Build and Organize your Fabric Stash

The 1st hobby - Buying fabric and craft supplies

Shannon from The Finished Garment is kind enough to provide a Big List of Online Canadian Shops.

The list contains a number of Canadian companies that sell:

• fabric - quilting and/or apparel fabric; 
• patterns for just about anything - quilts, apparel, bags, toys, etc.;
• notions for such things as bags and dolls; and 
• services, such as long arm quilting and pattern grading.

The 2nd hobby - Using fabric and craft supplies

I am hoping that this blog will spark ideas and some inspiration. That it will help you use your fabric and craft supplies.


I believe there is a 3rd hobby - Organizing fabric and supplies

I often find myself buying things just so that I can organize. I love organizing and will frequently offer my services to friends, family and neighbours.

Everyone has their own way to organize and I would like to share with you what has worked for me with regards to organizing my fabric. The majority of my fabric stash is apparel fabric, however, at the end of this post I have included a link for organizing quilting fabric.

I HAD TO organize my fabric for a few reasons:

1. I have 14 bins full of fabric.
2. Each time I would sew a new project, I went out and bought fabric - why? I have a ton of fabric that I could use.
   
3. I couldn't remember why I had purchased the fabric in the first place. Why did I buy 5 meters of yellow fleece???
4. I needed to locate the fabric that I had hidden/stored throughout the house. After we moved into the new house and while I was organizing my craftroom my husband says to me, "you will have to get rid of fabric because you don't have enough space to store it." My thoughts "Not enough space? Challenge accepted!!!"

I had tried a couple of organizing ideas before becoming quite content with my current one.

First attempt

Swatches stapled to an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock and then placed in a page protector

Advantage

• I could record how much I had 
• what bin it was in 
• the project for which it was intended

Disadvantage

• It wasn't neat
• some areas were difficult to reach with the stapler
• once the fabric was used, the removal of the swatch left a blank space or I wrote that there was none left ("out of stock")

Second attempt

Advantage

• I could record how much I had 
• what bin it was in 
• the project for which it was intended
• once I used up the fabric, I could remove the swatch from the ring

Disadvantage

• It was bulky and awkward to store or to shop with
  

Third and final attempt

An index binder - fabric swatches adhered to a business card size piece of cardstock and placed in a business card protector sheet.

Advantage

• I could record how much I had 
• what bin it was in 


the project for which it was intended
when the fabric is used up, simply remove the card from the sheet
• possible to move the cards around and make a collection of fabric swatches for a project
• take the sheet or the card when shopping for coordinating fabric

Disadvantage

• I haven't found one yet
  

Instructions - how to create the index binder

Supplies needed:

• binder
• business card protector sheet (I believe I got mine at the Dollar Store/Dollarama)
• cardstock
• scissors
• pencil
• two-way tape (I used my Xyron sticker maker)

1. Cut an 8.5" x 11" sheet of heavy weight cardstock into 12 - 3.5" x 2" rectangles (business card size)
• The optimal way to cut an 8.5" x 11" sheet into 12 rectangles is to cut 4 - 2" x 11" inch strips and then cut each strip in 3 at a length of 3.5" for each cut                                              
2. Run two cards at a time, lengthwise through the Xyron sticker maker or apply two-way tape to one side of the card (along all four edges and one down the middle)
   
3. Place the card, sticky side down onto the wrong side of the fabric
4. Cut the fabric to the card's edge
5. On the back side of the card write with a pencil (information may change over time) information such as:
• the bin number
• woven or knit
• pre-washed or not
• fabric measurements - length and width
• intended use
• any other information that is important to you
6. Place the card in the protector sheet

Creating the index cards is half the battle.

I have created the index cards. I can see what fabrics and how much of it I have.

Fabulous!!!

Now... where did I store it? The card says bin #5 but where is bin #5?

I store all my fabric in shallow under the bed bins. They are located in various areas of the house such as under the beds and in the closets. 14 bins is a lot of bins to search through looking for a particular fabric. To ease the search, I label the edge of the cover and the box with a number.

On a piece of paper I list the bin numbers and where in the house I can find them. For example, bin #11 is on the top shelf of my son's closet. This piece of paper is placed at the front of the index binder.

In brackets, on the right, I have indicated if the box is full (F) or has room (E) for additional fabric storage

Storing/organizing quilting fabric

It would not be practical to index quilting fabric. Often there is not enough fabric to spare for an index card, especially if you work with Fat Quarters.

Sara Lawson demonstrates a fabulous way to store quilting fabric in her YouTube video. The demonstration starts at about 22.37 minutes into the video.

If you have other organizing tips, please leave a comment. We would love to hear from you.

Beach Fade

The name of this design is actually "Rainbow Hibiscus" and you can find the machine embroidery design at Embroidery Library.

I purchased the design because I was curious how they blended thread colours so they would fade into one another. The design stitches multiple passes where there is only one colour. In areas where two colours overlap, the design stitches a couple of passes in one colour and then stitches a couple of passes, slightly offside, in the other colour.

I don't think my ability to digitize embroidery designs are at this level but I am sure with way more practice and time...