidy sewing room, What is that??? :shock:

"Creative minds are seldom tidy"... :roll:

I have taken one bedroom for my sewing room and my DH put shelves in the closet. My frabic is stacked in seperate colors.
When I want a color I know where to look . One day when I was sewing my DH came in and opened the closet door and looked for a few seconds and than said and I quote " Ada will you live long enough to use all the frabic you have."

Yes I do Hide most of my stash{ From My DD} as D's tind to want it and sons are not so unless they quilt too.DH goes fabric shopping with me. Yes my Sewing Studio is neat unless I'm in a rush but at night it's Pick up Time cause that's the way Momma always did her's. I Learned Well!!! :thumbup:

I prefer to work in an organized space. After reading many postings on here, I decided it was time to get my cotton stash pulled together. We had a bunch of cardboard from new appliances that I cut up into mini-bolts (8" x 11") (also got some from the fabric store I cut down). All (well 95% anyway) reside in my bookcase - the bigger yardage is hanging in the closet from skirt hangers. I have my tools and threads in plastic storage units or baskets. I took two shoe shelves and repurposed them on top of my bookcase for easy to reach storage for bobbins, feet, embroidery thread and my smaller pieces of fabric. Drapes coming soon for the bookcase to keep the light and pet hairs to a minimum. It inspires me to having everything organized. Now if I just had a place to put my third machine instead of on my cutting table.

I have very little fabric, so not to worried about storage right now. more worried about not having what I need for a queen size quilt. but you all have neat storage ideals. Penny

Used to hang mine in the closet in the 2nd bedroom, then it got "evicted" to totes ... lots of them that are marked on the sides with the color. Oh, then there are the stacks that are on the upper shelves in the MBR closet; and those huge Ziplock storage bags that can get to be rather heavy. I discovered some [more] last year in a seldom-used dresser. It was great to sit down with it and get re-acquainted.

It's time to add on another room. I'm serious! :mrgreen: