Taming the beast- organizing fabric Part 1

    This is for you, Elizabeth. I am sharing what has worked for me right now. Tomorrow, I may get smarter or someone smarter may set me straight. How to organize fabric so that it can be found, easily put away and easy to go through during a project. I use no cardboard boxes. I guess I am still smarting from getting cited by the fire marshal when I was teaching for using cardboard boxes to store art supplies in. What I was to use was not revealed.
   I love plastic bins- I am always looking at every dollar store and housewares section for perfect plastic. My family rolls their eyes when I keep seeking out better plastic, the perfect solution, the elusive perfection. I keep all my batiks separate from my regular fabric. I use every scrap. So, I will post a number of things I do now in hopes that you will do even better and tell me.
   My batik fabric is all folded in plastic shoeboxes or something like it. By color. These are all on one shelving unit. I will talk about scraps later.

The whole unit, other one next time

Shelving unit top

Individual batik boxes on the shelves, easily removed, put back

Then the bottom of this shelving unit holds all the sewing machine attachments and parts behind the door.

Shelving unit bottom, I know, it needs to be better organized

The regular fabric is all in one cupboard, in plastic boxes, and also the flat scrap baskets.

Bottom two shelves have flat baskets at right hand side, one regular, one batik

The flat baskets have scraps by colors. I find using zip lock bags hard to use  and fill with scraps. The baskets let me sift through and thow in easily.

Baskets by colors, then stack inside each other. Batik works same way.

I am having a hard time sorting and saving the teeny, tiny scraps I use in my Batik collages. Those are in zip locks but I am on the quest for some squarish, boxish, shallow plastic boxes that stack. Like real big ice cube trays. Where can they be?

Projects that are in progress (lots of them), I put in plastic zip bags that I got from Quilt in a Day and keep them upright in a plastic bin. Everything I need for that project is in the bag, gets put back in the bag.

Individual Bag

Plastic bags stacked in plastic bins, baskets. I do a lot of projects at a time.

I keep all my rulers, etc. in wood blocks that my husband cut slots into. I never leave the rulers laying flat to get covered by my fabric mess.

Have 2 of these side by side

 

Next part, I will show sewing machine storage and the other shelving unit. I hope this is understandable, if not, comment. Thanks for viewing!