Stash Taming with Elizabeth Dackson from Don't Call Me Betsy
Welcome to another day of Stash Taming in our Spring Cleaning Series. Below, Elizabeth Dackson of the Don't Call Me Betsy blog answers some questions about how she organizes her fabric stash!
How do you store and organize scraps?
I sort my scraps in two ways - by color, and to some extent, by size. String scraps go into my strings drawer, selvages into my selvage drawer, and then any other sized scraps go into bins sorted by color. I've got a bin for pretty much every color of the rainbow, plus a second bin for my blue scraps, as I seem to have the most of those.
How do you store and organize the rest of your fabric - by color, yardage, both?
Primarily, I sort by color. My fat quarters and fat eights are sorted by color in drawers, and everything larger than that is wrapped on a comic book backing board and sorted on three bookcases by color. I also have an area for the multicolored fabrics that simply defy any organization!
Here's the link to that tutorial I used for wrapping my fabric on the boards -http://cuttopieces.blogspot.com/2011/02/fabric-folding-tutorial.html - I usually just buy my boards at my local comic book store, which happens to be super close to my house! I've also attached the best picture I have at the moment of my fabric organization, from my drawers of fat quarters and string and selvage scraps, to my bookcases of fabric, with my scrap bins sorted by color sitting on top of the bookcases.
How do you decide what to buy/acquire?
I buy what I like. For a while, I tried to buy based on colors I needed, and sometimes I still do that a bit, but I typically buy what I like. I don't usually have a project in mind when I'm shopping, I just feel the need for some new fabric!How does destashing work for you? Do you destash? How?
I'm actually thinking about my first destash at the moment, simply because I'm running out of space for fabric! I'm thinking of doing it via Instagram and Twitter, as low-muss and low-fuss as possible. I just need to sit down and go through all my fabrics first.Are you satisfied with your fabric collection? (Do you have too much, too little, just right?!)
Um, I think perhaps I have just the right amount at the moment, maybe just a wee bit too much! I love to look at my fabrics, and even more than that, I love to shop from my stash for my projects.Thanks for joining us, Elizabeth. I'm pretty sure we are all sitting here with our mouths open at your beautifully organized fabric corner in the picture above! If any readers have any spring cleaning tips they want to share with Pink Castle readers, send a note to megan@pinkcastlefabrics.com. We'd love more guest posts about organizing notions, your WIPs, and cataloguing/capturing inspiration and ideas. :)
Comments
Your room looks amazing! I just have one question—do you ever worry about the fabric fading being exposed on the shelves like that? How about dust? I am just asking because I really love it out to look at—but I am such a SLOW quilter, that I think mine would fade before it all got used! LOL
February 13 2013 at 01:02 PM
I have little room so I like the ideal of bins. Only bins take up room too. What am I to do? I guess I’ll keep on buying fabric. I’m addicted.
February 13 2013 at 03:02 PM