When you start a new upholstery, sewing or quilting project, of course you buy exactly the right amount of fabric, always do just one project at a time, and clear out the scraps when you're done so there's no extraneous fabric, right? Yeah, I can hear you laughing from here. A wild fabric stash is an untamed beast that will eat your entire house if you let it, but don't worry, it can be tamed.
Unfortunately, taming the fabric stash does involve culling. But with a decisive eye and some good storage solutions, you can get your stash under control and ready for, you guessed it, more fabric. Check out the gallery for inspiration, follow some of these stash solution tips, and share your own ideas in the comments.
• Sort by color. Whether or not your fabric is being stored out in the open, sorting by color makes it easier to find what you need. And if you do store it out in the open, a cohesive rainbow will look more put-together than a random splatter.
• Invest in bins. Theater costume shops keep their excess fabric in rows of identical white bins labeled "white fabric," "blue fabric," "lining fabric," etc. Pick any kind of box you like, but a uniform series of opaque boxes will obscure any disorder that lurks inside.
• Invest in bolt boards. If you're going to store your fabric in a china cabinet or on open shelving, consider wrapping it around bolt boards. They take up less space than full-size fabric tubes, and they're nice and stackable, like books.
• Don't fall in love with your scraps. Even if you make clothes for Barbie, that 3"scraggle of leftover selvedge is not going to come in handy one day. When you're done with yardage, cut the ends off straight for cleaner storage. Then throw the scraps away.
• Keep a swatch Rolodex. Just because that silver crocodile-embossed vinyl is the coolest thing you've ever seen doesn't mean you have to buy it right now. That's how clutter happens. I know a fashion designer who keeps a "swatch Rolodex" of sourcing information so she can go back and get the right fabric when she needs it, instead of trying to cram all the fabric in the world into her apartment.
• Keep only what you'll actually use. Why did you buy that silver crocodile-embossed vinyl, anyway? You're never going to use it; it's hideous. The impulse buy is the bane of the fabric stash. At least twice a year, take a long, hard look at your fabric and cull anything you probably won't ever use. That great gear-print cotton with clocks on may have been a must-have six months ago, but now you're over steampunk? Out it goes.
(Images: 1. Needle Book, 2. Olabelhe, 3. Crafty Intentions, 4. Sew Many Ways, 5. The Scientific Seamstress)
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And here I've been looking high and low for silver crocodile-embossed vinyl! For my cajun themed 50s retro kitchen banquette, of course!
If only I was kidding...I have way too much fabric and I could tent my house for termites with it all. And I still want the vinyl.
Only pictures 2 and 4 really count as any kind of "stash", you know. The others are weak imposters.
My guest room closet has a plastic utility shelf full of wonderful amazing ethnic fabrics, embroideries, brocades, silks, etc. I will probably end up dying with the collection intact for some charity to deal with! But I love it and will not part with it -- yet!
I kind of admire people like quilters who have tons of fabric but all essentially the same kind. My collection is way more eclectic! I could probably make a fortune creating one-of-a-kind sofa pillows and selling them as art on Etsy!)
I have 4 rast dressers full of fabric and I still have it in boxes all over the place. I need to do some destash projects clearly :)
Pelicolina: http://tinyurl.com/7syxsmm
I couldn't help it. As soon as I saw it, I had to have it. It's completely insane, but gorgeous. Someday I hope to come up with a project worthy of it. (Until then, it's an awkward giant lump in my closet.)
Don't throw away scraps - many quilting groups, nursing homes and other places would love to take smaller bits to make things with.
I second what mmepatty said... Don't throw away scraps. Donate them to a quilting group. Our local thrift stores (including Goodwill) often sell fabric remnants--take them there!
Well said, Mmepatty. Our great-grandmothers would have been rightly appalled at the suggestion to throw away scraps. Ever seen a proper old-fashioned string quilt? They can be real works of art, and useful too - made out of the stuff you're putting in the bin. How about this quilt that uses 2.5" scrap squares? http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/2010/10/care-for-some-scrap-vomit-aka-quilt.html
And look at these miniscule blocks made from scraps:
http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
I'm always surprised to see people storing fabric on open shelving or behind glass doors. Unless you use it all soon after buying it, sun fading could well ruin it before you turn it into anything.
