When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Organised!

As with all things, the gears of inspiration need to be oiled.  My latest attempt at restimulating the seemingly frozen gears of my creative ebb and flow has been to pick up where I left off in organising my sewing room.  I recently felt the need to see who was doing what in the world and found this blog:  Fabric Therapy.  Do a search for "Stash Organizing" and you will see the most incredible series of tips on how to tame the Stash Beast. 

I had started my reorganising project earlier in the year with my entire basement in mind.  From the images here you can see that I have done an okay job in getting stuff organised.  I almost wish I had pictures from before I started.  My sewing dungeon was crazy horrible.  It looked like an episode of Hoarders.  Okay, not quite that bad, but it was pretty bad.  I did manage to force some order out of the chaos that is my fabric stash.  Most of it is safe from the creepy crawlies that share my subterranean space.  I did manage to get some space in the Studio organised as well.  The Lab, not so much, but it's a big job and I am still not quite positive what I want to do or how I wish to deal with it as it holds more than just paint and horses...there's more...so much more...  I shudder to think about how I want to deal with this space.

As luck would have it, finding the Fabric Therapy site inspired me to renew my efforts to get things organised.  This time I would focus specifically my Sewing Dungeon and eat that elephant first!

Presently I am working on the fat quarters/half yards.  So far I have gone through four boxes and redistributed these into thirty-two shoe boxes.  Sixteen for each size as the shelving space allows for twelve to sixteen boxes depending on the type of box.  This starting point has helped immensely in getting the fat quarters all in one place and neatly divided up.  The expandability of the system is great as my various yardage gets cut down/used up or I obtain more fabric (which I am still on a self-imposed fabric buying moratorium two years and counting).  The half yards will be sorted in much the same way as the Fat Quarters.  The plan is to do the single yards in much the same way using shoe boxes if possible or if I must, go to a deeper/larger box.  By doing this it will get the fabric where I can see it and when I am ready to create I don't exhaust myself hunting through box after box trying to find the fabric I am looking to use.  I will have it right at my finger tips.  More time to play and sew if I spend less time fiddling around with finding stuff.

Welcome to my Dungeon:



Southeast wall.  Non-cottons. And miscellaneous crap on my table.

South wall.  Cottons, mostly. And a lovely view of the shit I have on my table.

South wall, more cottons and more crap.

South wall, even more cottons and some more shit.

Not all my fabric is in neat yards or fat quarters, I have strips, strips and more strips.  For these I have implemented the Bonnie Hunter Scrap User's System organised these otherwise unruly bits of cotton into four different widths (see the blue lidded boxes on the middle shelves) which will be sorted into shoe boxes by size and colour.  Odd sized scraps will be dealt with when I get there (the maroon/purple lidded box on top).  One must first learn to crawl before one can run!  :)

Progress!  You can actually see where this is going!

 In addition to cottons, and non cottons, I have fleece.  All of it.  Seriously, I have a major fleece problem, scratch that HAD a major fleece problem.  I am slowly weeding through my fleece and getting it used up.  It takes time which I have precious little of these days, but I do have a wonderful working system based loosely on Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System.  This has proven to be quite effective in taming the fleece beast. 

Yard and yard plus lengths are hung on hangers in the Fleece Closet.  Anything less than a yard is started on The Process, with each stage using the remaining material from the previous cut.  It's a great way to get the most out of my fleece investment and at $9+ a yard, I'd better be getting my investment's worth!

Ponoe Pads

Buoys

6" squares

Mice/Wedgies

Tails/Fins

after all this the leftovers are pretty much confetti.  This confetti and the cotton I just can't bear to throw these slivers away even tho I can't use thems are going to become filler for pet beds.  I have some horrible polyesters in patterns that would make you seasick lurking in the Non Cotton Boxes and I just can't bare to throw it away, so they will be used for a good purpose.  Waste not, want not as I am often heard to say when it comes to my hobbies.

My hope is to have this Sewing Dungeon in working order by the end of the coming year, if I am lucky perhaps I can manage to get The Studio and The Lab organised as well. 

I just have to remember that in order to eat an elephant you must take one bite at a time.  CHOMP!

Peach Out Apricots!
heart, Morg