One day a few weeks ago I was whining to Natalie about my sewing room being a mess. I was frustrated because I was so busy and I was trying to get ready for vacation and trying to finish up some projects and so I was just complaining and feeling overwhelmed. At that point Natalie sat down and said "Mom! your fabric organization system has failed!". Natalie is my ubber over organized oldest daughter and after the shock of her statement I decided to listen to her (yes, I was that desperate). She told me she would help me reorganize but on one condition. She said I had to listen to her and do exactly what SHE told me to do. If I hadn't been so overwhelmed at that moment I would have laughed and shoved her out the door. But I was at my wits end and so I gave myself and my precious, lovely fabric over to her completely. 
This is a photo (above) of some of my previous ways to organize small pieces of fabric. Fat quarters and smaller were in those see through bins in no particular color or order with other odds and ends underneath in various bins. My fabric in larger quantities was folded in no particular order on the shelves with colors assorted all together. I liked the mix of colors together, or so I thought.
So Natalie and I took EVERYTHING off the shelves and we went through every single piece of fabric. She made me look at each piece and ask myself if I really wanted it. I did de-stash 2 bags worth. And then we refolded and reorganized everything. Did I mention how dusty that made my room? By refolding my fabric to the exact depth of the shelves I was able to give myself more space, too.
So the room itself may not really look that different but it is much more organized. Natalie made different categories of fabric: Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, Pink/Purple, Neutrals (includes black and brown), Plains, Vintage, Home Dec Weight (and linen) and Novelty. I have 2 shelves with books. Finished quilts are still on the very top shelf.
This is a photo of shelves on one side of the room. The bucket colors have really no relationship to what is inside. But each bucket correlates to a category. Like the green piles have a bucket next to them with green smaller pieces inside. There is also a bucket for trim (big one) on the top shelf (Shelbie and Laurie rolled all my trim and put rubber bands around them.) The mixture of fabric colors on the shelf just by the iron is my home dec weight fabric.
The very top shelf here has project buckets to keep my UFO and ongoing projects out of the way and organized since that was part of my problem. I had projects all over in various stages of finish.
These are the shelves on the other side of the room. The bottom shelf has vintage. The next shelf up has red and blue. The next shelf has my lovely collection of tools/rulers and then newer fabric that I need to keep separate to look at (hey that is a category!) After that comes neutral. Above that is novelty and then above that are project buckets.
The buckets may not look organized but since they have just one color inside I can go through looking for a color or print and know where it belongs. I used to always make a mess going through the old containers and things were always having to be refolded and sticking up out of the mesh box. This way I can dig deep and go through everything with minimal refolding/fixing. And since it isn't see through you never know just by walking in the room if the buckets are perfect!
We started work on the room right before my vacation. So it was left undone. But I've managed to finish things this weekend and I'm feeling very happy with the organization and feeling like I know where everything is stored at. I haven't started sewing yet in the room but I'm really looking forward to it.
Thanks Natalie for all your help. I am really happy with it. Even Mr. Hive noticed it looked better!
-nanette
This is a photo (above) of some of my previous ways to organize small pieces of fabric. Fat quarters and smaller were in those see through bins in no particular color or order with other odds and ends underneath in various bins. My fabric in larger quantities was folded in no particular order on the shelves with colors assorted all together. I liked the mix of colors together, or so I thought. So Natalie and I took EVERYTHING off the shelves and we went through every single piece of fabric. She made me look at each piece and ask myself if I really wanted it. I did de-stash 2 bags worth. And then we refolded and reorganized everything. Did I mention how dusty that made my room? By refolding my fabric to the exact depth of the shelves I was able to give myself more space, too.
So the room itself may not really look that different but it is much more organized. Natalie made different categories of fabric: Blue, Green, Orange, Yellow, Red, Pink/Purple, Neutrals (includes black and brown), Plains, Vintage, Home Dec Weight (and linen) and Novelty. I have 2 shelves with books. Finished quilts are still on the very top shelf. 
This is a photo of shelves on one side of the room. The bucket colors have really no relationship to what is inside. But each bucket correlates to a category. Like the green piles have a bucket next to them with green smaller pieces inside. There is also a bucket for trim (big one) on the top shelf (Shelbie and Laurie rolled all my trim and put rubber bands around them.) The mixture of fabric colors on the shelf just by the iron is my home dec weight fabric.
The very top shelf here has project buckets to keep my UFO and ongoing projects out of the way and organized since that was part of my problem. I had projects all over in various stages of finish. 
These are the shelves on the other side of the room. The bottom shelf has vintage. The next shelf up has red and blue. The next shelf has my lovely collection of tools/rulers and then newer fabric that I need to keep separate to look at (hey that is a category!) After that comes neutral. Above that is novelty and then above that are project buckets.
The buckets may not look organized but since they have just one color inside I can go through looking for a color or print and know where it belongs. I used to always make a mess going through the old containers and things were always having to be refolded and sticking up out of the mesh box. This way I can dig deep and go through everything with minimal refolding/fixing. And since it isn't see through you never know just by walking in the room if the buckets are perfect!We started work on the room right before my vacation. So it was left undone. But I've managed to finish things this weekend and I'm feeling very happy with the organization and feeling like I know where everything is stored at. I haven't started sewing yet in the room but I'm really looking forward to it.
Thanks Natalie for all your help. I am really happy with it. Even Mr. Hive noticed it looked better!
-nanette
