Fabric Folding - The Stashformation
March 4th, 2007
On my fabric folding quest, the quest to be organized… all it was was a plan. A plan for some day. My first step was to get all my fabric out of their Rubbermaid prisons and into my cupboards. Well that was easy cheezy (sans now I have to put all those Rubbermaid’s into the attic). So here you have it. Cupboard #1. The proverbial “BEFORE” shot. It’s been this way for well over a week. I could use the excuse I’ve been bit by a nasty flu bug, and, well, you know… it’s just an excuse. I figured hey, it’s behind closed doors so it must be nice and neat.
All that changed after Autum showed me what she’s done! Right there in my email were two of the most amazing BEFORE and AFTER photos of Autum’s glorious fabric stash transformation - a stashformation! Thinking our email chat was going to be about the weather and Lost… WOWIE ZOWIE she lit my fire! One cupboard. I’ll start with one cupboard! So here it is, my first cupboard! I want to get more shelves, but for now my colors will have to stack as they are.
I have to say, this was fun. Not so much the process, but knowing the end result was going to be magical. That’s really dorky (I’m borrowing that from Autum too), but it really is an amazing result. I know because my little girl power group of friends (MoKaCoCo as we call ourselves… Me, Karen, Connie “blop” & Cortne’) recently spent a few fun filled days refolding my friend Karen’s fabric (who I learned this folding method from) in her new studio. I wish I could show off some photos, but Karen’s studio is going to be featured in a mag so it’s all hush-hush for now and I could be thrown in the slammer if I did. You’ll just have to take my word for it that you’ll be in a When Harry Met Sally moment when you see it!
By looking at the first two photos, it looks like there’s the same amount of fabric. Oh not so mon ami! Hidden in all those piles was not just yardage… but fat quarters too! Lots and lots of fat quarters! Anything over ⅓ yard got folded with the 6½” ruler, anything below that - fat quarters and large scraps got folded with the 3½” ruler and put into one of the floor cupboards (that supports my work table).
A game of hide and seek, and I was “it”… all the little teenie tiny scraps got tagged and corralled into a little basket. Too precious and too usable to chuck - but too small to organize. So in a basket they went. I still can’t believe I found all these little gems hiding in my stash.
This is just one cupboard, and I have like five or six more cupboards to go. I feel like I’m on my way to my own little cotton bliss. Just looking at my neat fabric feels like that feeling you get when you walk into a Crate & Barrel or the Container Store - everything is just so tidy, colorful and pretty that it screams HAPPY. To have that feeling with my own stash is really something. If you’re reading this and think I’m Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs… well, you’re actually kinda right. BUT… if you give this a try, I promise you will love it. Come. Come and drink the fabric folding Kool-Aid. Start with say 10 pieces of fabric. Just ten. You’ll get to piece ten and you’ll say to yourself, “just a few more”. And so on, and so on, and so on…
Big gooey non-contagious-flu-bug-free smack of a kiss to Autum!
Posted in Quilty n Crafty, How I Live |
Unsupervised quilting, crafting, mischief and absurdity from my teenie weenie tiny little studio in the woods on the North Oregon coast.
I wish it were possible to organize everything in my house that neatly. What’s even better, all it cost was time. Thanks for the kool-aid, Cocoa Puff!
March 4th, 2007Oh MY GOSH!!!! I want to get off the computer right now and fold my fabric! Too bad I don’t have handy-dandy shelves like you do. I have nowhere to store my stuff, so it’s here and there, mostly in the basement. One of these days! :) I can fold it tho.
March 4th, 2007You guys are ruiners. I’M NOT DRINKING IT. I’M NOT.
March 4th, 2007Nice to know that you got all that accomplished while having the floosy! See there is a positive!! Love, it!
March 4th, 2007Yeah, right. Never in a bazillion years will my fabric look so spiffy.
