First... did you enter my $50.00 gift certificate giveaway?
I've wanted to do a series of challenges that will free us up to make more quilts, interested? Read on!
*** Challenge #1 ***
I'm pretty sure if we could easily find our fabric we will be even MORE motivated to quilt. So I'm on a quest to help everyone Tidy up their sewing area with a series of challenges. Then we'll work to keep it that way! After Fabric we'll tackle other things, but for most of you, Fabric is the bulk of what you have.. vs.. a ton of rulers taking up space. Fabric takes up SPACE.
I did a Poll Here, and Asked some questions Here which gave me a feel of where a lot of you are with regards to your fabric storage.
In this article you'll find
- A video
- An Assignment
- My bin in the video
- Some of my storage and why it's like this
- AND Share a photo of what you are dealing with below! It's great to see your progress and keep yourself accountable. You can also share in my Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/QuiltWithPatSloan/
*** Video + Assignment ***
Each of you will approach in your own way. I'll show you what I do and then have some discussion on other ways it can be handled. In my Facebook group I'll have a lots of reminders to work on this. I'll post a new part to the challenge about once a week on Fabric for Nov & Dec. No set amount or day
After the assignment I have some tips and photos, then at the end share a photo of your fabric collection and leave comments about what you are going to do. Some of you have already achieved Fabric Storage Nirvana, yeah you!! I suggest you tackle another area you need to work on, and tell me about it.
Your Assignment to get started:
- Sort your fabric, ALL your fabric, into Main Fabric, Precuts your purchased, and Scraps.
- See video for my thoughts on scraps. I'll do another video or maybe 2, on just scraps. If you own a TON of kits, keep those together, I consider those a project.
- I'll do a video on fabric color and one of precuts later
- Look at what storage you already own in the space you work in. Is it book cases? Shelves? A closet. Maybe a stack of vintage suitcase. I highly recommend you do not use totes. They can't stack and you can't find things in them.
- Look at what you will put your fabric IN. Do you already have containers? Do you need these to stack to be efficient? Can you put a lot on the the shelf?
- THEN sort your main fabric by by color. That is what I do. I do keep my Christmas together, but everything else is by color.
- ALSO sort your scraps by color and we'll discus how to manage them very soon
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*** Remove and refold ***
I already go through my fabric often, but I'm kind of messy putting it back.
So I took my Aqua bin from the video and
- Emptied it
- Sorted and folded the larger pieces in one pile.
- Removed any small pieces that I consider a scrap
- Sorted and folded the rest in one pile
- I folded them so they fit in half the basket and are taller than the basket so I can get more int
*** Put back ***
I put them all back in with some space to spare!
*** Scraps***
Here are my scrap pieces
- parts of layer cakes
- strips
- and a bag of small pieces
- I put them all in that zip lock for now and put that back into the basket for now. They won't stay there, it's just for now
*** Baskets ***
The Red and white baskets that I use I purchased at least 15 yrs ago at the Container Store. I've not seen any like them recently but a few years ago Target had some.
The Gray basket is a bit smaller and fits my one shelf tower that I have
GRAY Baskets - Very light weight which is good as fabric is heavy
*** Challenge #1 ***
Each of us feels very differently about our 'space' and how it looks.
I've had my own sewing space since I got out of college, and usually it was a full bedroom. I worked in an office and when I went home the few hours I spent each week in my space I was not as picky about seeing all the riot of colors.
Once I started my business 20 years ago and was IN my space ALL day I decided I need it to be calm.
I First got matching bins and that made all the difference. I don't mind seeing the top of the fabric looking out. I'd rather than then clear bins which are not a consistent color. I just see red/white when i look on the shelf.
If you don't mind seeing all the colors like you do in the quilt shop, then go for having it out in the open.
Here is my shelf for the Gray baskets
I already owned the wire one. I had to purchase ones that fit this specific shelf.
GRAY Baskets - Very light weight which is good as fabric is heavy
My Koala Studio unit with the closed door has all these bins. They contain projects
For any bin, you need to measure the size of your space. I could stack fabric right on the shelf but they are fairly tall and I don't want to pull out a tower of loose fabric each time I want to work with it.
Share your space below!
Taller ArtBins that will work for Fabric
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