Creative Spaces… Week 4, Day 1: Fabric

I can’t believe Week 4 of our Creative Spaces Blog Hop is here! This week is all about fabric!

Yummy fabric is one of my favorite things… people collect stamps, baseball cards, coins, cars, etc., but for me, the best thing to collect is fabric! I started at a very young age and always asked mom for not candy or toys when she went out on errands, but fabric, I wanted fabric!

I have brights, large floral prints, geometric and wonky fabric, batiks, hand dyed… I’ve even played with hand dyeing my own, and what fun! I have it in pre-cuts of all sizes, large pieces because it would be a perfect border, some large enough for backings, in kits because I just had to make one like the one on display at the store…  but then you get home and where does it go? At some point we all run out of hiding places for all our fun finds!

Today, I want to share my fabric station, the rest of my little treasure is kept in an air-conditioned room I lovingly call “the dungeon” and only because it has no windows… and why is my fabric in the dungeon and not in the studio? Well, last year I decided to bring a bigger toy into my space and my hubby said our old 1800’s house couldn’t hold both!! So let me show you what I do have in my Creative Space.

This is all the fabric that now lives in my studio! I love these stackable plastic drawers, quick to reconfigure as needed, easy to see through, and they keep the fabric dust free. I purchased a hollow core door from my local home improvement store, gave it a few coats of white paint, and voila, I have a perfect counter top to spread my fabric on. An LED light strip installed under the first shelf provides perfect lighting over the counter.

It’s so easy to find what I need… here are some of the prints in my new collection, My Happy Place, arriving in stores in September.

Above the drawers, hubby installed the shelves that hold little baskets and storage bins, perfect for pre-cuts…

and scraps…

… and leftover bindings, folded and held together with rubber bands, great for small projects like mug rugs and coasters, and sometimes piecing them makes for a fun, colorful finish. The glass jar keeps them dust free while adding a pop of color to my studio.

UFOs! I will never admit how many I own!!! But here are a few, you know where they rest reside, haha! These little drawers on wheels have enough space to store 10 quilts-in-progress.

The drawers are sturdy, easy to remove from the shelve and take to the sewing machine.

This collapsible picnic basket is perfect to hold larger projects and easy to grab and take to sewing group or retreat.I’m focusing on this UFO… hope to finish it this year!

Have you seen Tammy’s post on fabric? She is also sharing her fabric storage tips today.

How do you store your fabric?

I’d like to add to your stash!

How about a 10″ squares pack of one of my latest collections, Front Porch?

You can find one of the coordinating quilt patterns for Front Porch here!

Enter below. Contest open to all, International winners pays for shipping.

Congratulations Evelyn! You are the winner!

56 thoughts on “Creative Spaces… Week 4, Day 1: Fabric

  1. deb m says:

    I store my fabric if bought for a certain project in “kits” in plastic storage cases. The rest is stored by color, or theme, like Christmas or Halloween, in larger plastic boxes. Precuts are stored separately if not part of a “kit.”

  2. Iraelia Pernas says:

    I store my fabric folded in with the 24 x 6 ruler and stacked by color or collections. The Billy bookcases are ideal for that. Fat quarters are stored in IKEA units designed for CDs . These are perfect for Fat quarters folded as playing card decks.

  3. Karen Addleman says:

    I store most of my fabric in bins by color. I have one container of solids of all colors and the rest are prints separated by color.

  4. MoeWest says:

    I store smaller pieces of fabric in clear plastic containers. My yardage is on shelves wrapped on foam core board.

  5. Evelyn Haupert says:

    Most of my fabric is stored by color and or collection in clear shoe-box size containers plus some baskets with larger pieces.

  6. Donna W says:

    My cotton yardage(anything over 1 yard is in a cabinet by color. My fat quarters and precuts are stored in a dresser. The top part of the dresser are thin drawers that hold fat quarters are precuts. 2 large drawers ~ one holds solids and the other batiks. Fabric between a 1/4 yard and 1 yard and full width of fabric and stored by color in a rolling cart. Scraps are in another rolling cart by color.

  7. Allison Evrard says:

    I am nowhere near as organized as you are. My fabric is in large plastic bins, like colors together. I love the use of the hollow core door on top of the shelves!

