I went on an organizing binge this weekend and decided to tackle my ever-dreaded conglomeration I use as my fabric/sewing supply storage. AKA: the corner of the closet.
Since we moved into our home 6 months ago, I have been trying to do my best on our "new homeowner's budget" with trying to decorate and get things put together. I have high hopes for my extra room which I am using as my sewing room and office. In due time though, right?!
But back to the weekend project....
I was using a large clear plastic bin to store my fabric in. It was nice because I could just tuck in into the corner of the closet, but I HATED it because anytime I wanted to get some fabric I had do dig through the bin and try to find what I was in search of. It would inevitably mess up the organized box of folded fabric and turn into a larger task trying to put things back together. I had had enough! I got this idea after attending a quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago and decided it was just what I needed.
This is a photo of the display they had set up at the retreat.
A book case she bought from Ikea, some storage bins, and a bunch of searching for ideas on Pinterest. It was a class fit for me! ;)
My favorite part of the whole display though, was the little tiny fabric bolts. She had gone to fabric stores and snatched up their empty bolts, cut them in half (so they were not so tall), and used those to wrap her fabric.
Well, that's an adorable idea, but I quite frankly don't have the time to go searching for that many fabric bolts so I came up with my own little spin on this.
Cardboard pieces. And who doesn't have some of those laying around, right?!
I just had a few empty boxes in my garage so I took to disassembling them and cutting them into the pieces that would fit my storage space. I decided on cutting them 10" tall by 4.5 inches wide. 5" probably would have worked too, but I went with the lesser half inch. Don't ask me why.
Just cut up a few boxes into the pieces you want and then start wrapping your fabric. You'll probably need to make the extra effort to refold your fabric to fit the "bolt", but if you like the look of the cleanly folded and fitting bolts, it will be worth it!
Once I had a good stack of fabric wrapped on my mini bolts, I started lining them up on the shelf where they were to be stored. My husband kept laughing at me because the first space I had cleared, didn't seem to be quite enough so I cleared another spot, then another and another.
Doesn't that look just so much nicer than...
THIS?!
Ok, well here's the real AFTER pic.....
All of my current fabric stash folded so nicely to fit on the top shelf on their own little mini bolt so they are visible and easily accessible. I had a couple of these plastic storage drawers so they are now the home to my fabric scraps (each drawer holds 1-2 colors of fabric.
The shelves on the side are more organized with my pattern books/folders, battings waiting for quilt tops, and jeans waiting to be cut for denim quilts.
I also got a few smaller bins to hold by ribbons/ric-rac stash, one for my fat quarter collection, and the one on top of the plastic drawers hold all of my UFO's (unfinished objects). I purposely gave this a not very big bin so that I can hopefully hold back from having too many UFO's. I'm trying to make a goal for myself to actually finish a project before moving on so that I don't have too many going!
The whole project honestly took me a couple of days, but that's because I had sick kids all weekend and only got time to work on it while they were napping.
What kind of system do you use to organize your "stash"? I'd love to see pics!
(link up in the comments below)
No comments:
Post a Comment