There is a difference between scraps and remnants. I keep remnants, but if the piece is small, overly skinny or has lots of cuts into it, then it goes in the bin. There is such a thing as being OTT when it comes to saving rubbish
I would love the space to properly store my stash! (and yes, it's a stash even if it doesn't fill an entire wall. Honestly). Hopefully when I move next month my new house will have space for proper sewing organisation!
I have an open shelving unit with some closet rods on it- one rod has all of my husband's audio cables, and the other has all my fabric on pants hangers. But only those over a yard. If it is less, a girlfriend suggested cutting foam core to the size of a large hardback and wrapping those smaller pieces around it and then stacked on a shelf. Remnants are the only thing in a bin. That way I know at a glance the kinds of projects a fabric is capable of and I find I use them more (and impulse buy less) when I am constantly reminded of the beautiful fabrics I already own. Oh, and nothing can be hung up until it is sewing ready, ie washed and pressed. Makes the impulse to create a lot easier because you can dive right into cutting and sewing.
>> Sort by Color
this is a good point for aesthetics, but I find that it's more practical to sort by fabric type. I put silks together, cottons together, etc.
>> Only keep what you'll use
I have a bunch of fabrics I will never use for a project, but I can use them to make a sample or work out a new tecnique before I sew the actual project. I just used a pink butterfly calico to sample for a silk dress and discovered that I incorrectly judged the pattern size. Now I can rip it apart, make adjustments and resew.
>> throw away scraps.
I save large scraps of silk or special fabrics I love to use as interfacing or lining small things. I made a bunny costume for a friend and did the ear lining in some pink satin in my scrap bin. But for the most part, I toss what I would call "trimmings" away.
Scraps can always be used as stuffing for toys or for scrappy quilts.
Whatever you do for fabric storage, remember, sunlight fades colors!
I had about 10 yards of some lovely brocade I was saving for "special," and after a few years on the shelf, it has some interesting faded bands on the edges. Though this fabric wasn't anywhere near a window, it was still sensitive enough to fade.
I think black dyes are especially sensitive to light but I haven't seen this scientifically proven. My first quilt had (inexpensive) black background fabrics. Now they are chocolatey brown, pinkish, and gray where time and light has faded them.
So, all the shelving AT shows is delicious, but unless you have high fabric turnover, not practical for at home. I'm going to stick with nicely labeled plastic bins, by color or theme. They are not the prettiest storage, but are dustproof and organized.
Oh Ye Amateurs. I was unable to use my10/12' sewing room for actual sewing. Sewing required routing through bins, boxes, bags, baskets and drawers seeking what I knew was there and alas buying yet more because I could not find it and then some more on sale or inspiration. I saw one episode of Hoarders and could not bear to watch it again. Now I have 250+ pieces washed, ironed, measured, numbered, zipped in bags, photographed and filed under fabric types in Powerpoint. I sit at my computer scroll through and am directed to what I want.
Don't store. Fabrics for any significant period of time on wood shelves - the acid I the word will burn the fabric (this is how white fabric gets brown stains) and don't store fabrics in plastic, which out gasses. If you are storing for less than a year, you might be OK - but longer than that, nope. Also, no sharp creases, no foam cores (out glass) and Ph neutral tubes are truly the right option. Halogen light can have as much UV as daylight; ditto other types of fabric. Different types of fabric have different Ph requirements. Plastic bags are also a bad idea.
Does this seem obsessive? Read up on textiles storage if you care about your fabrics.
Jealous.
I'm a quilter, so I tend to sort by designer/fabric line for the most part. My odd gap filling prints (solids, polka dots, stripes etc.) are sorted by color. But I only work in cotton, so it makes sense. I think stash organisation method matters most (if not only) to the person using it... so however you like your stash organised, it's the right way.
Also, I'm willing to bet number two is a shop, rather than a personal stash.
Another great tip: I keep a spiral bound set of index cards with a tiny cutting of all of my fabrics that I have on hand. That way, when I stop into a fabric store and I see a fabric I love, I can look through my cuttings and see if I have other fabrics to pair with it or if I'd have to buy coordinates as well.
