Yesterday Dave peeked his head into my studio and saw that I had fabric all over the place. “Oh, you’re organizing again, aren’t you?” He claims I do this every few months, but I really it’s not that often. It only seems that way since my studio is always a mess!
I’ve been wanting to organize my fabric stash since it is really out of control. My last major fabric organization was over three years ago. Here is my post on how I organized my fabric then. It worked great for awhile, but I needed something different. I’ve seen these used before for fabric storage and decided to give them a shot.
You just fold the fabric around these board and pin it in place. I’m using them for scraps that are a yard or smaller. Supposedly they work on larger pieces, but I ran out of boards before I got to that fabric. I was amazed that I have over a hundred pieces of my fabric. I ordered another set for the remainder and for the commercial fabric in the two other shelves of this cabinet.
So here is the before.
And the after.
The two bins have smaller pieces of fabric I know I’ll use. Once I get the other boards the top shelf will be filled up. I love seeing all of my fabric. Now if I need a certain color or design I don’t have to dig.
Then I had to deal with the pieces are too small or they were parts of projects. I could not believe all of the awful fabric. They showed me how my art has improved over the past five years. I tossed a lot of it and kept some pieces I thought I might use. I still need to go through and toss more, but that was enough for the day.
I’ve been really working on my free motion this past week. I’ve not been happy with my stitches so I decided to dedicate a few hours to really testing out threads and tensions on both my Elna and my Brother. After much testing I found that my old Elna won. The stitches on both the top and bottom of the fabric looked great. I’m still having trouble getting the bottom stitches to look good on my Brother. I took in my sample stitches to my Brother dealer but she said she needed me to bring in my machine. Well, that will be for another day.
I have lots of windows in my studio, but some days (and of course, evenings) there is just not enough light. The Crafty Gemini has a new free motion video series and she showed her LED lights on her machine. I decided to order them right away. I bought an adapter kit so I could light up both machines.
Here is the before and after on my Brother.
And on the Elna
I love all of the light!! Both of these products can be found on Amazon.
But the main reason I started on this organizing is because I needed room to welcome in my new toy – the Brother Scan and Cut 2! I am so excited. I have loved my Silhouette Portrait, but I wanted a larger format. I’ve spent a little time yesterday playing with it and it’s going to work great!!
Meanwhile Puddin is getting ready for winter. She never sleeps in this bed in the warm months, so we know winter is approaching.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I’m off to finish mulching the blackberries and then playing with my Scan and Cut!
Nice job organizing! I have my fabric in bins, and it has helped a lot, but I still have to dig some. And the led lights are great… will have to check them out. As for tossing the ‘ugly’ fabric, will have to get you busy making some coiled fabric bowls… the fabrics look so different when they are wrapped around clothesline and mixed with a bunch of other fabrics… great way to use them up! Enjoy your new toy… can’t wait to see what you do with it!
I have been rearranging my sewing room & trying to get organized, also. Your fabric will look awesome! I need the lights!
Donna, Guess it’s just that time of the year. Hope you enjoy the lights.
Judy, Thanks. Yeah, I still need to do that although I think a lot of those pieces wouldn’t work. They were small and stiff from paint and other stuff. Lots of gelatin prints that had way too much paint on them. But thanks for the reminder.
love the mini bolt for storing yardage. It looks great. i go the cheap route and collect yard signs after the elections, wash them up and cut to size to use.
Hi Debbie, Great idea! I went with the comic book holders because they are archival quality so they won’t harm my fabric. And they aren’t real expensive, but definitely not free! Thanks for dropping by.
I LOVE all that light on your sewing machines. I want to see how you deal with the little pieces, since that’s mainly what I have.
Sherrie recently posted..Mandala didn’t make the cut
Hi Sherrie, Thanks. Yeah, I’m still thinking of what I’m going to do with them and all the other 100+ pieces of my dyed fabric.
How do you like the scanncut 2?? I was thinking about one. is it a nice clean cut?
Sandy, I’ve only had it a couple of days so haven’t played with it a whole lot but it does work great. I’m looking forward to cutting felt, denim and wood veneer – things I couldn’t cut with my Portrait. I’ll be reporting on my progress with it for sure. Thanks for stopping by.
it was a rare treat to see that you are using the same elna that I got as a graduation gift from hubby when he completed grad school that machine is a real workhorse
Millie, I bought that Elna second hand almost 30 years ago. The woman who had owned it upgraded to an electronic one and evidently didn’t have it long. It is a real work horse. Thanks for dropping by.