Seven years ago, as a new quilter, I took a "color" class at local quilt shop. We had to bring 3 sets of 40 DIFFERENT fabrics cut into 1-1/2" squares. I dropped the class because I didnt' have 40 different fabrics and never thought I ever would.
Guess what? In 7 years you can collect a lot of fabric. Every time I visited a quilt shop, I spent soooo much money. Had to have a little of everything. I sew quilts for Project Linus and many people give me fabrics now. Sewing room is full. Does anyone have a problem with putting things back where they should go? Every year the week between Christmas and New Years I thoroughly reorganize sewing room. After about two projects, it is a lost cause again. I store fabrics by color in "banker" boxes (cardboard filing boxes). Store them in wire like "bookshelves." The only problem is, can't see the fabrics. Had them on open shelves, but got too dusty. What do you do with your stash?

My friends think I have a large stash, but I think mine is fairly tame. I have two 60 litre plastic containers, and the fabric is stored there. So it's not large enough that I need to sort through on a regular basis.

My DH had a carpenter comee in a build me cupboards for my stash as he was tired of seeing all the boxes sitting around. lOL then I purchased those plastic drawers that Walmart sell and have three of them to put additional fabric in. So my room doesn't look too bac now. Marge

I sew for Project Linus also. I keep those fabrics on a separate wall but of course I get into my stash wo match if needed. LOL. I have to organzie once a month. I go thru and cut out Kits for our meeting and mess up a lot. LOL. Everyone knows I sew for PL so I get lots of donations also.
Last year I went to HOuston Quilt festival and worked the Project Linus booth with Carol Babbit. Went to the convention in Illinois two years ago. Love PL.

I keep mine in a large dresser. The problem with that though, is seeing whats in there! I would love to have a nice open cabnit, with a ton of shelves, so I could stack it all nice!

I have the large like 48 or 56 Qt clear plastic containers that I put mine in. I've sorted by color and on the ends of the containers I've labeled them by color. I found a cute font of cross-stitching and made my color labels up with them and colored the word.

Mine are in clear plastic boxes. Dust free and easily seen.

My fabric is organized by color on bookshelves. To keep them clean, I bought some clear vinyl @ JoAnn's (it was cheap) and tack it up at the top of the shelves. I also have it over my wall mounted thread caddy. Another great storage item I bought @ Home Depot was a shoe organizer cabinet. It has 24 "cubbies" which are great for rolled up FQ's, scraps, etc. Also have the vinyl over that.

I have way too much "stash" and have gotten rid of a lot over the years. I love to quilt with chenille and sew with barkcloth (vintage fabrics) so I have probably 7 large tubs plus two chests plus two vintage laundry hampers (refurbed and made cute cover/inside bags) full. When I'm on a sewing roll my stuff does end up staying "out" too much and I hate that (also the dust). I would give anything for a "crafts" space... someday!!!

I have two build yourself pantries I bought from Kent Building Supplies several years ago to house my fabrics. I love them cause I have them all colour coded and I just have to open the doors and see everything at a glance. I have some rubbermaid containers too but I keep all my scraps in those.

This thread:

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-42678-1.htm#960881

talks about Polar Notions and homemade plastic cards. It's a great way to store fabric and keep it visible. You can keep several cuts on one board. I think the Polar Notions lady told us that one card would hold around 15 yards.

Hope this helps.

Darren

I use the clear plastic "under the bed" storage boxes. I sort by color so at a glance, I know which box to look for a particular color. I stack the boxes, 2 to each shelf in my sewing room closet. That protects the fabric from dust and light.
I tried stacking on wire shelves in the closet, but the stack kept toppling over-too messy!

would love to see photos of your sewing room

Craftybear

My stash is kept in eight good sized totes. A year ago my sewing room was so bad that I couldn't stand to work in there so I thourghly cleaned and organized it. Now I go through it about every month and put everything in its place. It is so much nicer to work in a halfway clean room.

Have you considered taking off the front of the drawers?

I have about 14 large rubbermaid tubs filled; I can't see what's in them so have large labels affixed. e.g. - Japanese, novelty, background, backs etc
My cedar chest which used to have linens now is filled with batiks
I have 3 open cabinets with cubicles (shelved by colour and motif - like small flowers).

My living room was enlarged and converted into my Quilt Room when we bought the house; had a large closet with shelves built, one high enough for bolts. I have 5-8 yd pieces not on bolts piled in a corner. Lest you worry about my husband: it's a 2 family house, he lived on the 2nd floor. Divorced but good friends.

