Organizing Again

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.

comicboards

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.

messycabinet

And the after.

cabinetstraightenedThe 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.

trashfabricI’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.

brotherbeforebrotherafterAnd on the Elna

elnabefore

elnaafter

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!!

ScanandcutMeanwhile Puddin is getting ready for winter. She never sleeps in this bed in the warm months, so we know winter is approaching.

puddininbed2Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I’m off to finish mulching the blackberries and then playing with my Scan and Cut!