Lori S

I seperate by color, but batiks have their own shelves also seperated by color. I have the individual shelves then sorted by value .... darkest to lightest.

ckcowl

YES--- i organize my fabrics by color, theme, design, manufacturer, type, ...every way you mentioned.
novelties, 30's, batiks, florals, colors....they all have their place - i tend to keep them together- but at the same time will organize the individual shelves by predominent color too...organize in a way that works for you- when you go to get fabric out for a project-how do you (search)? by color? by theme? by cut sizes? ( my fq's and 1/2 yards are with my yardages- unless the yardage is backing or a border print- those have their own area too...it is necessary to organize according to how you locate stuff- just like a filing system- what works for me may not make any sense to you- it's all relative

Jan in VA

Like many shops, I shelve my folded fabrics by color, in horizontal stacks about 12"-15” high: Red (and any hue thereof)/Purple (etc.)/Pink/Orange-Yellow/Green/Blue/Black/Neutral, and so forth.
Only the reproduction fabrics (1930s, mid-1800s) and collectible Mary Ellen Hopkins fabrics are shelved separately.

I do also have a large bin of multiple-yardage pieces (over 4 yds) that I use for backings. These are generally too thickly folded and unwieldy to go on the stacks-by-color shelves.

The shelves (behind doors to limit light exposure) hold fabrics that are fat quarter, 1/3 yard, or larger. I can open the armoire doors and see half my stash in one glance - the rest is behind the first, they are stored 2 stacks deep.

Most anything else is stored in clear plastic 8x12x14" boxes on wire shelves, labeled by size:
8 separate boxes for cut strips sized from 1" up to 3.5"
A box for usable pieces of fabric (from which I can cut a few strips or several squares, etc.),
Boxes of 4" squares (hundreds and hundreds!) by color (leftover from a project years ago in my shop, but incredibly valuable to use!)
Boxes of triangles (usually leftovers from another project or flying geese trades)
4-patches boxes
9-patches boxes (many from trades)
Box of strips sewn together (from other projects and which can be taken apart should I need that color)
Box of leftover pieced blocks
Boxes of random pieces (oddly shaped cuts, leftover rectangles, miscuts from previous projects)
Box of leftover pieces of binding
And a few boxes of "pulls" for projects to be

I've stored this way for so long I'd be lost in any other setting. But the benefit is that I literally 'know' every fabric I own even though there are probably 5000+ different prints/fabrics in some amount in my stash. If I need a pink, or a green, or a certain blue, I know whether there is such in the stash and can nearly put my hand on it with my eyes closed.

Sure helps the design process for me!!

Jan in VA

JudyTheSewer

It has been fun to read everyone's posts and their methods of sorting fabric so I will get kind of detailed on my storage.

As everyone said, fabric sorting must be done according to how you search for your fabrics. I make baby quilts, reproduction quilts, and "normal" fabric quilts. My fabric storage method fits the types of quilts I make.

I use copy paper boxes that are 11WX17DX10H to store the fabrics. I have shelves in a closet so that I can leave the tops off the boxes for easy viewing and then I close the closet door to keep out light. Fabrics are folded into 4ths on the selvage length and then ruler folded to about 10" squares. This way they sit nicely in the boxes with all of their "spines" showing so I can see what I have without doing any digging. I don't indicate yardage for anything but I can sort of tell by the size of the spine whether it is a couple of yards (good for borders) or not.

I guess I have 6 main categories of fabrics which then I sub-sort as desired. (1) batiks are in no particular order (2) baby flannels are in boxes in no particular order other they are grouped by boy, girl, and general. (3) civil war fabrics are boxed together in no particular order (4) cuddle backings are grouped together (5) garment fabrics are grouped together in boxes (6) and finally, by far the largest stash (24 copy boxes) are my general cottons for quilting. Those I sort by color but I also separately box the florals and other prints that have too many colors in them to really fit into any color group. I also separated out the Holiday themed fabrics into their own box. I don't have many novelty fabrics, 30's prints, or non-flannel juvenile but if I did I would probably have separate boxes for them too. The large pieces appropriate for backings are stacked on a shelf. I also have small stacks of oriental and metallics since I don't want those mixed in with the "sorted by color" boxes.

I keep all fabrics in these boxes unless they are truly worthless for anything and then they get tossed into scrap drawers. For smaller pieces that will not fold into a 10X10" square, I just fold it smaller and drape it over another "spine" so that I can see both fabrics. For the way I shop my stash it would not be useful to have separate areas for fabrics less than a yard; I like to see all of the fabrics within a color group or category regardless of their size since I prefer my quilts to have 50 or more fabrics in them.

Let us know how you decide to sort your fabics to meet your shopping style!

ube quilting

By color, is by far what works best for me. I do it by the good old color wheel. Reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, violets, purples, B&W.

Each stack is then sorted from lightest on top to darkest on bottom, like -

pinks
reds
burgundys in one stack or two depending on how much you have and the space to put it in.

it is easy to see all the colors and go to just what I want. I do keep cheaters , panels and baby prints seperate.

peace

mucky

Whatever way you choose it will not stay that way! I try to do color and just recently made a row of 1/2 yard pieces

Prism99

Judy, I just want to mention that cardboard boxes contain acid that will eventually discolor and eat into fabric. Since you are protecting your fabrics from light, you may also want to protect them from the acid. Spraying the inside of the boxes with polyurethane would probably work, or lining the boxes with muslin so that the other fabrics are not in direct contact with the cardboard.

This is true of cedar chests and everything made out of wood, including tissue paper. Archival quality boxes and paper used for storage of photographs has had the acid removed, but this makes them relatively expensive.

KarenK

I predominantly work and store by color. I have the plastic coated wire cubes in a closet and one color is in each cube. The largest pieces are on the bottom and the smaller on top (approximately ). Fabrics that are hand dyed, hand painted, 30's, batiks or Asian are stacked separately on a shelf. Fabric selected for specific projects are kept together. I've tried many different sorting systems and this is the best one so far. It's been the same way for 10 years now.

It seems we each have to figure out the system that works best for us.

cmrenno

I sort my fabric first by size. I have a drawer in an armoire that is all Fat Quarters arranged by size. Another drawer holds 1/2 yards and still another 1 yard pieces. In the top part on the shelves is larger pieces that I try to label with the size of the pieces. Each drawer is organized by color. I have another cabinet with UFO's and still another with kits. I am trying to work everying down so it all fits in the armoire. The armoire belonged to my Mom and is very special to me.
Colleen

vondae

Thanks to each of you who have chimed in with your opinion. It has been enlightening to read each one. It seems color coordinating is the way most do it. Which was the way I had planned to do it. Sorting out the christmas, flannel, etc. I would love to see some "pictures" if anyone wants to take the time to share with me.
For those of you who wrap your fabrics on the comic boards or foam boards, what do you use to fasten them on? I'm assuming straight pins are probably not a good thing.
Can you tell I'm clueless? I'm needing a lot of help. Anyone want to come and give me a hand? HaHa!!