Tell me I’m not the only one that has too much fabric! A few years ago it was such a mess that I had a hard time finding what I needed. So I came up with a new system to help me organize my fabric. It has worked so well for me that I thought I’d share it with you today. Along with some of my favorite tips to organize fabric! If you like this post then you may also like this tour of my sewing room.
Like many of you, I’ve got quite a large stash of fabrics. I love to “collect” them in little bits. A yard here, a half a yard there… I’ve been “collecting” fabric for about 8 years now and realized a couple of years ago that my organization system was NOT working.
I could never find what I needed when I needed it. Also, I ended up forgetting about certain prints until they were found months later under a pile of stuff. Previously, I kept my fabric sorted by designer/line on my IKEA bookshelf. I just haphazardly folded the yardage and piled it up.
How to Organize Fabric:
As my blog grew, so did the number of projects I was completing on an annual basis. Not only was I collecting fabric, I was also using it almost as quickly (which is good right??). I soon realized that I needed a better system. A friend of mine told me how she used quilt rulers to fold her fabric so that it was all the same size. She also mentioned that she organized it by color, not designer.
I spent an entire week refolding and organzing ALL of my fabric. I got a big folding table out and went to work. After I was done, I was so happy with the results that I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier.
I’ve had my fabric organized that way for about 3 years now and I love the system.
Today I’m going to share with you 5 of my favorite tips for folding and organizing fabric.
1- Don’t keep it all by color
I have separate areas for large scale novelty prints, stripes and basics. For example I keep all my gingham and pin dots together.
2- How to Organize Holiday Fabric:
I keep my Christmas and Halloween fabric separate from the rest of my stash. I love to sew for holidays and think it’s easiest to keep all of that fabric together. Also, I keep my scraps in ziploc bags with the fabrics. (They are the only scraps that I store WITH my stash).
3- How I organize Fat Quarters
For the most part I store my fat quarters with my yardage. I just un fold them so they are the same size as the folded yardage. I keep my bundles together though. After I use them I sort the extras in with my stash.
4- Fold and Sort ASAP
I am not a naturally organized person, but I make myself fold my new fabric and sort it as soon as I get it. I also try to refold what I don’t use after each project. Since I spend many hours a week sewing (for this blog, and for fun), it’s important for me to try to stay on top of the mess. It does get out of control at times, but I try to keep those times few and far between.
5- How to Fold your fabric (so that it’s all the same size)
First you need to decide whether you want your piles to be 5″ wide or 6″ wide. For me the 5″ width fit perfectly inside of my IKEA bookcase. I have the expedit, I believe they have changed the name since I bought mine.
Begin by making sure that your fabric is folded with the selvage edges even and is as flat as possible. If the selvage edges are off (for example if the fabric was folded at an off angle previously) I take the time to refold it the right way.
Lay your ruler on top of the fabric, with about 3″ of fabric over the top of the ruler.
Fold the fabric over the top of the ruler.
Then using the ruler as a guide, fold the fabric again, making sure to hold onto the part of the fabric that you folded over the first time. Keep folding until you get to the end.
When you get to the end, pull the ruler out and fold the fabric in half.
You now have a perfectly folded fabric, that will look great stacked up on your shelf. The best part is when you want to use it, you just unfold it and cut the part off that you want, then re fold it and it keeps it’s shape.
The stack of fabric above was folded with a 6″ wide quilt ruler, just so you can get a feel for the difference in size from 5″ to 6″.
Do you guys have a favorite way you keep your fabric organized? What about your scraps? I’m terrible with scraps!
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Mardie says
September 2, 2017 at 1:51 AMDid you read my mind?? I am moving my sewing room to another room this weekend and I just sorted through all my fabric and tossed what I don’t need any more! My system is a bit different since I have large, 3+ yards of pieces for clothing, and then smaller pieces for quilts, purses etc. I fold my large pieces into 1/2 by 1 yard bits, then hang them on a pants hanger on a free-standing clothes rack that also holds my WIP clothing. The small pieces are all tossed, unfolded (!) into plastic bins. The bins are marked stretch (plain), stretch (print), cotton (plain), etc. I have a separate scrap bin that is always full LOL!
