A place for everything...

Every year around this time I get this overwhelming feeling of "Oh I have way too much stuff! I must purge!" Last year I was very successful at this, and I hope the boxes and boxes I gave away have found good homes. This year, however, my fabric stash was preying on my mind. I tried to organize it doing the old fold and stack method, but I never wanted to touch it for fear of toppling it, so I just kept adding to it. I don't know why, but I was getting this overwhelming feeling of "Gah!!! What am I going to DO with it all?" and so I avoided it.

Now, I don't have a sewing room. My stash is mainly on some shelves in the spare bedroom. And in a big plastic storage tote. And in some dresser drawers. Or, I should say, WAS. A few weeks ago, I read a stash-changing post here. And this past snowy Saturday I made a thermos of tea and committed myself to organization.

I had myself a grand old time (fabric addicts will understand, others will quietly mumble "Weirdo." That's ok--I get that). There was something soothing about unfolding and refolding my fabric and making mini-bolts and pretty little stacks of things. My mumsy helped me for a bit (she feigned excitement nicely) and my sister helped with comments like "What are you going to do with it all? What possessed you to buy all this? Did you ever even use most of these? You could totally sell this." All valid comments, but lacking in fabric addiction understanding.

So here are my pictures--these are taken after I bagged up of a lot of things that I will never, ever use and don't even know why I bought. My stash that seemed overwhelming now seems manageable and more inspirational. My stash was minuscule in comparison to some I have seen, but there was enough to make me realize I'd better start using some of it. ANYway, here you go:

I tried to organize more by color but I have several that don't fit anywhere. On these bolts are cuts a half yard and above. I taped the ends with blue painter's tape and wrote the length on that.

 This is my "sizable scrap" box. It holds fat quarters and odd large cuts of fabric. With most of these there is enough to make some decent sized items, but it would have been ridiculous to waste a board on them.

This big bin holds things that I have patchwork ideas for. It's almost full so I'd better get moving.

 This one holds zippers. And nothing else. There must be almost 100 in here of every color. I will probably never use these in my lifetime but will buy more anyway. Because of every color I have I am lacking in black and white, the two I use most.

 The pink bucket holds all of my sets of wooden and plastic bag handles. I can't take anything out though, because if I take one out it's all coming out there are so many in there. The jars in front hold buttons, assorted D-rings and bolt snap hooks and lanyard hooks.

 You may think this one holds plastic bags, but it holds an obscene amount of magnetic snaps (seriously, what is WRONG with me?) as well as oodles of purse frames, both straight and curvy. I'm keeping them wrapped so they don't scratched so it's not the greatest shot, but trust me. It's embarrassing.

So there you have it. I seriously got rid of so much that I think it'd have taken me an extra day if I hadn't. The only other spot I have fabric is in that big plastic storage tote--it's home dec type stuff and some bits of flannel and linen that are still of a usable size but didn't fit with the rest of my cottons.

I seriously feel much less overwhelmed with it all. It's easy now to scan what I have and have an idea of how much there is. It's easier to try and pair things up because everything is accessible. And it beats the landfill-sized pile of plastic bags that half the stuff was in, as well as the leaning fabric towers I had constructed.

Over Christmas I organized my sewing corner. I bought one of these wheeled-drawer plastic thingees and put everything from my sewing table in there. The bottom drawer is all patterns. The top drawer is threads, bobbins, machine feet, and other things I want quick access to. The middle drawer are things I use fairly frequently but can be a bit more buried. I have so much more room on the table now and there aren't a gazillion boxes and bags overflowing with stuff.

I feel so much better now that everything is in its place that it's almost like that feeling you got after you gave a speech in history class or something and realized you were all done with that angst-inducing experience.

Happy Friday!