Fabric Organization for My Craft Room
Sunday, February 12, 2012 at 9:46AM
Lisa in Crafts, Home, Organizing, Sewing

My fabric stash in my craft room had gotten completely out of control so I decided that I needed to do something about it. Because my plan is to someday build myself a fabric armoire I didn't want to spend much on this project since it isn't a long term solution for me. I already had this white Billy bookcase with a CD insert from IKEA that I had purchased nearly ten years ago for almost nothing in the As-Is section. By moving the CD insert to the top shelf and removing the bottom shelf I thought I could turn the bookcase into some functional fabric storage.

To organize my fabric that is at least 1/2 yard I made my own fabric bolts out of foam board. I decided to make the bolts 6-1/2" x 23" for a few reasons. 23" height allows for easy storage of 45" fabric folded in half plus it was short enough to just fit under the CD insert on the bookshelf. 6-1/2"depth fit nicely on the shelf and worked out well for maximizing the number of bolts (seven) that I would get out of a piece of 30" x 40" foam board. 

To start making the bolts I adjusted my foam board cutter's cutting depth so it was just longer than the depth of my foam board. When I cut foam board I do it in top of an old ratty rug that I don't mind getting torn up a bit from the cutter. I actually keep the rug solely for the purpose of cutting things on it. 

Using my quilting ruler as a guide I cut my bolts out of 30" x 40" foam board per the diagram I drew out. I made a 23" cut across the board lengthwise and then cut the piece into 6-1/2" strips. The leftover top piece was enough to cut one more 6-1/2" x 23" bolt. After cutting my bolts I wrapped my fabric around them and secured the edge with a T pin. 

After getting my larger pieces of fabric wrapped onto my foam board bolts it was time to start organizing the rest of my fabric. The CD insert was the perfect place for storing my fat quarters and I put small fabric scraps sorted by warm and cool hues in some glass jars that I already owned. Larger, bulky fabric scraps (like the fleece left over from my DIY laptop sleeve and the fleece monogrammed scarves I made) got organized into a wire basket that I had. I put my bolts of fabric in the bottom of the bookshelf and since I had a little room left over I also squeezed in an old soda Coca-Cola crate that I bought in Japan. The crate was the perfect size for organizing my thread and on top for fun I put an antique children's sewing that I picked up in Notting Hill in London.

I'm really happy that I was able to make some sort of sense out of my fabric stash and now that I can see everything easily I'll be more likely to use what I have on hand. I'm also glad that apart from spending about $25 for foam board I already had everything else making this an inexpensive organization project. 

How do you keep your fabric stash under control? Do you have a good organization method?

Article originally appeared on homeandawaywithlisa (http://homeandawaywithlisa.com/).
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