We’ve all seen the blogs…

…the ones on Pinterest that show us beautifully organized bundles of fabric, all sitting in their rainbow order upon a shelf. How satisfying to see them all the same size, clearly accessible for when they are required. There is just one tiny little problem with all those glossy pictures.

If you are constantly sewing they are totally and utterly unrealistic!

My space is chaos

I will freely admit that right now my sewing space is utter chaos! There are offcuts littering my worktop, there are small bundles of cut up fat quarters sitting higglety-pigglety all over the place and let us not forget the empty tea mugs!

During the summer months, I sew in the garage - it’s the only space available that can accommodate my Scrapbox (now called Create Room). In the winter I move into the basement to join the rest of the family while they play their PC games. I have a long foldable table which is great for working on however I still have to keep most of the fabric in the garage.

Although my craft station is full of shelves and storage, I haven’t quite been able to figure out the best way to store all the fabric I have collected over the years and while I would love to upgrade to the Dreambox, we just don’t have space (…yet…!). For now, I have fat quarters in the drawers of the Scrapbox and anything bigger is currently in see-through storage boxes.

A clean space isn’t being used (my theory!)

I’ve had organized craft room envy for a while and I felt disheartened that I seem to sit in constant chaos until I came to the realization that if a space is really clean, it’s probably not used a lot. That’s my theory and I’m sticking to it! My husband used to be a chef and learned to clean as you go; that theory works in a kitchen but not in a sewing room however I do try to be good about putting fabric back in its place once I have cut what I need.

One thing I do have organized is my thread - having a thread holder is key as I can clearly see my colours and how much I have left.

Ideas for consideration

I would love to have a method of keeping my fabric in a way that is pleasing to the eye along with being functional and tidy - I just haven’t been able to find that method yet, based on my workspace although some ideas I have seen could work for other people.

Here are a few methods of storing fabric that I have seen so far:

Cutting foam board or comic boards to wrap fat quarters around - great idea although I would assume foam board would add unnecessarily bulk
IKEA Billy bookshelves turned into fabric storage shelves. The shelves can be moved to whatever desired height you want so if you have space, these are great. You can either roll your fabric or have them neatly folded around boards like mini bolts.
Peg Boards - these seem very popular with crafters as they can be easily changed to suit your needs. They are also budget-friendly and easy to instal.
Baskets are great for yarn or soft fabrics - finding a colourful basket to store your yarn or fabric bundles can also add a fun decor element to your room
Vertical rollout shelf or storage tower - this is a brilliant idea if space is tight. These drawers are designed to go in space too thin for regular use other than storing brooms or ironing boards but they could also be perfect for storing fabric.
Hang your fabric - I’ve seen a few posts where people have used multi-tiered hangers (for slacks or jeans) or small curtain rails with curtain clips to hang their fabric so it’s easy to see.
Wire drawers - again, a great way to be able to see your fabric, although I personally don’t like how these drawers make indents on the fabric. Yes, I would usually iron before us but I’d prefer to iron gently creases rather than marks left by metal.
Plastic storage bins - again, a great way to see your fabric and this is a method I do use for larger cuts (yards etc.)
Glass jars for scraps - another method I use is to thrown scraps big enough to use into a jar for later use. You can even go one step further and have enough jars to allow you to separate colours giving you a rainbow effect!

It’s not always chaos

In closing, I would like to mention that I do tidy up after the completion of every project. I am a firm believer that once a quilt or project has been completed, the workspace should be cleansed of clutter before a new project is started. That way I can get a sense of inventory, find that missing rotary cutter that’s been sitting under a pile of fabric for days or collect up all the clips and safety pins that somehow managed to find themselves at the other side of the room.

If you have any organizing tips or tricks, I’m always interested to hear how other quilters and crafters keep their space ‘organized’.