Fabric Storage

As quilters we tend to have a considerable “stash” of fabrics at our disposal. We love our fabric...we love buying it, we love fondling it, we love cutting it apart, and we love sewing it back together. 

When I first started quilting I bought way more fabric than I could ever use in my lifetime. Come to think of it, I also did that when I began my sewing journey and was exclusively making garments. I wish someone back then had told me to pace myself because our tastes change over time and fabric companies are always coming out with new products to tempt us. Not only that, but something that I was sooooooo in love with 5-7 years ago is now just “meh”. Like I said, our tastes change as do the trends. 

I thought I had a perfect storage system for my fabrics...clear plastic bins with lids..and I was able to organize my fabrics according to colour families. In theory it was a great idea, and it kept the fabrics dust-free. However, the problem I had with it was that I never knew what I had “in stock” without opening up all the containers. Starting a new project meant that my sewing room was an absolute disaster until I chose the fabrics for my project and tidied up the countless other pieces I took out of them that weren't going to be used. And, as you can probably imagine, they were never put away as neatly as they should have been!

I worked with this system for years, with the containers stored in the lower cabinets of my sewing table, and the overspill in one other large plastic tote in the corner of my room. It wasn't until I went to my friend Patti's house for the first time and she gave me a tour of her sewing room that I knew what I wanted to do...I wanted to copy Patti! As I said before (in a previous post about my quilting friends) Patti is the most organized person I know. She has all of her fabric folded neatly in 2 large glass fronted cabinets from IKEA (billy oxberg bookcase white). It's a thing of beauty.

Compared to some of my friends (Gail) my stash is quite small, but I've become very selective over time. I only needed one cabinet instead of two. I still use some plastic bins for very specific things. One holds my batiks, one holds the small amount of Christmas fabrics I have, another holds leftover binding pieces and a couple hold fabrics for specific projects.

Since I've taken most of the fabrics from below the counter and put them in the glass fronted cabinet it left room for other things. Now, instead of storing my completed quilt tops and backings together in the large plastic tote, they are stored in the cabinets below with the proper sized batting. Then, when Gail's or Becky’s long arm machines aren’t being hogged by Patti, I can grab a quilt and git'r'done.

The thing I love about my cabinet is that it becomes a colourful piece of art...all my gorgeous fabrics are on display, yet kept dust-free. I can tell at a glance what colours and values I need to round out my stash. If you organize your fabric according to colour like I do, you will also be amazed at what you thought you had lots of and what you are truly lacking. The only thing I don't like about my cabinet is that it forces me to be much neater since everything is on display.

Since I love doing a lot of DIY projects one of my favourite haunts is the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Check out the beautiful glass knobs (at the top of the page) that I got there for 50 cents each. They are much prettier than the boring painted wood ones that came with the cabinet. 

My sewing room has definitely evolved over a very long period of time and my glass-fronted cabinet was only delivered recently (April 2020). Since we were all isolating because of Covid-19 it was the perfect opportunity for me to finally get organized. The cabinet was assembled one day and the sorting and storing began the next. I had already culled my stash not long ago so I didn't have a lot going out, but it was very cathartic to finally have a system that worked for me.

I do realize how incredibly lucky I am to have a room devoted to my sewing and can store my fabric there. Some of you may have to use a spare room closet...or a box under the bed...or bins in the crawl space. No matter what space we quilters have at our disposal, even if it's just the kitchen table or a desk in the corner of the guest room, we always need fabric and a place to put it.

I highly recommend being ruthless and realistic when it comes to purging your stash. Really ask yourself the hard questions about your beloved fabrics...do I still love it?...do I have a project for it?...does it fit with my design aesthetic? If the answer is no then give it a new home with another quilter or sewer, donate it to your guild for their charity program, or donate it to a nursing home/school/boys and girls club/etc for their craft projects. Someone else will definitely appreciate your generosity (and it will make room for more fabric!). Wait...what?! I thought I was supposed to be talking you into purging and organizing!

What fabric storage methods work best for you?