I have 2 rolling carts that have 3-6 compartments each stuffed with projects: those in process and those in planning stage, each has the pattern, thread and whatever else I need.
I have 2 large clear plastic rolling carts, 5 compartments each that have special projects, e.g. fabric appropriate for a particular friend , or wine and food good for my son's next quilt etc. These are in my bedroom - having run out of room elsewhere.
And finally, I have 6 or 7 clear plastic boxes (sold for scrapbooking at Joanns) each having quilts I'm currently working on.

I have lots of totes with fabric and a couple plastic drawer units from Walmart with fat quarters. The rest of the fat quarters are in plastic shoe boxes. DGD loves to raid those.

I asked for a bunch of empty cardboard bolts at Joann's; brought them home and cut them up (each bolt makes four 8" x 11" pieces); then I took my fabrics that I have over 1 yard of, folded it along the length of the fabric (fold to selvege) and wrapped it on each "mini bolt" and pinned a piece of paper to the final wrap with quantity. When I was done, I was amazed how much I actually have: over 90 mini bolts. It is stored in a bookcase (front covered with vinyl for dust) but it is spilling out onto my sewing table! Looks like it is time for a bigger bookcase ('cause everyone knows how difficult it is to stop buying fabric :oops: ) That doesn't include the clear bins I have in the garage (no quilting cotton there) or what is hanging in the closet (backings and flannels).

That's a good thread.
If I can't see my stuff, it doesn't exist.

I have wayyyyyyyyyy tooooooo much stash. Some of it is in plastic bins in the garage, the rest is "creatively" stored in my sewing room.

I keep my fabric on a large utility shelf. I color coded all of them and arrange them neatly on the shelves. It fits perfectly in the closet and I close the doors when not in use. Works great for me.

Mine is stored on an open shelving unit. FQ are in under the bed plastic storage bins, precut squares in another plastic 5-drawer unit, supplies, notions and strips are in a 3-drawer plastic unit. Small scraps are sorted by color and stacked in plastic shoe boxes.

Not perfect, but it'll do for now.

I have empty drawers in furniture and organize only by color. It seems to work pretty well.

I have mine in clear plastic totes by color and also by children's, Seasonal fabrics and ethic fabrics. I try to clean my sewing room after each major project, so that I can start anew with a clean room and everything put back in it's place (for a minute!!)

Since I live in Senior Housing, you can imagine my limited amoount of space. Bedroom is quite large, but has to serve as sewing room and storage. At a yard sale I found a 4-drawer file cabinet which works very well and everything is sorted by color. BUT---I also use 2 drawers in the dresser and chest of drawers. Oh, yes, my machine is also in there. The bed?????somewhere.LOL

I have a dresser and several shelving units that I keep fabric in. I cover the shelving units with quilts and clothespins to keep the fabric from fading. I also store in plastic tubs. I don't like to store in cardboard because of the reaction of wood products and cotton causing fabric to yellow. It's pretty organized. I put the fabrics together that are going in a quilt, and then I have a small stash that is un-designated for any specific quilt. I LOVE my stash! I get so much comfort from it!
YTQ

For a long time I've had 4 of the 25 hole wooden shoe
containers in my closet. I tacked a piece of plastic
over them to keep the dust out. But my shoes were all
over the closet floor so I had to take back one of them.
NO one needs over 25 pairs of shoes, but I do NEED all
my fabric stash!!

I don't really have a stash yet. God bless. Penny

I keep some of mine in clear plastic boxes. But I do have large plastic bins for some of it too. I like the clear boxes best, because it is easy to see when looking for a certain fabric.

Years ago I had cabinets made to hold cross stitch and other crafts. Now one holds odd pieces of batting and the top of these cabinets now have book cases sitting on top.This is where I store my fabric. The fabric is folded to fit the shelves. I went "up" and it gave me a lot of space. My closet in my sewing room holds rolled batting and most of my green and black material.

My sewing room is 12 x 20 and my sewing stash is out of control. I started to reorganize it today. I bought a bunch of clear totes to store under my cutting table which is a large dining table with a marble top on it. I put bed risers under the legs to raise the highth, I kept getting a backacke when I did a lot of cutting, it works great. I brought 2 six foot long cabinets with 2 shelves up from the basement today, with the help of my sister-in-law, she's a jewel.I can't wait to get finished because until I finish there will be no sewing.