  8. Cecilia says:

    I store most of my fabric on comic book boards on bookshelves. I also keep my backing fabric on bolts in a closet shelf.

  9. Rosalind Gutierrez says:

    I store some fabrics on shelves in the closet, some in bags and the rest under the bed in flat plastic containers.

  10. jtyner1 says:

    I have 2 large bookcases, 3 armories, a china cabinet, plus a few boxes for my storage. They are folded by color and theme, about 6 inches wide. I enjoy shopping in my stash.

  11. Nancy A says:

    I use an antique china cabinet to store my FQs. Larger pieces are on a tall bookcase. Scraps are kept by size in bins, but I want to go back and sort them by color as well.

  12. Carol Nelms says:

    Your storage is great. My bigger pieces are by color, in plastic shelves, the rest varies, lol. Thanks for the great giveaway!

  13. Anita L Jackson says:

    As a have 2 places, home and my road home (camper)…. my storage at home is on shelving units, in fabric baskets, file boxes… You name it! And at the camper… the storage closet next to the bed has a sweater hanger full of beautiful fabrics!

  14. Kellie W. says:

    I have plastic totes that store my ufos, they the perfect size and they stack. Which I then stick on the built in shelves in the walk in closet in my sewing studio. As for my fabric I have it organized by color and size and tucked away on shelves in there, I had to purchase a set of large shelves to go in there as well since I have other things I store in there as well so the fabric is all on there, the smaller in totes and the larger on the bolt. The scraps are in pretty hard like your and I do it just like you. They are out in my studio on shelves that were my grandfathers, VINTAGE! ? And I have a few of those so I obviously need to do a scrap quilt ?. I have to , HAVE to stay organized or I can’t stay focused or work well. It’s just how I’m built. But I do it well, because I’m a neat freak. It can get messy while I’m working but I clean up right after and I do try to stay on top of it while I’m working, I’ve set up my room in a way that helps that.

  15. Vicki in MN says:

    I have a closet full, sorted by colors. I have fabric in tubs and bins and I also have 3 shelf units put together that are the base of my cutting table(these are full of fabrics. I seem to always find a hiding spot for more too!!

  16. Barbara Githens says:

    Large shelving unit with big wide shelves house my fabric. I’m liking the curtain idea from Tamarinis to hide and keep clean. If I had more room, I’d do the plastic bin/drawer storage like you have here. Now to just find endless time and energy to work through my stash!

  17. Cecilia wilson says:

    I have tried to organize by color,but still end up digging through the bins. Prior organization attempts are still around, but I have changed direction and don’t use them anymore. Need to pass on to another home

  18. Marilyn Porterfield says:

    Can’t wait for the arrival of your new fabric design collection. I can never have enough sewing themed fabric

  19. Kathy says:

    I have lingerie laundry bags for “kits” and comic book boards on shelves for yardage. It’s organized by color. Scraps I store in dollar store bins – red in the red bin, yellow in the yellow bin, etc.

  20. Vicki H says:

    I have one of those storage closets you build, it has double doors and shelves. I try to keep my yardage in there by color groups. My scraps are in plastic shoe boxes by strip size.

  21. Teri Johnson says:

    My fabric is sorted by project, color, size, but looking for new ideas. Wish I had room for the storage/counter that you created!! Love ❤️ it!

  22. Laura M says:

    I store my fabric in rubbermaid bins. I love the drawers you have. All the ones I’ve found are not strong enough to load up with fabric.

  23. Wayne Miller says:

    Great blog hop. Wonderful seeing how,others,who quilt think and do. Love it. I have not been able to get to all the sites yet

  24. Wayne Miller says:

    This,weeks topic dealing with fabric is,very interesting. Hope to get to all the sites and pick up ideas

  25. Allison says:

    My fabric pieces over half a yard are wrapped on comic book boards on shelves by color.. My fat quarters are stored by color in plastic containers with lids. Projects are stored with directions, notions and pieces. Tools are all boxed And labeled.

  26. Pam says:

    I store my fabric in plastic scrapbooking boxes. That is when it is stored of course. A lot of times it is just in lovely disorganized piles around the sewing room. Thanks for all the great organization tips!

