Sewing Room Organization

I could fill a ton of blog posts with my thoughts on sewing room organization, but I'll stick to one that highlights my main storage solutions.

I arranged them by color just for this picture!

Fabric Storage

I spent a lot of time looking for ideas on how to store my fabric.  My final solution--mini-bolts--involves folding my cloth onto acid-free comic book boards.  I bought the cardboard at a local store and it only cost about $10 for a pack of 100.  I cut some into thirds and they are perfect for storing fat quarters.  Knits and cuts of fabric over 2 or 3 yards don't do as well on these, so I usually fold those flat.  I use rubberbands or clips like these to hold the fabric on the boards.  Then I line all the mini-bolts up on my bookshelves.  It's like being able to browse at a fabric store any time I want--I love it!

Pattern Storage

My patterns got a little beat up from being stored in drawers that were too big for them.  So I was very excited to find these 2 drawer units at Target (they are also carried at Lowe's and probably some other stores).  They are just the right size to store patterns on their side, and they hold a pretty good amount.  I think I have about 200 patterns, so I'd guess each 2 drawer unit holds 100-150 pretty easily.  I used some comic book boards and cut notches in them (like file folder tabs) to label my different pattern categories.

Project Storage

I have found I can trace patterns and cut out fabric fairly easily while my daughter is awake, but sewing at my machine is often out of the question.  Plus, I am one of those people who likes to have a ton of projects going at once.  So, I decided to use baskets to hold my different projects until I can get time to sew.  I put the (cut) fabric, pattern, associated notions, etc, all together, and then store them in a sweater organizer, taking them over to my sewing table when I am ready to use them.  The sweater organizer is hung from the ceiling using "swag hooks" (like you use to hang plants), and a little bit of chain to drop it down to the right height. (Thanks for the idea, mom!)

Not my notions--but if you've seen one
white drawer unit, you've seen them all...

Notions Storage

 I use a variety of containers on top of my desk to hold my seam ripper, tape measure and other frequently used notions.  I have the BEST drawer unit ever--the Vika Alex--to store my elastic, bobbins, sewing machine feet, labels, interfacing, etc.  The drawers are fairly shallow (so things don't get lost) and I use plastic containers I got from the Dollar Store inside them.  Pretty straightforward, but pretty awesome.