Where does everyone keep their stash??

Hullo Morag
I sort mostly by colour - as I like solids I have separate places for
print and solid. However, I usually buy fabric for a known project and,
when that happens, I keep the collection somewhere else - usually with
its design.
I bought several sets of plastic drawers on castors from Argos. I put
them together myself - easily!! and they work just fine. You can put
them together in several different configurations - to suit your space,
if you buy more than one. They are by no means airtight, so the fabric
does not suffer from the potential damage that some folk think airtight
boxes might inflict.
..
In article , Morag in Oxford
writes
Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate, in no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way, but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag



--
Best Regards
pat on the hill

..My stash is all over my house. Literally. I don't think there is currently
any in the bathrooms or kitchen, but just about everywhere else. I am trying to
get it into Sterlite tubs. Need to do some of that today. Right now I am
basically sorting into garment and quilting fabrics. Eventually I plan to sort
quilting fabrics by "collection" (Have done some of that with sewing themed
fabrics, St. Patrick's fabrics, Christmas and so on), and by color or "type"
(brights, Civil Warish and so on.) and by project to be. Got some smaller tubs
for that.
Eventually I may actually be able to find what I have.

Pati, in Phx (yes, I have far exceeded SABLE, and I still buy fabric, but not
that much now. )



C & S wrote:

Neither am I, but perhaps another good place, until you make those quilts,
would be a closet of some kind. Colour classification is good to, however I
do have a section for x-mas, wild and whimsical. Do let us know where
you've decided to store your stash. A plan of your house with the exact
location marked would help us out ;).

Carole
who is thinking of putting an alarm around her stash - I've read about you
guys - ;)

"Diana Curtis" wrote in message
...
Im not telling. That would make it to easy for the Stash Raiders.
You know, seems to me the easiest way to store ones stash would be to make
it up into quilts, tops or finished quilts. ;-)
Diana

I built a bench seat in the kitchen bay window with storage for fabric
so I guess I even have fabric in the kitchen. Come to think of it, the
old house has some built in seating with fabric still stored there.
Better not forget it when we sell the place! Neat old big picnic
baskets are great for setting all over the house stuffed with fabric
too.
Taria


Pati Cook wrote:

.My stash is all over my house. Literally. I don't think there is currently
any in the bathrooms or kitchen, but just about everywhere else.

My stash is organized into plastic containers of different sizes by
kind, color, or WIP.

I have 2 large tubs of Christmas fabric, one of patriotics and one of
flannel. I have 1 half that size of plaids, one of solids, one of Denim
cut from jeans, and one of large misc. pieces.

I have lots of small tubs of FQ's sorted by color, and charms sorted by
size, and then I have 4 tubs going of WIP's. And then there's 5 tubs for
sorting all the swaps I'm in.

The big ones are currently stacked in my sewing room closet, and the
smaller ones are all over the room.

That's what I'm working on this week is organizing my stash a little
better.

Babs

I should never had started reading this post........or the replies........
*sigh*

Now I want to go and dig out all my stash and start sorting!!!! at the
moment, my sorting is making sure it is in a container or bag and out of
sight of hubby and QI lol

I have plastic drawer thingy's on wheels that I can drag around where I need
it, but there is no rhyme or reason to my sorting, its all just.......well
its there!

I never really thought about putting it into groups and such. Basically, if
its not cut, it is in on set of the drawers on wheels, if it is a WIP then
it is in a bag in the other set of drawers on wheels



"Morag in Oxford" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much
for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate, in
no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way,
but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag

If Wendy can seriously address this issue so can I. Shes right, finding a
way to store it so its easy to find but also easy to put away is the key.
Right now my quilting stash is divided into: Large pieces, by color in the
top two drawers of one of those three drawer plastic units. Scraps in the
big Rubbermaid tub. Garment fabric in the Big Rubbermaid tub. This doesnt
work so well. Just as Wendy discribed its hard to deal with lifting and
replacing all the stacks of tubs. Not to mention I dislike plastic. I will
have it on shelves soon. I keep projects and all their different fabrics in
those plastic zipper bags that some blankets come from the store in. It
makes it easy to see which is which. Finished quilt tops are stored in a
couple desk drawers. UFOs are stored there too... or quilt tops that have
lost their sense of direction and purpose. Wandering, aimless souls... but I
digress...
Dh has agreed to help me put up shelves as soon as I figure out what I
need and want and when that happens I plan to rejoice, then take pictures
and post them.
Diana

"frood" wrote in message
om...
I enjoy this discussion every time it comes up (and I take lots of notes).
However, it does seem to be 2 separate questions - where is stash kept,
and
how is it organized.

Where it is kept depends on how much storage space you have, how big your
stash is, and how rapidly it is expanding (or contracting, I suppose, but
we
rarely get people complaining about using up their fabric too fast). I
used
to keep mine in plastic storage bins, but that became awkward to manage,
and
I never put stuff away after I got it out. Pull out a bin (first move the
one on top of it if needed), open it, stuff in fabric, close it, put it
back
(moving the one on top if needed) - five to seven steps to complete the
process. Now, I stack it on shelves. I fold the pieces to a uniform-ish
size. Pieces to be put away are put on top of the stack, one step. This is
for larger than FE size, up to 1 yard pieces. Smaller than FE goes in the
scrap basket, larger goes into the auxilliary stash cupboard, which also
houses my vintage fabric collection, embellishments and books.

