Kittywolf13

ah neat ideas everyone! sorry i wrote the post quickly on my lunch brake and wasnt aware that there was a section devoted to organizing! i will totally take a peek! thanks so much!!

Dina

My fabric is folded on a book shelf, by color...or sort of by color. Here, I will take a picture. It is fairly organized looking. Dina

Kittywolf13

Nice Dina!! Very cool!

johans

My DH insisted that I invest in good storage --- Polar Notions mini-bolts. My 1/4 yd and larger fabric is wrapped onto the boards and on shelves in a closet. 1/8-1/4 yard is ruler folded in baskets, for lack of a better arrangement. Pieces that are 2" to <5" are in two totes. Pieces that are >5" but uneven and > a 1/4 yd are in two other totes -- all see-thru. Orphan blocks & unfinished stray projects are in another tote. No pics, because the room is in the middle of four concurrent projects. Maybe some day I'll figure out how to post pictures.

ragquilter

I highly recommend something with doors. (What stash, oh the one behind the doors) Entertainment centers are very cheap now because everyone is getting flat screen TVs and a lot had doors to hide the TV and lots of storage as well. Doors also protect against fading and dust, (as well as fur babies) and you can sort your fabric however is best for you and if your are a mess like me, no one has to know. If you want something light you can find all kinds of plastic storage items.

Debbie C

Kittywolf,
First you have to have a place to store your fabrics. My suggestion would be to check out craigslist in your area and type in 'Ikea shelving' or just 'storage shelving'. I found two 'Billy' bookcases for $30/pair. New would be $50 each. I also found an 'Expedit' cube system. It's a unit consisting of either 2, 4, 8, 16 (or more) cubes. Go to Ikea's website and type in Expedit just to see. I was lucky enough to find a used one on Craigslist for $40. It would have been $120 new.
Ikea works for me, but you can make storage space from many things, like an old Dining Room breakfront, any shelving system for that matter. For me, it's all in the presentation of my fabrics - if you want to see them, as I do, "ruler fold" them or buy comic boards on Amazon.com to keep them organized.
In no time, your sewing room will look amazing! I hate working in a messy space and am constantly looking for new ways to organize.
Have fun with it!

KyKaren1949

Have you ever followed Bonnie Hunter's blog, Quiltville? She is in the process of cleaning up her basement/sewing room-installing new carpet etc. On her blog for the past week, she's shown how she's reorganized and folded all of her fabrics to make it easy for her to find things. Although I don't organize like this, it's been interesting to see how she goes about it.
I organize by theme; i.e. Christmas, 1930s, Autumn, Halloween, Civil War, Baby, Batiks, etc. If I have complete fabric sets plus pattern for a specific quilts, those parts all go in one plastic storage container to keep everything together until I get to it. All books are kept together and the smaller patterns in their little plastic bags go into a container, standing up.

asimplelife

I do this too. My types are batik, Christmas, flannel, 30's, CW, florals, kids novelty and fall fabrics.

Rose Marie

I have to go cheap so bought wire cube shelving from Target then bought clear plastic bins to put in them.
I have alot of fabric and a large closet so this works for me.

sewbizgirl

I fold my fabrics around comic book backing boards to make "mini bolts" of them, then I store them in a big bookcase I bought for that purpose. My stash looks a lot like ScissorQueen's photo (above)... If I am collecting a certain "line" of fabrics, such as Amy Butler Soul Blossoms, those will all be grouped together. I also have a section for children's prints, Christmas prints, batiks, and 30's fabrics. All the rest that are uncategorized are shelved by color. Works for me! I love to be able to see everything and 'pull' fabrics for quilt design, without having to dig through boxes.