Storing fat quarters
 

My husband put shelving into the closet in my sewing room, so I am now able to organize. How do you organize your fat quarters? I spent this afternoon refolding the fat quarters. I then grouped them by color. What do you do with yours? Do you put Christmas/Halloween/Novelty fabrics in with "colors" or would it be easier to put those fabrics separately? Thanks!

I sort Christmas, Halloween, "sets", etc, separately from "colors"

I do suffer from indecision when it comes to fabrics that can be either/or.

I am very much like bearisgray, I keep my holidays in sections, and dominant colors sorted after that. If I have heavy florals with no dominant color those go together in my floral section. And all polka dots go together. I used to have a lot of kids fabrics that were kept together. It really depends on how you look for your fabrics.

I keep my holiday fabric grouped together with the like holiday. Which at the moment is Christmas and Halloween. I keep them in labeled, covered totes on top of my shelving.

For the rest of my fat quarters I keep them together in the fabric line (set) they come in. My fat quarters are all fabric lines, not solids, and when I use them, I use the set. If I have orphan ones, I keep them together in no special order, in a tote on my shelf.

This is pretty much the way I keep mine. I also sort and keep some fabrics that i'm going to use for a specific project together in a box until the project is done. Then I put the remaining fabrics back in with the colors etc.

I have those stackable drawers like you get at Walmart that my fq's are in by color. Holiday fabrics are in their own tub. One day one fabric might be one color and the next time I look at it I wonder why in the world I thought it was that color!

I keep my FQs in clear plastic ribbon boxes that I bought at Michael's years ago. They stand on end and each box contains their own color. The only holiday fabrics I have are Christmas so they are in their own box. Overflow goes in a sectioned "mailbox" wall hanging that hangs over my cutting/ironing table.

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Here is the "mail box" wall hanging, prior to buying the Michael's boxes. I think it was advertised at Pottery Barn for CD storage LOL As you can see I have a quilted wall hanging covering it to prevent dust/sunlight damage.

EmiliasNana -- that sewing spot is too clean. Where are your scrap heaps? I think Emilia is in need of her Nana to put her sewing room to use! Actually, I wish I was this neat after picking up from projects. This is beautiful!!

LOL ibex! I agree! It's WAY too neat. I doubt my sewing area has looked that neat since I set it up 20+ years ago. It does look a bit neat when I'm doing FMQ because I have to move things out of the way so they don't get knocked over.

I guess I'd call myself a fabric collector so I have hundreds of fat quarters. I store all the batiks by color in photo boxes in my fabric closet. My holiday, and "themed" (kitchen, kids, loons, sports) fqs are folded to 3x5" in a large Rubbermaid under bed storage box on a shelf in the closet. The rest of them are ironed, sorted by color palette, and stored flat in a stack on top of a dresser used for storage in the closet. I have some coordinated bundles that haven't been opened so they will stay together as a set until they have been used for a project and then the balance will either go with my scraps or into the ironed stack if they haven't been cut. This system works for me and allows me to easily find a specific print or color when I want it. When I work, my mind is as clear or as cluttered as the room I am in. My sewing room is rather small, so if everything is organized and in its proper place, I work better, faster and more acccurately.

Most of mine are organized by theme, Holidays, batiks, 1930s, Civil War. If they don't fit they are organized by colors.

I am a Fat Quarter fanatic, and have hundreds. I store them, on end, in see through totes. Each tote holds two rows. They are stored by graduated color, I currently have 4 full totes, and once they get to the point of over-flowing, I get another tote, and re-arrange. Usually, because I used them a lot, I just have to shift a few now and then. Weirdly, I don't have any seasonal FQ's, nor do I have any FQ bundles, or fabric groups.

I keep mine in a large basket with handle. Easy move to table to rummage through. I do separate Christmas and Halloween in their own basket.

Hello there! I love your mailbox shelf. Would you mind sharing the size of the cubbies. That would be such a huge help with setting up my sewing room. I'd sure appany advice and wisdom that any would like to share. Thank you so much

While no longer available, the dimensions are at https://www.potterybarn.com/products...oMerchRules-_-

• Overall: 29" w x 5" d x 31" h
• Cubby (25): 5" w x 4.5" d x 5" h
• Top Shelf: 28" w x 4.5" d
• Weight Capacity: 75 lbs
• Weight: 16.5 lbs

I think storing your fat quarters the way you use them is a thought to consider. If you use the novelty prints just in their own quilts, store them that way. You won't have to search through all your colors to fine the baby prints or the holiday prints or whatever you have on hand. I am not a FQ person but that is how I store my yardage. First by color and then the special cuts: Christmas, baby, Americana and neutrals. Works for me but try one way that you think will work for you. Doesn't work? Then rearrange.

I have been getting them all out of the plastic totes, baskets and wrapping them on comic boards and putting them up on a shelf in my sewing room. Best decision ever...it motivates me, so easy to find what I need and great visual for projects. Much more organized and saves space, less cluttered. I am so over using baskets and plastic boxes. They take up way to much valuable space and also I forget what I already have. I do wish I had bought more yardage vs fat qtrs.

My husband built this for me, isn't he wonderful? It is modeled after the letter organizers you used to see in the school office, the place where teachers would gather their mail. Only turned on end instead of the usual way. I have it in the corner of my longarm quilting studio. On the wall to the left is a tattered and worn quilt made for me by my great grandmother when I was born. My mom used it for all 4 of us kids.
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I just did some organizing of my fat quarters, I organized by colors and then any sets like halloween I kept together. :) What I have problems organizing is the pre-cuts I have. I have a lot of 10 inch squares and 2.5 inch strips and 5 inch squares and I don't have a good way to organize them, and then I forget what I have.

What a great idea and takes up so little space. The quilt is similar to the one I just finished for our yet to be born granddaughter.
Yours looks like hexis but mine is based on a a snowballed 4 patch with similar pastel colors and white background. I will be posting it soon, but I hope my family treasures it as yours has done : )

Re: storing 5" charm squares: I purchased 14" x 14" square, 6" deep clear box with dividers and they fit beautifully on end. There is a handle on one of the 6' x 14" ends. I'm ashamed to admit I have 4, fully packed with either squares I cut from scraps, or charm packs, but there are so many charm quilt patterns out there. I just need more time LOL