As for organization, I stack mine by color, mostly. I have separate stacks
for Christmas (subdivided into Christmas novelty, and Christmas serious),
Halloween, and weird stuff that doesn't belong with the vintage
collection.

If color seems the most logical way to you, then do it that way. Sorting
your fabric using a way that is logical to someone else probably isn't the
best method for you. Some sort by type of fabric - 30s repros, batiks,
Asian
fabrics, etc. I've even heard of somebody sorting alphabetically -
architechtural, batiks, blenders, cats, Christmas, dogs, etc.

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
de-fang email address to reply


"Morag in Oxford" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much
for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate,
in
no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the
stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way,
but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag

On Mon, 3 May 2004 14:52:02 +0000 (UTC), "Morag in Oxford"
wrote:

Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate, in no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way, but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag



why, in the Stash Vault of course...think Indiana Jones and them
traps. PLUS my SAS - trained dog guarding it...

Krysia
K.T. - starannie opakowana

Right. Got it. Two large tubs of Christmas fabrics in sewing room closet.

--
Wendy
http://griffinsflight.com/Quilting/quilt1.htm
de-fang email address to reply


"David & Barbara Schmidt" wrote in message
...
My stash is organized into plastic containers of different sizes by
kind, color, or WIP.

I have 2 large tubs of Christmas fabric, one of patriotics and one of
flannel. I have 1 half that size of plaids, one of solids, one of Denim
cut from jeans, and one of large misc. pieces.

I have lots of small tubs of FQ's sorted by color, and charms sorted by
size, and then I have 4 tubs going of WIP's. And then there's 5 tubs for
sorting all the swaps I'm in.

The big ones are currently stacked in my sewing room closet, and the
smaller ones are all over the room.

That's what I'm working on this week is organizing my stash a little
better.

Babs

Part of my stash is in 52 gallon plastic bins ($4 at Walmart) by color (for
only blues, greens, purples); a copy paper box for Christamas fabric
(overflowing) and a tidy litter bin for the yellows; FQs and left over
sguares/strips are in small rectangle plastic bins labeled by size, arranged
by color. The rest is in the top of a white hutch. The bins are under the
white table that matches the hutch. I need more bins though 'cause I am
about to run out of the little room I do have
--
Kathy in CA
Quilting Stuff:
http://community.webshots.com/user/kathys1068


"Morag in Oxford" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much
for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate, in
no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way,
but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag

I organize my stash by size of piece. Large pieces that could be used for a
back are in the closet. Smaller pieces are cut into the largest
possible square
(2", 2 1/2", 3" and so on up to 6") and kept in baggies in a drawer.
The main
part of my stash is quarter yard pieces up to around a yard. Those are
in open
square shelves arranged by color. The shelves are 6 up and 4 across so
that's
room for the jewel tone of each color, the pastel, the dark and the odd that
don't fit anywhere else. Blacks, whites and greys are in one flat
plastic box
in the closet. Tans and ecrus and taupes are in another. A drawer
holds the
solids. A third plastic box holds wild colorful florals. The pre-cut
squares
are for those times when I'm contributing a single block to a group
project or
entering a block lotto. I enjoy playing with making a block without
commiting
to the entire quilt. It would be too overwhelming to look at my whole
stash for
that so I limit myself to the pre-cut squares. It feels economical that way
since I'm only using up scraps.

My shelves came from a fixture sale when a discount store closed.
They're the
sort of shelves that t-shirts would be displayed in. They're made of clear
plastic. Each square shelf is about a foot wide, 14" high and 18" deep.
Ideally they'd be a little bigger, but I'm still pleased with them the
way they
are.

That's the way I have my stash organized. The more important question
is how
you should organize yours. It is all a matter of how you work. When I
need a
solid, I know I need it and can visualize it pretty well. That's why my
solids
can be put away in a bottom drawer. It is the same with the greys. But
I often
think I need a dark blue and then discover that a dark wine red would be
as good
or better. So I like my colors conveniently located where I can let my
eye fall
on them and let the color spark my imagination. I think by glancing at or
staring at the colors on the shelves. How do you work? When you're
designing,
are you thinking about colors, or values, or themes or something else? The
answer to that question is the answer to how you should organize your stash.

I know of people who keep their hand-dyes separate from their commercial
fabrics, people who keep fabrics appropriate for baby quilts separate
from the
other fabrics, people who collect novelties on a subject such as bugs or
cats
separate also.

--Lia




Morag in Oxford wrote:
Hi all,

Well, my stash of fabric has now grown to such a size that it's too much for
its current home! up until now it has been stored in a plastic crate, in no
particular order as there wasn't that much to look through when I wanted
something.

But recent Ebay purchases (hubby has banned me from that site!!) and the
fact that we have a Laura Ashley discount store in town has made the stash
overflow its crate. So I need to find some other way of storing it.

How do you all store your fabric? By colour seems the most logical way, but
I could well be wrong. I

Morag