I know this might sound crazy to the more organized sewers out there, but it works for me, as I rummage through my stash all the time. Keeping them in plastic bins also protects them from our cat, or from odors (deep fry fat, paint, smoke…) that our flat building sadly produces. So yeah my sewing room might not look as amazing and inspiring as your IKEA closet but in the end it’s about what works!
Ria says
September 2, 2017 at 8:22 AMHi, my sewing room is pretty much organised like yours, but I fold the fabric on cardboard and stand it up on the shelves like books, also in colour order and I keep checks, spots and stripes separate. I am pretty happy with my stash and how I keep it.
Joyce says
September 2, 2017 at 12:31 PMyes, I agree. Both ways are great!!
Wendie Fisher says
January 28, 2018 at 8:25 PMI am going to try the ruler trick for sure. My fabric stash is organized by color but I have yet to find containers that are all the same size to put the colors in. I have Rubbermaid tubs, an old dresser that has been refinished, and other cloth baskets. Sometimes I gather fabrics for a project and put those with the pattern. Kinda random for sure except for the color sorting.
Nancy says
September 2, 2017 at 3:54 AMI organize my fabrics just like you except I put the light reds together, medium reds together etc. For fabric that has more than a yard, I wrap the fabric on card board (there is a you tube showing how to do it).
Jean says
September 2, 2017 at 8:03 AMI sort my stash by color and print similar to the way you sort yours. Then I measure each piece of fabric, write down the dimensions and fold etch type of fabric (i.e. red dot) onto a piece of comic book cardboard. That way I know exactly how much of each fabric I have when I get ready to start a project.
It’s a bit of work to get the system started but the results are worth the trouble.
Kate says
January 7, 2019 at 9:57 PMI have been wanting to reorganize with color and then the amount of fabric I have. Question- how do you mark the amount of fabric?
Melissa Mortenson says
January 9, 2019 at 3:24 PMI don’t mark it. I can kinda tell by the thickness of the stack. So far it hasn’t been a problem.
Karen B says
September 2, 2017 at 8:39 AMGreat tips! I’ve always organized by color, but it’s never been neat. I will definitely use the ruler trick to unify it all. Thank you!! And oh my! I am ogling your fabric! ::drool::
Sandy Bailey says
September 2, 2017 at 9:30 AMI use comic book boards that are 8.5″ x 11″.
For half yard and longer cuts of fabric, I use the board full size. Match salvages and bring the folded edge down to meet the selvage. Overlap an inch or two on the board and begin folding. I secure with a straight pin in the corner.
For fat quarters, I cut the boards into fourths. I follow the same method as above. Place your selvage edge towards you and fold down until it fits the size of your board and then fold as above.
I keep my yardage in a shelved cabinet and fat quarters in a chest of drawers. AMAZING !
Wish this would let me add a photo!
AJ says
September 28, 2017 at 9:03 AMThanks for the folding and organizing tips. Do you wash your cotton + fabric before storing away?
Jolene says
September 2, 2017 at 9:45 AMThanks for sharing your storing tips for fabric. I feel like I am constantly sorting through fabric bits and pieces. I like the idea of using a ruler to keep the fabric folded in a uniform size. To date, the most helpful tool for me is to use the large 2.5 gallon Hefty storage bags. This helps me organize fabrics by projects and allows me to stand them up in a large fabric bin. I too, have dreams of a completely organized sewing room, that is magazine perfect ready–a girl can dream!
Amy says
September 2, 2017 at 10:05 AMI love the giraffe fabrics! How do I purchase/find them? Great post!
Cheryl Schultz says
September 2, 2017 at 12:36 PMI sort mine by color and also use plastic bins. I am concerned about the edges of folded fabric getting faded from daylight if I don’t use it for a long time. Because I have the luxury of an extra room for my sewing, my husband converted the closet to all heavy duty shelving. I also sort my precuts by colors and prints, like baby or floral, holidays are also separated. I keep the doors shut when I’m not sewing.
