Fabric Storage

If you sew, you know that fabric storage can be a challenge....at least mine got stuffed in any available space with no real rhyme or reason as to what I kept and what I tossed (scraps especially!)

I was talking to someone at the fabric store, and she mentioned storing fabric on acid free cards....brilliant! Mini bolts!  I found these cards on Amazon....they are actually comic book cards.  100 for $9.  They are approximately 7"x10". Find them here.

So one fine day, I pulled out all my fabric.  I mean ALL of it.  Whole pieces, large scraps, small scraps, everything.  I made myself purge stuff I knew I wouldn't use, useless scraps, etc.  Then I folded each piece, wrapped it on a card and used two straight pins to secure each to the card.  I guess you could go even further and write on the edge of the card the fabric content, designer, what not.  I was just happy to get them on the cards!

Look at this beautiful stack of fabric! Even, organized, visible.  Makes the engineer side of me really happy.  I love looking at these, recognizing the projects I've done and thinking of projects to come.  See the white with purple flowers on it, 6th down? That will be Violet's Easter dress I think!

After bolt-ing (I love to make up words, lol) the fabric, I put it all in bins under my bed.  A sewing/craft room would be the ideal dream, but for now, creative storage is key! It's so satisfying to go look for a piece of fabric, and to pull these bins out and see this:

I do a lot of applique, so small scraps of cotton can actually be used.  So I kept what I wanted, tossed the rest, and put the scraps into plastic bags.  I took it one step further and put them in the bags by color families (sort of). 

So there you have it, complete fabric organization for $9.  And those 100 cards will last me FOREVER.