Linda Renfro

I need some help....do you organize your sewing fabric by project, by color, large verses small pieces of fabric, do you put them them in clear plastic containers, stack fabric just on shelves, use totes, put fat quarters by themselves or mix with like colors? My sewing room needs some major help in getting organized and I thought you folks might have some neat ideas so I didn't have to do the trial and error method. :)

wuv2quilt

Still working on mine...I'll be watching too :)

frugalfabrics

My is an ever changing process too. I'm be looking for others who comment.

craftybear

great thread, thanks for posting and can't wait to see others ideas

QuiltnNan

i organize the yardage by color. the smaller pieces are just thrown in clear bins.

Scissor Queen

I have a decent size sewing room. I have four different dressers in here. One of them has four drawers and holds all of the fat quarters orgainized by color. Another dresser is also my cutting table and has small tools in the top shallow drawer and the two big drawers have half yards and yards. I have another long, low dresser that has fabric collections (charm packs + the jelly roll and yardage that go together) and odds and ends. The fourth dresser is also my ironing center and its drawers have ufos in the two middle big drawers, thread and ribbon spools in the two shallow bottom drawers and things like an applique sheet, basting threads, etc in the top three shallow drawers.

Two of the dressers came from old motels, one I found on Craigslist and one I bought from Wal-Mart. Guess which one is going to fall apart and be replaced first?

I have two bookcases with nothing but fabric on the shelves. Some of it is wound on the coroplast boards and some is folded so three stacks fit across each shelf. The stacks are by color since they're all the same length. The fabric on the boards is just stuck on the shelves for now. At some point I'll take them down and sort them out by length of the cut.

I have a stack of three of the Art Bin cubes and enough of the Art Bins to fill them. Those hold my WIP that I'm actually working on and I have them in the cubes from first priority to last priority at the bottom. They might be a little on the pricy side but they were definitely worth the investment.

Cathieinut

I think for most quilters it is an ongoing task to figure out how to best "sort" our goodies! LOL
I have a pretty small space and mostly store everything on shelves by color fq in small plastic covered boxes again sorted by colors and yardage folded and stored by color. I could use some more room for the fabric but Gotta work with what I have. It's all those small items that drive me nuts...threads, trims, etc I am always looking for a new way to keep them corralled! One day I hope to have a bigger space or less stuff LOL

Rose L

I think I have a bit of OCD disorder but that's not always a bad thing. I have most of my fabric sorted into clear plastic tubs, 15 qt. and 27 qt., all with matching lids, lol! I sort by color for the most part and go by the main color of the fabric or the background color for mixed prints. I have whites and bleached muslin separate from unbleached muslin. I have my large backing fabrics in a large tote. I stack all of these under my long arm frame in one room. That room also has my bookcases in it where I store books, magazines and the rulers etc., for my long arm. The second room has all my other sewing stuff and also has a twin bed for my DD2 to use when she is home from college (yes, I stole her room). As I collect fabric for specific projects the projects go in dresser drawers along with the patterns that I'll use to make the quilts (or clothing). I keep my collection of floral FQ fabrics in a vintage woodworkers toolbox as a decoration in my sewing room. I have my few batiks in a doll cradle that my grandfather made for my mother when she was little. I have my civil war prints, vintage/antique blocks and fabrics, and vintage embroidered pieces that I'm collecting in separate containers where my fabrics are stored. I just received a bunch of 30's prints from a friend that I'll need to get another container for. I keep my containers small so they are easy to move around and sort through. Neatness counts since my long arm and frame with fabrics under it are visible to the living room. In my sewing room, I have all my thread on racks that hang on the wall near my sewing machine so they are easy to grab when I'm sewing. I have a few baskets in my room for scraps. As I'm cutting I cut the left over pieces into various sizes and keep those pieces in the baskets. I'm currently cutting 4" sq.Christmas prints, 1.5" postage stamp blocks and I keep two baskets for 2.5" strips and blocks since those sizes are most often called for in the quilts I make. My sewing room holds a cutting table that has a 23" x 35" cutting mat. I have one computer desk for my sewing machine and a computer armoire (my office) in the room. There is the project dresser which I can lay out my fabrics on when working on a project. It's six foot long and nineteen inches deep. There is an ironing board and few floor lamps in various places for good lighting. I have two 3-drawer rolling carts that slide in under my sewing desk on each side. One holds sewing and quilting notions and the other holds my hand embroidery supplies. I also have my computer/sewing chair and one comfortable arm chair in the room. My work are is set up so that I can just turn in partial circles to get to the various stations, sewing - ironing - cutting and computer kind of like a well laid out kitchen would be set up. Hope this helps

Deborahlees

I sort ALL my 100% cotton together. Have plastic drawers I purchased from walmart. Sort by color, stack on edge, front to back....I do sub-sort some, such as all Halloween together, all Christmas, Have one box just for 'scraps' and those are also sorted by color and in galleon size plastic bags....my entire closet is nothing but drawers and boxes. I use the standard size office storage boxes (used to be called Bankers Boxes) that have nice lides on them. Then use the newer post-it full Labels to identify the boxes. I try every hard to keep everything organized, so I do not waste time looking for something I have, or waste money on buying doubles....At the end of each project, I always clean up my space...put everything away (patterns, un-used fabric, batting), clean the floor, empty the trash.....Then feel renewed to start again....

Izaquilter

have all my fabrics folded & sorted in a office cabinet. Then I have all my fat quarters folded & stored in a 4 drawer dresser & I have my batiks stored in another good size cabinet all folded & sorted the best I could. Makes it easier for me to find IF I ever decide to use from my stash! My problem is when starting another project I always go buy new!