Tips for orgainizing quilt rooms

[LancasterFan4]

Good morning ladies. I am going to have my left arm looked at tomorow by an orthopedic doctor so I have not been able to quilt for a few months because of the pain. So I thought I would take this time to organize my quilting room. Do any of you have any tips and or good web sights to suggest.

[towens71]

You might check out the library for organizing books. I know there is one called something like Organizing your quilting space. Its very good. You may just have to google it, and you'll probably get lots of great ideas and pictures too!

Good luck w/ your arm!

Traci

[knitnoid]

When I redid my sewing room a couple of years ago I started with figuring out what I had and what I wanted to keep. Then I determined how much space I had and figured out how to get my 'keep' pile in that space.

[LittleRedHen5]

I wanted to organize my fabric so I could see it. I had it in bags, boxes, and bins and usually ended up buying something new because I couldn't see what I had.

I bought some shelves at Home Depot. I found some moving boxes at Walmart that were the exact length/height of the fabric cardboard bolts. I cut the boxes lengthwise in strips 6" wide. I got 8 strips of cardboard from each box. Each box was only $.67 so it cost me a little over $.08 for each cardboard strip. Then, I rolled each fabric piece of a yard or more on the cardboard, folded in the corners and pinned both ends, and placed it on the shelf. You could organize the 'bolts' of fabric into themes or colors. I have all of my solid cottons together, my flannel solids together, etc.

The pieces that are less than a yard can be organized by theme or color and type, and put in stacking see-through bins for piecing.

I can't believe how much fabric I have been stashing all of these years. If I ever buy another yard of fabric I need my head examined. (Of course there will always be something new that catches my eye)

I'm not done rolling my fabric onto the makeshift bolts but what I have done makes me feel somewhat organized.

I love what you all write, thanks and keep sharing.

[kho]

I have fabric that is bought for a specific project and then put all of the fabric for that project together in a smaller tote. I also organize by holiday or seasons for the others. I have one for the grands, and one for the boys and it works for me, for the most part. I just need to get sewing and keep at it until I have something done.

[purrfect-lady]

My sewing machine is the main attraction in my sewing room, so I decided I wanted that in front of the window for best light and a nice view. I have a farm table and my DH cut a whole in it for my sewing machine so it's surface is the same as the table.

I put a long work table to my right, making an "L" workspace. On that I have a large cutting mat and a pressing mat. I got an old record (LP) rack at the Goodwill and I have that at the end of my work table to stand all my rulers up in.

I also have a small wooden organizer designed for a picnic table (3 compartments for silverware and one for napkins). I put my smaller rulers in the napkin space, and in the front 3 compartments I have pens, pencils, markers; a bottle of Best Press; and my rotary cutters.

My fabric is all folded and arranged by color in tall cabinets with glass doors. Another cabinet houses batiks, whites, creams, and themed fabrics such as Civil War, holiday, etc.

I have a short tower of small see-thru totes to house individual projects I'm working on.

and my cutting table is folded up into a corner, but I can open it out for extra work space or for cutting whenever I want. I keep a small step stool handy (I'm only 5' tall), and I have a mat on the floor for my sheltie to lay on, and a basket on my folded cutting table for my cat. I also keep treats for each handy!

[QuiltGram8]

That's a dream sewing studio, for sure!!! Wow, lots of fabric hugging and fondling going on and lots of creativity.

Wonderful picture.

Velda

[QIAD-Linda]

It is so helpful to read all the great ideas everyone has. Thank you all for posting and I hope you will continue as new ideas come up.

I have two tall wooden file cabinets that I use to "file" UFO's, collection fabrics, holidays, etc. For the UFO's I use a project bag and include all the extra of the fabrics I used, the pattern, and the date I started it. (Kind of a guilt trip I put on myself to see how long it takes me to finish.)

I wanted to start a new quilt the other day that required 14 FQ's. I had a stack that I have had for a couple of years and for some reason, I had never used it. The collection was perfect for the quilt I wanted to make (Summer Porch from El's "Through the Seasons" book. I hesitated and then realized how silly I was being. Why keep it around, I bought it to use it so I did! I know it sounds silly but for some reason, I had never wanted to use that stack. It was like I needed to keep it because it looks so pretty! I have several Jelly Rolls that I have had for a while and have finally decided that I am going to start using them. Yahoo for me, I think I am making strides! lol

[CaroleJ]

Out here in in the country, on a dirt road, dust is a real problem! I didn't like having to wipe a ruler down before I used it and I know dust isn't good for fabric. I bought a Closet-Maid free standing pantry cupboard. I was able to put it together myself (once DH hauled it into the house!). It holds a TON of stuff and keeps everything free of dust.

I, too, found a silverware caddy is very handy. Got a wooden one at the thrift store (turned out to be teak). I lined 2 of the compartments with batting to protect the wood from scissor tips and gouges. I keep all the frequent use things in there: scissors, rotary cutter, tape measure, marking pencils. Looks real nice on my sewing table and keeps things where I can find them right away; also makes tidying up go faster.

Carole

[purrfect-lady]

I LOVE quilting magazines! and I can't bear to part with any I have unless I somehow end up with duplicates. (but many of those go into my trailer for travel re-reading). But I spent a week of TV evenings thumbing through my mag collection and put sticky notes on the covers of any patterns that I particularly liked. I kept a list of all these patterns and then entered them into a database of sorts in my computer. I sorted them by various subject matter - Christmas, Winter, Summer, Wallhangings, "other" projects, floral, animals, cat (they get their own category!), etc. Now, when I want to find an old pattern, I can just scroll my computer document and find the magazine it's in! Of course, it goes without saying that I also organized all my magazines, too!