How to organize and store fabric.

I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

If I were using a dresser or bin I would make stacks of fabric organized by
color, type or whatever you prefer but then lay it on it's side so you can
see the narrow edge of everything. I like using cabinets- it's all out of
the sunlight to prevent fading and I can see everything easily.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...60435514isRYKQ

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/...60435514jRFVSw

Good luck with finding a solution that works well for you!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO,

"She in PA" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

Do you have a closet in your sewing room? I was able to install shelves
in the closet in mine and then sort and store my fabric by color on the
shelves. Being able to close the doors helps protect it from sunlight
and QIs!
--
Louise in Iowa
nieland1390@mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa

She in PA wrote:
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

It is the really big and really small pieces that hamper organizing the rest
of the fabric. There's a few very long fabrics here. They are for backing
quilts and the easiest way to store them is hanging in a closet. I don't
need them until I need them so I keep them out of the way.
The small pieces - in the FQ size/range, I slip into the leftover
plastic bags that my batting comes in. When I need just a little something
of a color, they're all together and easy to spy.
My biggest challenge in organizing is the 'not exactly' fabrics that
don't fit into a category. Just now there's a pretty butterfly one that's
staying in the turquoise bin. Polly

"Louise in Iowa" nieland1390@mchsi-dot-com wrote in message
...
Do you have a closet in your sewing room? I was able to install shelves in
the closet in mine and then sort and store my fabric by color on the
shelves. Being able to close the doors helps protect it from sunlight and
QIs!
--
Louise in Iowa
nieland1390@mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa

She in PA wrote:
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

I have a closet with sliding doors in my sewing room. One side I have
shelved so that it will hold mid-sized sterilite boxes of fabrics. The other
side has Yaffa type grids that I have fabrics stored by colors in. They are
really easy to work with and have made a move with me easily. I tend to
have smaller
pieces of fabrics. The really big stuff I have in large sterilite totes
stased in other closets. the garage, the shed, etc. The size of your stash
would lend
itself to different options that could work for you. It is fun to google
images of sewing or quilting rooms to see what folks do with their stashes.
Taria
"She in PA" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

I have a couple of novelty bins for theme or
odd ball type fabric Polly. That works pretty ok. The butterflies and the
dollar bill print seem to work together there.
Taria

"Polly Esther" wrote in message
...
It is the really big and really small pieces that hamper organizing the
rest of the fabric. There's a few very long fabrics here. They are for
backing quilts and the easiest way to store them is hanging in a closet.
I don't need them until I need them so I keep them out of the way.
The small pieces - in the FQ size/range, I slip into the leftover
plastic bags that my batting comes in. When I need just a little
something of a color, they're all together and easy to spy.
My biggest challenge in organizing is the 'not exactly' fabrics that
don't fit into a category. Just now there's a pretty butterfly one that's
staying in the turquoise bin. Polly

"Louise in Iowa" nieland1390@mchsi-dot-com wrote in message
...
Do you have a closet in your sewing room? I was able to install shelves
in the closet in mine and then sort and store my fabric by color on the
shelves. Being able to close the doors helps protect it from sunlight and
QIs!
--
Louise in Iowa
nieland1390@mchsi dot com
http://community.webshots.com/user/louiseiniowa

She in PA wrote:
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

Whichever containers you end up with, they should not be too deep.
That way, you can fold your fabric "book style" and have a fold of
everything in sight. the thickness of the fold will pretty much tell
you how big the piece is. My containers hold a FQ folded first in half
parallel to the selvedge, then in thirds, to make a rectangle about
11" X 6". For WOF pieces, I fold in fourths parallel to the selvedge,
then keep folding until it's about a half yard long, then in thirds.
Ideally, you need containers that are just wide enough to hold this
size, maybe about 12" wide, and as deep as your shelf. The containers
should also be see-through so you can sort by e.g. color or theme and
see exactly which one you need.

If I had unlimited closets (daydreaming here), I'd buy a bazillion
hangers and install rods about 15" apart and hang everything -fewer
creases!
Roberta in D

On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:42:44 -0700 (PDT), She in PA
wrote:

I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

She in PA wrote:
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.


Hello She,

First I had a wooden cupboard that held my fabric in stacks according to
colour. I could open the doors to the cupboard and see what I owned,
and just go from there.

Sadly, due to building works and space issues, the cupboard is now in
storage, and my fabric is in boxes, some cardboard and some clear
plastic. I can sort of see into the boxes, but it's not the same as
just opening a cupboard door. Also, the boxes are stacked up, so I have
to undo the whole stack if I want the fabric at the bottom. So if you
go for boxes, think about how you'll store them.

Now I'm getting shelves built in the spare bedroom, and that will be
great, but I'll have to protect the fabric from the light, so will have
some sort of UV-coated film put over the windows and will have to make
curtains to go in front of the shelves as well. Think about how much
light will come into your room and how fast you plan to work through
your fabric. This room I'll be using faces west so gets a lot of sun
throughout the day!

I recommend getting cupboards with doors personally. I didn't have to
unstack boxes and remove lids to get to the fabric. I didn't have to
worry about light exposure, or cats tipping things over. If you can
find an old armoire (is that what they are called?) at a yard sale or a
second hand furniture shop, go for that. Something rather upright that
you can open the doors to it... I think that's better than a dresser or
any other option I have tried.


-- Jo in Scotland

I agree with what others have said: the ideal is to have shelves in a
closet or cabinet. My mom had a big cabinet for her fabrics. I wish I did.
Thus far, I'm relyinng on boxes and baskets and lateral file drawers and
high closet shelves. I've tried to sort the fabrics according to some kind
of system, but I always end up hunting for particiular fabrics anyway.
Short lengths go into one box, scraps into bags, large lengths into
additional boxes, with an attempt at descriptive labeling on the side.
Mercifully, I don't have a very big stash. Yet.

ep


"She in PA" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.

For around $400, I bought 2 IKEA PAX wardrobes, each 39 wide x 90 high x
13 3/4 deep, added solid doors and 5 shelves each. I fold my fabric over
1/2 yard around an 8 1/2 x 24 ruler, then fold in half again, and stack by
color on the shelves. Each shelf can hold 4 stacks. Under 1/2 yard I wrap
around a 4x14 ruler, then line them up in bins, which I then put in the
shelves.
I figure each cabinet can house around 500 yds of fabric. I don't have that
much, but I do have room for batting and for whole bolts of backing fabric,
too. Also stabilizer and fusibles and other stuff that comes in bolts.

It's great because all I have to do is open the doors and I can see my
entire stash. No rooting, and the solid doors protect everything from
fading.

--
Valerie in FL
My quilty stuff: http://community.webshots.com/user/vjkahler


"She in PA" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of moving my sewing room and trying to find the
best way to organize and sote my fabric. I have tryed dressers and
bins. tell me how is the best way you have found. I hate digging
trying to find what I need.