Welcome to the first top on the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop 2017 hosted by Cheryl Sleboda of Muppin.com.
Well. Well. Well. There is something beautiful about the process of opening the windows, blowing out the stale air, pick the stuff up off the floor of the sewing studio, straighten out the fabric, do something to invigorate the quilting senses. Truth be told I don’t mind a bit of a creative mess, however it’s a bit out of control.
When Cheryl mentioned the blog hop I signed up immediately because:
oh the spillage! It’s terrible. Years ago a friend showed me how to store fabric for maximum use of space.
The bonus of tidying up is that I get to pet fabric, see what I have, see what still speaks to my quilt heart, and if I want to let anything go. All of it still speaks to my heart. With several pieces I could see whole cloth quilts. My gut says a few of these will happen. One surprised me, deeply surprised me because I don’t do repeats on quilts. But that’s a post for another day.
And here are the blogs for the next 21 days. That’s right 3+ weeks of Spring Clean Your Studio, please visit each blogger on their day. See more studios, meet some cool people, be inspired. #springcleanyourstudio
Happy Quilting!
May 1 – Teri Lucas
May 2 – Tammy Silvers
May 3 – Emily Breclaw
May 4 – Amalia Moursiewicz
May 5 – John Kubiniec
May 6 – Debby Brown –
May 7 – Melissa Marie Collins
May 8 – Delve MIY
May 9 – Misty Cole
May 10 – Sam Hunter
May 11 – Dale Ashera-Davis
May 12 – Sara Mika
May 13 – Sarah Trumpp
May 14 – Carma Halterman
May 15 – Jessica Darling
May 16 – Lisa Chin
May 17 – Sally Johnson
May 18 – Mandy Leins
May 19 – Shruti Dandekar
May 20 – Jane Davila
May 21 – Ebony Love
May 22 – Cheryl Sleboda
Beautiful! Great explanation of folding fabric. I use comic book boards to store my quilting fabric upright, but I’ll try your method for my limited stash of non-quilting textiles. I’m in the middle of a studio revamp myself. It’s…time-consuming.
Perfect timing! I am cleaning the sewing room today to start making room for a longarm (woot!). I have had my fabric in bins, which takes up a lot of room. Ready to go and make pretty folded stacks! Thank You.
did this when I started building my sewing room!!2 yrs ago it looked perfect, many quilts later it was back to Spillage! I promised myself as soon as my newest quilt is done I won’t start anything until I make it neat. again!!
Great folding technique! I need to try that for my smaller pieces, I’m a big fan of the comic book board method for stuff larger than a yard. Your fabrics are so lovely and vibrant!
Good ideas ty for sharing…..happyness04431@yahoo.com
When I see this folding method, I always wonder what you do with all the small pieces or pieces that are too small to fold?
Hi Marilyn, thanks for asking. It depends on what they are: half yards and fat quarters – get folded like a quilt shop; anything 5″ and up is getting folded and put into baskets. You can see one part of it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTpBDX7hw8o/?taken-by=terilucas
this is still a work in progress. I’ll be showing more as the work continues. Eventually the whole studio will get an overhaul from fabric and thread to batting and paperwork will all end up in places that I can use them well.
What do you do with small pieces? How do you handle pieces too small to fold around the ruler?
I really need this information, I started tidying my sewing area yesterday.
Enjoy the process. I’m still working on my space, a little at a time, each day. In between quilting projects.
This is fantastic…it is so simple. Why oh why did I never think of it!
Why does everyone store their folded fabric in horizontal piles? I store mine vertically, like books lined up on a shelf. That way I can pull one piece out without moving a whole pile. To put a piece back in, I sandwich it between two smooth laminated pieces of card stock. The smooth plastic surfaces of the card stock keep the fabrics on either side from wrinkling as I insert the piece between them.
I fold 1/4 yd – 1 1/2 yd. pieces into packets # 4 x 12″, with any of their scraps tucked into the packet. Anything less than 1/4 yd. becomes Bonnie Hunter-style precuts. Anything more than 1 1/2 yd. is stored on cardboard fabric bolts, because I am fortunate enough to have room to accommodate them.
My fabrics are sorted first by size, then by value, then by color (many thanks to Libby Lehman for this great idea!).
If you are always consistent in how you fold and put your fabrics away, you never end up with a morass….