Hey everyone...welcome to week 2 of tips on keeping your sewing space organized. This week I'm going to talk about storing fabric.

Fabric should be stored in a way that keeps dust off of it. (and ideally out of direct sunlight as well) Lots of people store their fabric in plastic bins. I tried that for a while, but it didn't work for me. I wanted to see what fabric I had at a glance. I hated digging through the bins. So, in 2004 I decided to store my fabric inside a china hutch.

 

  Not only was my fabric dust free, but it was sorted by color, and it was the room's focal point. I loved walking into my studio and seeing the fabric. Fabric makes me happy, so why would I want it to be hidden?

 

An added bonus to storing fabric in a china cabinet is that you can also put UV protective tint on the glass of the cabinet to reduce/eliminate fading.

 

  I kept my fabric in that china hutch all this time, and just last month, changed to cubbies! You can also use bookshelves. My fabric is still sorted by color and the overhang of the 9-cube storage cubbies keeps the dust off. And I plan on putting the UV window tint on the windows of this room so I am not worried about fading.

 

I wanted to store my fabric standing up, like in a quilt shop. But since I don't have lots of empty mini bolts to wrap the fabric around, this meant I had to come up with an alternative method. So I made my own storage cards to wrap the fabric around.

 

Watch the below video to learn how to make fabric storage cards simply and cheaply.

 

My favorite part of storing my fabric this way is that now when I walk into my studio, it really does look like a mini quilt shop. (well at least to me it does)

 

I can't pass up a panel. Whenever I walk into a quilt shop, I tell myself that I will not buy any panels. And then I walk out with a bag full of panels—every time. I store my panels (and there is a lot of them) folded up in project cases.

 

Each case is labeled with the types of panels that are stored inside it.

 

Some of my categories include Panels for Kat to keep, Quilt and Display, Baby Panels, Christmas Panels, etc. etc.

 

 These project cases are stored in one of my cabinets.

 

I store my UFO projects the same way, each in its own case labeled with what the project is. (some of those UFOs are gifts, so I'm not including a photo here)

 

 

 

Let's chat about storing leftover batting as well. When I finish quilting a project, I cut off the extra batting and measure how much is left. There is usually enough left to quilt a table runner, small wall hanging or other little projects.

 

The batting is then rolled up and secured with a Velcro strap.

 

I write the measurement of the batting onto a piece of paper, and pin that note to the batting.

 

The batting rolls are then stored in a cabinet next to my panels.

 

 

 

 I also keep scrap fabric, and those are sorted by color and stored in white bins in my fabric cubbie (see photo from above)

 

 

 

That's all for today's storage tips. How do you store your fabric? Email me or message me on Facebook and let me know!

 

XOXO,

Kat

 

PS: Watch the following video to learn how to make your fabric storage cards.