Anne_G

Oh my goodness! This is a wonderful idea. It definitely appeals to me, since I'm moving to Michigan to study library and information science (LOTS of organization just like this). I would love to see how you have it organized!

Anne_G

First off - I apologize for taking so long to come back to this! I went through one of those phases where I was spending my free time reading or sewing rather than at my computer, so please know I do appreciate ALL of the replies and suggestions I received!

Secondly: I promise, Grandma *does* want this organized. Her typical request for a birthday/Christmas "present" is that I spend some time with her working on cleaning up the basement. I don't mean to come across as wanting to get it done before she dies (I really, really would like her to stick around for several years more), but frequently her reasoning for giving me fabric from her stash is that I'll inherit it all eventually anyway and she probably won't get around to using all of this.

Third, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the ideas! We are going to get started tomorrow afternoon! My initial inclination to pull everything out has been talked down and we're going to work on one bit at a time. I still have about 2 months until I move and I'm over there almost every day, so with some luck we'll make a fair amount of progress. I've roped Mom in as well, since she "owes" Grandma a couple days from a few years ago.

I would like to apologize one last time for taking so long to come back to this. All of your advice is being taken to heart - we're just going to start, and fold, and sort! Thank you!

Anne_G

I am VERY sorry for taking so long to come back. I have been occupied with other activities since I originally posted and haven't spent much time on the computer. Please know I really, really truly appreciate all the ideas and help I have received!

Anne_G

I am definitely cautious of an avalanche happening. This is actually better than it used to be - I remember when I was younger, my brothers and I would play hide-and-seek at Grandma's and my favorite hiding spot was the MOUNTAIN of fabric she had in a corner!

pocoellie

I have to agree with Prim Quilts, this is how I would handle it, as you ruler fold, then I would sort the quilting fabrics by the background color.

Sewnoma

I'm glad your Gran is open to help! I'm also glad you posted this because I hadn't thought of the story about MY gran in quite awhile and it brought back some pretty funny memories.

It's too bad teleporters aren't a real thing, you would have more helpers than you could fit into the room if they were. I really liked going through my stuff and reorganizing everything, it's very therapeutic! And it's even more so when it's someone else's stuff! I hope it turns out to be a fun project for you & your mom & Gran!

bearisgray

to Anne-G -

Thank you for getting back to us.

It does look like a massive project.

If one HAD a place to take everything out to at one time and start over - that would be kind of fun. But it does look like there are bare spots in the room to stack things in.

I think just getting everything folded and in piles will make it look better for starters. I don't think I would even try to do "fine sorting" at first.

Maybe "quilting" and "non-quilting" for starters. I think you will have a better idea of what should go where after you go through more of it.

Have fun - bet Grandma will come across things that she has forgotten about.

You might also start several stacks - for now, forget about what they cost.

A) I/She really really like these fabrics.

B) Hmmm - not too bad fabrics.

C) What was I thinking? fabrics.


I think you can plan on handling each item more than once because your ideas of how to store them will change as you work on the project.

Barb in Louisiana

I hadn't even realized that you could count the rows of folds to see about how much fabric you have when you ruler fold with a 6 inch wide ruler. Duh..... I knew to count 2 folds on a bolt as a yard, why didn't I think about doing the same with the ruler folder? Who knows? Sometimes, someone else has to state the obvious.

Now, everyone has got me thinking about organizing my stash. I do have a lot sorted into bins by categories....UFO's & WIP's, batiks, Christmas, Halloween (I'm a sucker for a sale...nuff said), Fall, Kits, Judy Niemeyer, Jacqueline de Jonge, southwest, oriental, and backings. Now to get all that other Miscellaneous...didn't go with any of the other categories ruler folded and stored neatly. Not now though, too many projects too close to completion. Got to get that list of 35 down some!

DOTTYMO

My first question would be does gran want it changed?

cashs_mom

I was just thinking that it makes me feel better about the way my sewing room looks LOL