This has really saved me from buying fabric unnecessarily when I could've sworn it was the same coral tone as a fabric back home or rebuying a fabric that I've forgotten I already picked up.
As I use up a fabric I just tear out the scrap from the book. Admittedly I don't have EVERY fabric logged but I do have my top favorites that I'm trying to accumulate coordinates for at any given time.
Yeah, i am in desperate need of some organizing for my stash. Currently it all sits, semi-folded in a plastic bin. And the scraps? I keep them just piled on top or in a plastic bag. I knwo many of you may cringe at that, but so far it's worked out ok. But thanks for this post- perhaps there is hope for me afterall!
I do the bin thing, but I don't keep them in the room where I sew - I have a studio in my basement, and also a huge (huge! 12x16 or something like that) laundry room, which is obviously a much more utilitarian space. Keeping the bins in the laundry room 1.) keeps the ugliness of the bins out of the cozy studio 2.) encourages me to open one bin, take something out, and put it back; and 3.) encourages me to put new fabric away promptly after it's washed.
I also don't sort by color, but by intended use - which more or less follows the lines of fabric type, as well. Costuming material is different from quilting is different from regular clothes-sewing, and fabric bought for a specific project that's not starting right away is stored separately from stash purchases. On the rare occasions when something crosses over - "that satin I bought for pillows would make perfect trim on this dress!" - the creative process points me in the direction of where to start looking.
Scraps, I sort by size (anything between a 1/8 yd and 1/2 yd is a "quarter", more or less, less than 1/8th is a "piece", and anything less than 6x6" is a "scrap" - I crazy quilt!) then by color and store in photo boxes.
I love the first picture! I have the same Pfaff sitting right next to me. It's a wonderful machine.
I make clothes for my Blythe doll as well as dollhouse miniatures so I had to laugh at the part about throwing away scraps. You would be surprised at the diminutive pieces of fabric I've made use of. I tend to hoard my scraps in nicely organized boxes, however.
May I please have room number one! I so need a "nest" to work in. Love the pics and the topic!
I hope you all are listening to those about fabric storage! Acid-free containers and zip-lock bags archival sealed bags keep the fabric from getting oxygen! all these women putting their fabric in zip pouches, on wood shelves or plastic shelves, or plastic bins are destroying their fabric. My best tip....roll, don't fold (acid-free tubes are expensive, make your own tubes with arches archival watercolor paper - 300lb...it's thick, tape with acid-free, archival linen tape) then wrap in unbuffered archival tissue (acid-free is buffered and not suitable for fabrics) and store in long all natural breathable 100% cotton underbed storage bags on open shelves. For goodness sakes, you spent all that money on the fabric, don't waste it away from the way you store it! It does look pretty on the acid free "bolts" for the world to see in a pretty china cabinet or dvd shelf, but not so pretty in a few years when you want to use it.
I'm sorry for the poor grammar above. I was writing very quickly in my zeal to save all of our beautiful fabric! There are some under-the-bed, breathable boxes/bags on amazon that are quite large for only $15.00. I also think that you can do things like put archival paper on your shelves and simply make a gathered curtain and attach to your bookshelves to protect the fabric from light and then pull it back when you know company is coming to "show off" your stash! Liners in baskets should have 100% cotton liners, so you can always make those and then everything is breathable. If you have a beautiful floor cabinet like the one above, simply make some sheers to go behind the glass and that should be sufficient. As to the folding, even a wooden dowel with some archival paper or archival tissue wrapped around it can be used to roll fabric. A large divided laundry basket/cart with a cloth cover or woven cover lined with 100% cotton (no polyester or man-made fabric!) is great to store batting in. If your wooden cedar accessories don't smell anymore, sand them well and they will be as good as new!
Oh, and one more thing! We here all about how brands like Sterilite make their containers out of polypropylene and are therefore "acid-free." This is true when you first buy them. However, according to my research, polypropylene deteriorates over the long-term and becomes acidic, thus damaging your fabric! That, along with trapping oxygen, should motivate us to relegate them to seasonal storage and replace at least a couple of times in our life. The younger generations (I guess I cannot be put in that category, anymore, at 43.) will be more likely to buy your quilts and such if you can emphasize the care you take with the fabrics you use since they are so environmentally conscious.