Buying and owning fabric is easy but organizing it is truly challenging for some quilters.
So here are my personal tips for fabric storage!
1. Categorize your fabrics!
The categories I use are:
- Near Solids - to me this includes tonals/blenders, low volume, anything that looks solid-ish from across a large room (mine are displayed on my Billy bookcases, it is a great photo backdrop too)
- Solids
- Large Quantity e.g. 3 to 4 yards plus for quilt backs
- Novelty Prints
- Florals (that don't fit other categories)
- Civil War reproduction/traditional prints
- 30s reproduction prints
- Non-quilt fabric (e.g. clothing fabrics etc.)
- Fat quarter bundles (mine are on display on my shelves because they are so cute!)
- Charm squares (sit well on CD shelves)
- Layer cakes (mine are standing like books on a shelf)
- Jelly Rolls (look cute stacked on a shelf)
- Batiks
- Bolts of bulk fabric
- De-stash fabrics you want to use or gift ASAP
2. Fold your fabrics consistently!
Here's my method:
3. Consider the weight of the fabric!
Whatever shelving you choose needs to be sturdy!
I bought this old library cart on Craigslist for $10 many years ago and spray painted it a cute turquoise. Because it is made for books it is strong with great castors!
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| I store large quantity quilt back stash on the cart |
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| Fabric can be a visual muse inspiring you daily! |
But if you are on a tight budget look for old shelving on Facebook Marketplace or in thrift stores, because older furniture was made heavier and sturdier!
Tubs and bins will need to be sturdy too, so keep than in mind when purchasing them.
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| This sturdy metal tub is perfect for my civil war/traditional prints stash! |
4. Store tonals/blender fabrics by color and create groups sorted from dark to light!
This makes finding the right piece of fabric for a project easy!
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| These look great stacked on Billy bookcase shelves |
5. Make sure what you use most is within reach!
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I use a lot of solids, so my fat quarter bundles of solids are in a handy location. |
It may be necessary to store some fabric in large tubs/bins but this makes access hard. So, consider what you need at hand when allocating storage space.
I hope you found this helpful if you struggle with fabric stash organization!