Organizing the stash?
#21
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Between the dashes of a tombstone
Posts: 12,716
I've been keeping most of the stuff in color order but making some sets where the fabrics obviously go together.
But I've been wrapping the pieces around 5x5 squares of cereal box cardboard so they stand upright and I can see the edge...and I'm out of cardboard! Quick kids! Eat more!
But I've been wrapping the pieces around 5x5 squares of cereal box cardboard so they stand upright and I can see the edge...and I'm out of cardboard! Quick kids! Eat more!
#23
Super Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Van. Island, BC
Posts: 1,420
I've been keeping most of the stuff in color order but making some sets where the fabrics obviously go together.
But I've been wrapping the pieces around 5x5 squares of cereal box cardboard so they stand upright and I can see the edge...and I'm out of cardboard! Quick kids! Eat more!
But I've been wrapping the pieces around 5x5 squares of cereal box cardboard so they stand upright and I can see the edge...and I'm out of cardboard! Quick kids! Eat more!
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: las vegas nv.
Posts: 2,452
As you read there are numerous ways to organize your stash. As you can tell from everyone's responses it's really an individual choice. For me, I have to see it or I forget about it. I am lucky enough to have a nice walk-in closet and stack the majority of my fabric. I love to look at my fabric for inspiration so most of it is by color & print.
#26
Super Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: IN
Posts: 1,807
Thinking of adding comic book boards soon.
Thank you
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Indiana
Posts: 1,497
The important thing to remember is when you are looking for somethin, you have a pretty good idea where it is. If you need a specific piece of yellow batik, do you look in batiks or yellows? Doesn't really matter as long as you can easily find it. Beyond that you want it to look reasonably presentable and be able to work and live with your system.
Whatever you come up with will probably evolve over time.
Whatever you come up with will probably evolve over time.
#28
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Southern California
Posts: 1,046
Most of my fabrics are ruler quilted (or guesstimated) and sorted by color, then put on shelves. Those that are multicolored are on a different shelf. Large pieces are in their own stack. Big plastic boxes (about 7" deep) on another shelf are used for specialty fabrics like taffeta and satin, and odd/unique fabrics with sequins, etc.
I used to go to swap meets where vendors bought leftovers from manufacturers and sold them for $2/yard. Sometimes much less if you didn't mind going through piles of fabrics and trims on the floor. It was great fun and now I am grateful that I have a stash because I've been able to make art quilts that needed to get out of my mind and on to fabric.
As an aside, some of those fabrics from the floor became award winning wearable art, photographed and written about in sewing magazines. I've had judges and teachers who would buy only cotton, but I'm not a fabric snob and, sometimes with interfacing, could make "junk fabrics" work.
I also use plastic shoe boxes or sweater boxes to store supplies & info from classes I've taken, and sometimes I label them. I don't always use labels because not knowing what's exactly in a box forces me to look through them and I always enjoy that.
It took a long time to get everything sorted, but when I go into my studio now, it gives me feelings of peace and excitement at the same time. There's wonder there, too, because when I started to sew, not even into my teens, the only fabric I had was what I could buy with money I earned from babysitting.
I feel so lucky, even more so in times of Covid, to be able to escape real life when I go into my sewing room.
I used to go to swap meets where vendors bought leftovers from manufacturers and sold them for $2/yard. Sometimes much less if you didn't mind going through piles of fabrics and trims on the floor. It was great fun and now I am grateful that I have a stash because I've been able to make art quilts that needed to get out of my mind and on to fabric.
As an aside, some of those fabrics from the floor became award winning wearable art, photographed and written about in sewing magazines. I've had judges and teachers who would buy only cotton, but I'm not a fabric snob and, sometimes with interfacing, could make "junk fabrics" work.
I also use plastic shoe boxes or sweater boxes to store supplies & info from classes I've taken, and sometimes I label them. I don't always use labels because not knowing what's exactly in a box forces me to look through them and I always enjoy that.
It took a long time to get everything sorted, but when I go into my studio now, it gives me feelings of peace and excitement at the same time. There's wonder there, too, because when I started to sew, not even into my teens, the only fabric I had was what I could buy with money I earned from babysitting.
I feel so lucky, even more so in times of Covid, to be able to escape real life when I go into my sewing room.
#29
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: California, USA
Posts: 1,318
Since we are all think differently, I would ask myself 'how do I want to see my fabric?" To me, it is all in how you see your fabric. For instance, do you see your fabric as:
Color
Design: stripes, flowers, dots, geometric, etc.
Dark, medium or light fabric?
If you have just a little stash, I would do it by color. If you have a lot of it, like I do, I stopped using the color method and started putting my stash into types of fabrics like: dots, stripes, geometric, floral, holidays, solid colors, panels, etc. I found this easier to put sets of fabrics together when making a quilt.
All the small pieces, I would put in shoe boxes with similar widths and sizes.
I hope this doesn't sound too confusing, as I said, we all think differently when putting quilts fabric together.
Color
Design: stripes, flowers, dots, geometric, etc.
Dark, medium or light fabric?
If you have just a little stash, I would do it by color. If you have a lot of it, like I do, I stopped using the color method and started putting my stash into types of fabrics like: dots, stripes, geometric, floral, holidays, solid colors, panels, etc. I found this easier to put sets of fabrics together when making a quilt.
All the small pieces, I would put in shoe boxes with similar widths and sizes.
I hope this doesn't sound too confusing, as I said, we all think differently when putting quilts fabric together.
#30
Super Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Mendocino Coast, CA
Posts: 5,007
I sort by colors. I find that many times the fabric store will fold up the fabrics purchased so that the back side of the fabric is what shows when folded. I open the piece up and refold it so that the top side of the fabric shows.
~ C
~ C