March 4th, 2007Drink the Kool-aid… drink the Kool-aid… drink the Kool-aid…
March 4th, 2007Oh my - so inspiring!!! Your fabric looks so beautiful!
March 5th, 2007I hope to see all of this studio goodness in person soon!
March 5th, 2007I love this! Your fabric is neatly folded, and color coordinated. Yum!
How do all these crafters keep getting into magazines? That’s pretty cool.
I love the fabric organization! How do you fold all those pesky scraps that aren’t remotely a foldable shape anymore?
March 5th, 2007I started folding a weee bit this weekend - it is addictive.
March 5th, 2007Wow, wanna come by my house? Come on, Kansas isn’t that far to travel to help a poor, poor sole organize.
Your room looks wonderful. You did a great job.
March 5th, 2007The folding bug must be going around! I started my small little stash and it’s still in progress, but the satisfaction!!!
March 5th, 2007C’mon Monica…you know you want to visit Charlevoix…you know how much fabric I have to fold… Love your kool-aid….and miss you tons. L
March 5th, 2007Wow… to have that much fabric! :D Can’t wait to see all this in person.
Oh, I dropped off a note in your mailbox–but as it’s locked, your note is just on the outside of the inner door. :D
March 5th, 2007I’m going to drink the Kool Aid - because I want fabric stacks like that!
March 5th, 2007Is it wrong that I can sit here and gaze at that picture for so long?…(as she passes her glass over for more yummy kool aid)
March 6th, 2007Hey, are those towels from IKEA I see in the top pictures??? I love those towels. :)
Odd, but true… no IKEA here. The big stack are all Moda repo tablecloths. Middle stack are napkins from a little shop in Langley, WA waiting to be made into something, left stack are dishtowels from a little shop (Between Friends?) here in Astoria (wow - they do look like those blue and white towels from IKEA!). BUT… in my kitchen, the drawers are bursting with IKEA towels. SOOOO not gonna show a photo of that! I guess I should pretty up this shelf too! - Monica
March 6th, 2007OK, I have total and complete stash jealousy now, let alone studio jealousy lol! One day I will have a room as beautiful as yours! But I completely love your folding tutorial and once I get shelves, I will be using it! Oh and BTW…you’re thank you will be done and in the mail to you very soon. been having pregnancy/baby issues BLAH!
March 6th, 2007I don’t think you are dorky at all - I completely relate! I’ve had my shelves like this for years. I can only stand just so much disarray, and then I have to stop sewing for several days - enough time to tidy everything up. I think it’s so much easier to use a stash when it’s stored like this - you can tell exactly what you have. If you are at all interested you can see pictures of my stash in my first couple months of blogging life - the end of January and February, 2006
March 6th, 2007Please tell us which magazine and which issue. I’ve heard so much about Karen’s studio from my friend.
March 6th, 2007It’s beautiful and your tutorial is great. So practical and common sense, but I sure didn’t think of it!
March 6th, 2007I loved your tutorial and folded all my 30’s fabrics!!! They look so nice now. If you ever want to do a fabric scrap swap let me know! I have lots of 30’s prints plus Freshcut, Amy Butler, Kaffe F. etc.
March 14th, 2007oops! I typed my website address too fast on my comment.
March 14th, 2007I wish I could be so organized… I’m 60 years old, an have been wishing this for over 40 years… Putting up, storing, and stashing different types of yarns and threads, and crochetting and knitting, and macreme accesseries, hooks, needles, beads, different sizes of squiggly eyes, velcro, yarn needles, broach pins, magnets, barrettes, eyelettes, plastic heads and hands, plastic canvass, different sizes of safety pins, ribbon, felt, etc….
September 8th, 2008Beautiful site and lovely tutorial.
September 8th, 2008Connie
I’ve folded my fabrics in the same manner. It is much neater to color coordinate and when a fabric is needed, easier to find. I have a collections of fabric for sewing, quilting, crafting and other fun stuff which I didn’t realized til I started to fold the fabric neatly.
October 14th, 2008