Kerry says
September 3, 2017 at 4:34 AMI’m trying to stay organised. I use the acid-free comic cardboard to wind the fabric around. Larger and bulkier yardage is folded around a ruler and stacked sideways so they are about the same height. I have different sections for batiks, novelties, sets of fabrics that I intend to do quilts with (some have been waiting a long time!), solids get put in with tone on tones, and I seem to have a lot of florals! Christmas fabrics are in a basket and plaids and ginghams are kept in a storage box with pull-out drawers (it is small). As I’ve only just started piecing much more I have a fair amount of scrap fabric so they also go in the pull-out storage box systems. In there I’ve tried to work to Bonnie Hunter’s scrap system and each strip width is in a separate zip lock bag. Squares are also in sections. Triangles are more lumped together to cut to size later. Anything not big enough to wrap round an acid-free card goes in the storage drawers marked “large scraps”. And everything else is shoved and squeezed in nooks and crannies until they find a home!
Robin (RsIslandCrafts) says
September 3, 2017 at 7:50 PMEarlier this year I went through the same process as you. I previously had my fabrics wrapped around cardboard but that was taking up too much space and I couldn’t see what I had. I used my 6″ ruler and that fit nicely on my shelves with a little moving room on each side of the stacks. Now I can easily find my fabrics and they take up much less space. I’ve been going through my scraps and ironing and cutting them to certain sizes. Then I store them in bright colorful plastic shoe boxes that I bought at the Dollar Tree. Now when I just want to play with my fabric I can grab a box of scraps and have fun.
June Neigum says
September 5, 2017 at 5:42 PMI fold my fabric like you but will sort the holiday fabrics out as that never occurred to me. I have drawers of strips and squares according to Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville Blog. I love scraps!
Mary says
September 7, 2017 at 9:10 AMI do the same ruler folding method and sorting as you do also keeping my holiday fabrics separate. I also will match up pairs or sets of fabric that I bought together for certain projects. I keep all of my fabrics scraps in bins… admittedly I do need to sort them at the moment! lol I am looking for a better method for the fat quarters tho as the bins method I have now isn’t as organized as I would like…. I need to sort them by color too I guess.
Gwen says
September 7, 2017 at 9:26 AMYour shelves are beautiful. I organize more by type and quantity of yardage since I tend to sew dresses or other larger items.
For scraps, I separate them into two “styles” and then store them in those big clear vinyl zipper bags that comforters and other linens come in. The tiny scraps, threads, and leftovers from my pinking sheers go in one bag to be recycled as needed and possible for stuffing in any plush items. (Recycling, Upcycling, and Re-using are a big part of my sewing values) The second group of larger scraps get their own see-through bag in hope for the day that I sew something smaller or quilt or something. I did make a reversible scarf the other day and dug in there for the backing fabric.
Happy Sewing!
Barbara Dobree says
September 8, 2017 at 3:11 AMWhat size of comic book cardboard do you use? I see there are different sizes.
Ruth Sunday says
September 9, 2017 at 5:01 PMI use a similar method. When we moved back into OUR house after living elsewhere for 5 years, I knew just where everything went. After all, I only bought fabric as I used fabric… Well couple of problems with that one. But, here’s where my system differs. My top shelf is very high (no cubbies, just shelf, about 18″ high. So on the top shelf go all the fabrics that are 1/4 yard to 2 yards in size, sorted by color. Below on the two lower shelves go yardage – bigger than 2 yards. Yardage is sorted by color and is generally below or beside the smaller pieces of same color above. Where I made my mistake is that I used the ruler to wind my fabric… The ruler was very wide and I could only get 2 stacks of fabric on each shelf instead of the prior 3 stacks from before I moved. I also found that while I pretty much replaced yard for yard, I had grown in my quilting and now had things I never had before – BIG floral designs, holiday, animals, patriotic, orientals that just didn’t fit into the color sort – so into bins those fabrics went. Scraps, I have a little plastic set of 3 drawers. Anything smaller than 1/4 yard is a scrap. There is a drawer for light, a drawer for medium and a drawer for dark. When I build up too many scraps to close the drawers – I stop what I’m doing and make a scrap quilt or two. I do like the open space in the yardage area I have now as it is easier to access those pieces of fabric. I also use the 24″ ruler like a giant spatula to slide my lengths of fabric smoothly onto the stack.
