Stash Organization...

[Magelet]

I'm trying to organize my stash. We just moved and so it's rather a mess. (ok, it's no more mess than it was pre-move.) but it's so bad, I can't find my sewing scissors! which completely defeats the purpose of a stash, no?


I already have a big plastic tub/bin with a lid for most of my fabric storage. I'm thinking about keeping my broken sewing basket (only the handle broke off. it's still fine for sitting in one place) for "tools" such as pins, scissors, rotary cutter, needles, alternative sewing machine feet(if I ever find it it was an expensive gift), etc), a shoe box or other box for threads a shoebox or other box for notions (and maybe embroidery thread here too? or with threads), a plastic bin for WIPs (I've a ton.), and a smaller plastic bin for quilting peices (peices too small for anything but quilting.) with two smaller bins for tiny scraps useable for quilting, and tiny scraps too small for quilting/thread scraps etc (these I use for stuffing plushies pillows etc.)

Things this plan wouldn't create storage for:
the flat desk peice thing for my sewing machine that's maybe 2 ft by 1.5 ft
my cutting mat (again, if/when I find it)
my quilting ruler
3 pillow forms, 2 bags of stuff, batting, interface etc.
yarn, knitting needles, crochet hooks
15-20 or so patterns ( I may give away a few of these, because many of them wouldn't fit me anymore)


Is this nutso? We're house sitting at the moment, but will probably move back into a studio apartment (for two of us and a cat) in a few months. I can't imagine taking up most of the storage of our place with 3 big plastic bins plus my sewing machine and other stuff. on the other hand, I think big plastic bins would look nicer, be easier to use, preserve my fabric better (no dust or wrinkles), and I'd use it more because I could fine things.

How would you organize the other stuff that isn't in my proposed plan?

how do you organize a medium stash in a small space?

any other advice or feedback? Thanks!!

[ms.shell]

Okay. It sounds like everything you are talking about would fit under a table. Plus, if you had a table, then you could put the cutting mat/ ruler etc on there and that is where you would work. SO I think you need to find a place for a table and organize your stash underneath. The wall above the table could/ should be used too.

And/or a large chest.

I have both. I just put my former kitchen table (which I love and is the only piece of furniture I have personally purchased) in the sewing room when we inherited another kitchen table and chairs. I love it and lots of boxes and bins fit underneath. I also have a big red chest which was made as a child's toy box (it's really big for that, tho). It has shelves on the back, too. There is a garbage bag in there full of "stuffing scraps" and also felt scraps, as well as another bin of fabric that I dont need to get to often (and other stuff, too).

There are pictures on my blog. But not of the new table, yet, which is much better than the makeshift one I made. There is also a small spaces organization post there, too, which may have more ideas for you.

[courtenay_e]

Um, I have a ridiculously large stash (worked at a fabric store through much of high school and college). That said, much of what you have would work well with my setup. I have a kitchen style (but a little narrower) table that I got for free from Thom McAnn when they went out of business (I worked there for a few months my senior year in high school). Perpindicular to that, at it's corner, I have a cutting table. The kind that has two leaves which fold down. It is quite compact when it it folded down, but HUGE when it is up. You could put the bin (s) under the sewing table and the cutting table at the end of it--closed when you're not using it and open when you are. My mom has been sewing for years and says my setup is perfect, she wishes she had a space just like it. I can put my machine at the end of the sewing table and use it like a desk if I need the space for work or study.

[sewchris2642]

I use sterilite storage drawers (http://www.sterilite.com/home.html?section=1) for my sewing stuff. The small 3 drawer cube holds machine accessories. The next size up holds chalk squares, small tracing templates, bias strip makers, extra pins and safety pins, small scissors, extra needles I use at the sewing machine. I have a pencil cup for scissors, chop sticks, tracing wheel, etc. next to the sewing machine. A storage unit on wheels holds my threads, sorted by spools and cones and color. Individual drawers hold fabrics, interfacings, etc. labeled and were in the hall closet on shelves when I didn't have a dedicated sewing room. I sacrificed my hall coat closet for sewing storage. Coats were hung in the bedroom closet and guest coats were laid on the bed. The sewing machine was permanently set up at one end of the dining room table; we ate at the other end. I still use the same system but now have everything in a sewing room. And use 2 6' banquet tables to sew on.