Fabric Organization

The first few months of school stretched my time in different directions.  Two separate sports teams with 8 weeks of practices and games was about all I could manage. I my expectations and accomplished the basics. 

I'm happy to be sewing clothes again and have more plans than time for winter.  It feels good to dream big again!

In late summer the energy and inspiration showed up to deal with mess of my cutting and storage space.  I love organizing, but have realized in the last few years with limited time and no desire for piecemeal jobs, I wait for the right mood to hit.  Then I have to work through the whole project until completion, an act of   perseverance at times. 

My space has been on the waiting list for some time. This was my mess.
-My fabric was in bins, on bins, in piles, on the floor
-Patterns were in bins on the floor, or on bins on the cutting table, or mixed in piles of fabric.
-Available cutting space was extremely limited   -which led to wasted time moving and shoving in order to plan or cut new projects

 This is the space now - or at least in August

I went to IKEA and bought 4 pieces of furniture.  I wanted space to store my currently supplies and stash with room to allow for growth. 

The two cabinets under my cutting space are the only large EXPEDIT shelves left in that series.  I anchored them together with plates, but don't expect this to be iron clad as the shelves are made of composite wood.  I've also placed shims under the shelves as the basement floor is far from level. I wanted the height of the cutting surface to be raised without needing to build up using wood.  The shelves with the door bring the height to just around 36" which is a great height for me.  I'm only 5'4". 

The cutting surface is a hollow interior door from Home Depot. I purchased the largest size available which is roughly 80 X 36.  I have not finished the door and don't plan to at this time.  It's smooth enough and I haven't had issues with my fabric catching on it.  This could change in the future.

I also bought a dresser for all the pattern envelopes.  I bought the 4 draw BRIMNES dresser and have plenty of room left for future patterns.  I like to store the pattern picture envelopes in plastic sleeves and separate them into binders by the category of clothing.  I do not have energy or time to put all the information into a computer database.  I like flipping through the binders. 

The majority of my fabric is stored in the KALLAX shelving unit.  It's so nice to see all the fabric.  It's also a good reminder as to what fabric I do have, so keep my stash building in check. I also enjoy the tactile experience of touching fabric, and missed this when my fabric was stored in bins. 

I made myself finish putting away every piece of fabric and notion and craft supply.  I was tempted to quit and just start sewing when I was working through the organization process, but I needed this to be a complete job.  I bought a magnetic knife holder and now my scissors hang from that.  I also have the hooks for my various rulers which always seemed to get stuck under a pile of fabric or patterns pieces.

I've seen many similar sewing spaces with great storage ideas on blogs, pinterest and magazines and used those to help pick good solutions for my space.  My time in this space the last few weeks feels more effective since everything has a place.