Hi friends,
My fabric stash and I had an embarrassing moment recently. (Not that embarrassing, but – well, you'll see). Anyway, I've been thinking about it, and I'm looking for a little perspective and some creative storage ideas. I'm hoping you can help!
I live in a teeny-tiny apartment, and so I have to be creative with how I store my various crafty stashes. Organizing patterns is easy (they go into a three-ring binder – one for sewing/quilting, another for knitting/crochet) and so is keeping track of the tools of my trade. Heck, the tools are even labelled!
As for yarn, I keep big projects stashed in a storage boxes (thank you, Ikea) – but I like to keep my favourite yarns out on display. This is where all my vintage bowls come in handy!
As for fabric – well.
With shelf and closet space at a premium, I have been storing my fabric in...my ottoman. I mean, it's advertised as having storage space, so why not store things in it? And so I've been packing fabric into it. For three years. (You'll notice I don't have a picture of that part of my stash.) No biggie, right?
Wrong. Not that long ago, I invited some friends over for dinner. One of them decided to edge the seemingly innocuous piece of furniture closer to the coffee table (and, ahem, the appetizers). And that person, who is a paramedic and routinely does all sorts of heavy lifting, was absolutely unable to shift that ottoman. She exclaimed, "Dude, what the heck is in here? Your boulder collection?!"
"No," I said. "Just fabric." Just a shockingly heavy amount of fabric.
Cue the shocked silence (and maybe an eye-roll) from a crowd of non-sewers. And for some reason, I was embarrassed!
To be clear, I don't usually buy fabric on a whim. I usually have a project in mind, and buy accordingly. Every so often, I splurge – for example, I bought a yard of Liberty at Purl Soho (best souvenir ever!) – but when I do splurge, I try to keep it to a fat quarter. I only keep the biggest fabric scraps – not every single trimming from every single seam. Even so, over the last three years, I've amassed – well, quite a mass!
Now I'm thinking that maybe my fabric stash needs a bit of attention. Sorting, folding, rearranging...and perhaps a new mode of storage, one that doesn't have the potential to give my dinner guests a hernia. That's where you come in.
- Do you stash fabric, yarn, or patterns and project ideas?
- Where do you put it and how do you organize it?
- Do you ever purge your stash, and what do you do with the items that end up in the "has-to-go" pile?
Hit me with your best ideas over the next week. I'll read them all and develop an action plan. I'd like to find some of the fabric a new home, so I'll do a draw from the comments that you leave and send three people each a grab bag of fabric!
For your chance at some fabric, leave ONE comment on this post by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 2, answering one or more of the questions above. I'll do a random draw on Friday, May 3 and announce/contact the winners that day. Don't forget to supply your email address. The bags will be standard 1-litre resealable bags; contents will be totally random. (Everyone loves fabric surprise, right?)
I can't wait to hear your ideas. Thanks in advance!