Elana goldberg says
September 13, 2017 at 10:03 AMI fold my fabric also on comic book cardboards. I sort by color but keep novelties, batiks, stripes and solids separate. I have a wide section of just solids that is very helpful to have standing on its own. For fat quarters, I fold them without cardboard but all in uniform ways. Those are sorted and in clear refrigerator plastic bins but honestly, it’s not working so well. I really need a dresser with drawers for them. My real problem are the small scraps sorted. Y color that are overflowing from bins. The pieces fairly small and not easily bundles do they just spill over. . I also have bins of novelty precursors or scraps larger than fat quarter but not big enough for cardboards. I have a huge mess and try to stay organized, but admittedly things need some straightening right now. I don’t have a good set up overall in my studio and that needs to be the next step- then sorting.
Elana goldberg says
September 13, 2017 at 10:06 AMSorry for all the typos. bottom line-I appreciate your organizing tips.
Sue says
December 2, 2017 at 9:30 PMI’m in desperate need of a way to sort/store scraps! I have a problem…….I can’t throw anything away……lol Any suggestions?
Debbie says
February 6, 2018 at 11:20 AMI sorted by color several years ago (with some exceptions for Christmas and big print fabrics). I have wire drawers….but the problem is that my sewing room is in our basement (unfinished) and we have those little furry critters (i.e. mice!!! UGH!) so I’ve started putting all my fabric in the larger plastic containers that salad greens come in. Keeps the mice out, but allows the fabric to “breathe”. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for storing fabric in open containers (like the wire pull out baskets) and keeping the mice at bay? The plastic containers are economical, but I can’t utilize all the space because they don’t fit just right into the drawers.
Melissa Mortenson says
February 9, 2018 at 2:58 PMUgh, that’s the worst! We had mice several years ago, not fun!
Michelle says
March 13, 2018 at 5:24 PMI would love to stack my fabric the same , however, I’m worried about dust accumulation
Michelle
Marijan Luvlee says
October 3, 2018 at 11:55 PMOh my! I got so excited seeing that I have some of those animal patterns you just featured… Anyway, I’ve been having a hard time organizing my fabrics. I do love to collect too and I just ordered a bunch (actually a lot *grin*) of new patterns and I don’t know how to store them. I don’t want to buy new racks or shelves because I have a very small bedroom (which I also use as my sewing room). I really wish I could move to a new place with a spacious sewing room very soon but until that day comes, I think I’ll try stacking them just like you did.
Nana says
November 8, 2018 at 2:06 PMSuch a pretty stash. I want to do this with my fabric. I have so much fabric that I have it in tubs and no real order. I want to color coordinate them. I think I would like open shelves like you did it. How did you do it? Little at a time? Or take the plunge and just pile it up and start? Feeling overwhelmed right now. Not utilizing what I have and adding fabric when I start a project instead of searching the tubs. Any suggestions?
Melissa Mortenson says
November 8, 2018 at 5:18 PMYes, a little at a time. I set up a card table in my extra room and dumped the fabric onto it in batches until it was all folded. Now it drives me crazy for it not to be folded.
Peggy says
January 28, 2019 at 9:20 AMI have some concerns, does fabric need to be stored open. I mean not in plastic bins with covers and plastic zip lock bags? Should they be stored in fabric bin without lids?
Dana Hsrris says
March 20, 2019 at 8:52 PMTo Peggy: When storing fabric, a lot may depend on your location and climate. If moisture can get into your bin and it is tightly closed, it can cause mold. So my sister-in-law in Houston stores stuff loose in a closet with the door ajar and moves things around frequently to aid in air circulation. I live in a much drier area, so I store in plastic bins without snapping the lid tight all the way around. This is helped by the fact that most of them are too full to be closed completely, LOL! But I do have to be concerned about fading from strong sunlight, and lots of dust and cat hair. So my bins are opaque or covered with sheeting. There is still some fading if it sits a long time, because light leaks around the blinds. It is just not practical for me to store fabric on open shelves, so you may need to experiment for what works for you. Good Luck!