  27. Kay S. Carlson says:

    I am using a sturdy wood computer desk which has a space for the desktop computer box. Raised to a comfortable height with bed lifters, I find this unit serves many purposes. First: Rubbermaid Take-a-Longs store UFO projects neatly and are stacked in the previously mentioned space. Second: The 24×48 surface is home to my cutting center. Third: My homemade Big Board rests easily on the desktop as it is the same size. No, I won’t tell you how many UFO’s exist in my home. I work on three at a time, but keep extensive notes in each box.

  28. Helen Glover says:

    I have three different places for fabric. The largest is a china cabinet with glass doors and drawers below. Love this piece for fabric. In the closet I have plastic storage bins with lids. Not a good system there. In spare bedroom is a 9 drawer dresser that is full! I need a better system as I sometimes have a hard time remembering what I’ve put where. but for now, that’s what I have! Thanks for the chance to win that beautiful set of fabrics!

  29. Deborah Browning says:

    I store my fabric in see through plastic containers. Yardage is folded into uniform sizes and sorted by color and/or theme and stored in larger containers. Half yard cuts are folded and stored together and fat quarters are sorted by color/theme. I keep unfinished quilts as well as any planned quilts in their own containers that way I can take the container off the shelf and everything is in one place. I hope to have more time soon to get busy working on (and finishing) my projects.

  30. ekbuckeye2001 says:

    I store large cuts on wire shelves, FQs in an old CD cabinet (they fit perfectly in the cubbies!), and other pre-cuts in plastic drawer units in the closet. I do like to organize by color. Oh, and scraps are cut to useable sizes and stored in plastic bins by color.

  31. Sharon Aurora says:

    No real organization here on how I store my fabric. When I first started accumulating fabric, I figured I would be using it up as fast as I accumulated it, so I just stored it in a basket and box. Once my stash had grown, I knew I needed to rethink how I organized it. Lots of fabric later, I still have yet to do that.

  32. LJ says:

    Your studio looks so bright and the lovely fabric makes it cheery. I love that your fabric is under wraps and away from dust. I have too much fabric but my biggest storage is on two closet shelves and I’ve used comic book cardboard to wrap the fabric. Works quite well and is certainly much, much better than the plastic tubs I used previously.

  33. Jacque Nino says:

    I store my fabric by size first then by color. I am fairly new ( about a year) and I can see how fabric would add up easily. I really have to hold back as purchasing fabric and patters are easier to do than to getting them together. I do like to keep all of mine in clear containers so that I can see colors easily… but like it to be protected from dust.

  34. Lee Ann says:

    Several years ago my Christmas present was a set of 3 open shelves installed on 1 full wall of my sewing room. They are approximately 10′ long, and they hold all my fabric, well 90% of my fabric. lol I just love them. I have my fabric folded & stacked by color!

  35. Deb F says:

    I store my fabric in tubs. They keep the dust out, but visibility is terrible. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the ideas as it is time to sort, donate (if I know I won’t use), and reorganize. I might find some forgotten treasures.

  36. Bonnie Larson says:

    I Store my fabric in tubs, colour coded and my scraps are usually cut down to usable sizes and stored by size and colour. Great blog. Thanks

  37. Linda says:

    I am in love with my fabric storage. I have some antique glass fronted library book cases. All my fabric is sorted by colour but if I did buy a whole line of fabric it gets kept together. Like you, my UFOs have a designated spot in individual baskets on a shelf. That way I just grab the basket and go. I usually keep the coordinating thread in there too. Looking forward to seeing everyone’s blog this week!

  38. Carol Eicke says:

    I love clear containers, whether drawers or ziploc bags, that way no time wasted opening up to find out what’s inside (and no need for labeling). Love you creative space!

  39. Kathleen McCormick says:

    I store my fabric in mostly in 3 cabinets. It is sorted as follows: color/batiks/special collections – groups of fabric or landscape etc/smaller pieces and finally precuts. It works pretty well. In a second studio (our soon to be retirement home, I need a better system. Right now it is in bins, but I am looking for cubbies, I think. The space is small and has both office/sewing things.

  40. Sharon Aurora says:

    Your entry gadget has disappeared on me. It’s completely blank where it used to be. Is this happening to anyone else?

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