Ideas for using a Free Standing "Closet" for sewing room??
 

When my grandson was living with me, we purchased one of the fabric zip around closets to hang his clothes in since the bedroom closet was already full of "stuff"! Since he has moved to his apartment, I want to use it in some manner for my sewing room. It has a zipper across the top front and down the right side, a rod across the entire width and it does have the cloth bottom. One side (outside) has gusseted pockets about 6" inches deep and varies in width.They are not see thru. It is 36" wide, 24"deep and 60" high. I know I can't overload it with too much heavy stuff. I "think" I would like to store some of my fabric in it (I know it all won't fit.) and maybe WIPs I don't have a lot of yardage to use hangers so trying to figure out another way. Right now my fabric is stored in labeled plastic totes stacked in the middle of my sewing room and I have a narrow path to walk in. (I'm sure I'm the only one with this problem!! LOL)

Any ideas on how to organize fabric in it? TIA

if it has a rod but you don't have yardage to hang, what if you put in those closet organizers that to over a rod? They have some that are narrow, like for shoes, and some wider, like for sweaters/shirts. they are like little cubbies or shelves, but made from fabric. maybe that would help?

Like these:
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/c...gs/shoeSweater

These are the first thing I thought of also! You can get them at any big box store and I have seen them at Dollar General.

I had thought of these but couldn't locate them at Dollar General...sure i have seen them there until I needed them, of course. I had one in the past but it sagged with sweaters in it. I could probably reinforce each section with stiffer but lightweight board of some kind.

Thanks for the site!

Tartan, this is a great idea also, I have my batt in Space Bags which I don't complete suck the air out of but these are so lightweight I can store them across the bottom. I could also use some of the cubbies for embroidery stabilizer, both the kind that comes in the plastic cylinders and the yardage that I buy. It is always so unruly. Now the ideas are flowing but it's 2:00 am in the morning here so hopefully the ideas will still be rolling tomorrow!!

How about keeping batting in your "closet"? I always have pieces left over and it just seems to pile up.

I use 2 of the sweater unit hanging closets for my fabric and in some of the cubbies, I have purchased drawers for them, great for patterns.
I also use a shoe hanger which has 10 shelves for my PPing scraps. I have plastic containers like the ones used by manufacturing companies for vacuum packed cold cuts..each shelf hole two containers.......so easy to find and it's all out of the way when not in use.

I have one of those too and I don't thing it's sturdy enough to hold a ton of fabric. Perhaps as someone suggested if you could get those shelf units organizers that hang from the rod and space them well across it you could get quite a bit in it. I have a couple of fleece batts on the top of mine and even that weight makes the fabric bow down quite a bit. I think putting batts on the bottom would shorten it's life considerable. It seems to me that the fabric is designed to shelter not bear weight.

When DD #4 was home we redid some of my fabric. I had a cupboard that had adj shelf and fixed shelf. We arranged according to flannel, cotton, baby, solid and stacked it in place. Have one more to get set up in there and then some more of my totes will be gone and I can actually open the door and see the fabric and decide what I want out. My biggest problem is that it is in my living room and I need MORE SPACE. Have an old porch on the west side of the house that should be torn off and then a small (16x26) width of house is 26 ft. have 12 ft wide roll of carpet and put shelving up on plain floor and carpet out to walk on etc. Need a carpenter. DH says he ain't doing it. so need to hire someone. Just put out 1450$ for propane for the winter so short on building fund now. must save more or work more to get more--whatever.

Could you clip your fabric to the hangers for skirts that have the clips attached and just hang it in the closet? If it held clothes, it should be strong enough to hang fabric. It would be easy to see what you have and since most fabric is 42" wide it would be uniform if you fold it with the width hanging down. Try a few pieces to see how it looks!

I like to have a hanger with strips left over (then I make a scrappy quilt) a hanger that holds binding, and I hang my quilts as I have the top done, sometimes I will also add the batting and backing till I get the time to sit down and quilt! It helps to keep things organized and none of that is really heavy like fabric can be. Good luck

I would hang the finished or almost finished quilt tops inside the closet and also the batting and hang bags on hangers with cut fabric for kits etc in the closet area... rulers hung on a belt hanger ?? hang a small organizer inside to hold your cutters, scissors, pins in all the pockets...
then when you have company you zipped it all up... nice and neat..
hugs
quiltinmama

Here's a suggestion to go with the earlier one about the hanging organizer: make your own. There's lots of how-to's on the web for directions, and the extras that you'd need (dowel rod, stabilizer) are available at Walmart. Besides, you could then make the size that will fit your closet.

How about getting pants hangers with the clips, a few at a time as you can afford them and fol fabric to clip onto the hangers and hang in a closet. Use the one you have to hang lighter weight things in.

I would hang kits in bags, on pant hangers. To stiffen rod, can you add a 1x2 vertically in center. And i like the hanging sweater units. put thin boards on bottom in each cubby to keep even. Store batting on bottom. Does it touch the floor or hang up a bit. needs support to last.