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Sunday, May 19, 2019

FINALLY organized my fabric stash!

I moved almost a year ago. As it goes, I ended up with WAY more to pack than I thought I would, and ended up tossing a ton of fabric into two huge black lawn trash bags.  And there they have sat.

Sigh.  And yet I had piles of fabric EVERYWHERE.

I tend to use my Expedit for in-season fabrics, and keep a bin in my sewing room with "immediate" plans (plans as in, the things I think I'd like to sew but it doesn't necessarily happen!). I started with the loose fabric. I sorted by season - spring/summer vs fall/winter. Some things that might technically be "spring" but I knew I had no intention on sewing this summer.  After that, I put all of the out of season stuff away in bins.
(just realized this photo is blurry-sorry!)

Left: Lining fabrics (I have a different plan for these), lightweight knits, heavier knits
Middle: Heavier knits, specialty fabrics (lace, swimsuit fabric, athleticwear fabric),  (crazy thick sweater knit that I'll put in with my coating fabric since it takes up so much space).
Right: Both have bottom weight fabrics. Mood bag has some fabrics I'm going to take to our next meetup.

Then I sorted the "summer" fabrics and put them on the Expedit

On top is random stuff :) and remnants are rolled up in the basket. 
Thank you to whoever mentioned this on IG! Very smart way to store them. It's easy to see what you have and easy to keep them under control. E.g., for me, if they don't fit in here it's time to purge.

Top Row:
The open cube will be for my lining fabrics. I ordered some 9"x12" thin corrugated sheets and will create "bolts" for them.

Lightweight printed wovens that are more stable (cotton, shirting, etc):


Lightweight solid wovens:

Such an exciting pile /s

Lightweight printed "silky" wovens (challis, poly/poly blend blouseweights):

I didn't get a chance to fold these slippery fabrics nicely. I was over it ;)

Middle Row:

These are sweater and sweater-ish :) knits:


Solid lightweight knits: 
Another exhilarating pile :-p

Printed lightweight knits:

Solid heavier wovens:

3rd Row:
First cube has several cuts of denim

Second has striped bottom weight wovens. I knew I would run out of space for printed wovens and separated the striped fabrics!


Printed bottom weight wovens:


The most exciting - NOT! These are solid neutral wovens.

IDK why I have so much white and cream. NO CLUE. And that grey on top? 
I have another cut that's nearly the same color and is the same crepe suiting.
Sigh.

Bottom row:
The left has some random stuff - batting, polyfill, extra rolls of tracing paper. I plan to buy two bins - one for knit muslin fabric, one for wovens. And there must always be a shelf for a cat :) I'll find something cozy so he can hide in there when he feels.

This took so much longer than I thought it would!!!!!!! There was SO MUCH fabric! There were so many pieces I'd forgotten about! Oh and not pictured is the 7 cuts of silk I've acquired and the summer fabrics that were featured in my last post which will be stored in my sewing room.

Also, over time, I had about 5 or 6 random containers (boxes, bags, bins) full of patterns. They are either patterns that I'd recently sewn or purchased that hadn't made it to the pattern cabinets. 

I have a lot of patterns. BUT! as long as I can store them, I am fine. I will not collect more envelope patterns than can fit in these two cabinets. 


Left cabinet: Small bin on left has men's / kid's patterns, larger bin has Indie patterns including Jalie and Style Arc, and printed but not assembled. 

Top drawer is all Simplicity, bottom drawer is all McCall's. I catalog my patterns on Pattern Review and according to my online catalog I have 174 Simplicity and 212 McCall's. Eesh!

Right cabinet: Magazine collection! <3 The first is (stuffed with) some old Burda mags I was gifted from 2007, 2011 and 2012, a Patrones, and the defunct US Edition. Next is my Ottobre magazines, then my Burda collection. I started subscribing in 2014 and have every issue from Feb 2014 to present. For 2013 I am missing such a random assortment, lol! I don't have April, June, or September. 

Top drawer is Vogue, Sew Simple, and Kwik Sew. Bottom drawer is Butterick, Burda and New Look. 

My next task is to audit the pattern stash. I pulled a ton of patterns to donate but I'm not 100% sure that I deleted them from my pattern catalog. Also, I know, unfortunately(!), that I haven't added everything that I've purchased. 

WHEW!!!!!

With all that, I got the Burda 12/2009 tee cut out and adjusted, and the fabric was washed. Hoping I'll get to work on this week.

Me Made May

Last Sunday was Mother's Day here in the states. Hopefully you had a fantastic day. Big hugs if you are without your mom <3

We had brunch at my brother's house (it was delicous!)

I wore McCall's 6886 'hacked' into a t-shirt pattern with McCall's 7745 'hacked' to a wrap skirt.

Monday: New Look 6107 top with RTW pants and Butterick 6244 jacket
Tuesday: Simplicity 2369 top with RTW pants
Wednesday: Butterick 5760 skirt with RTW tee
Thursday: McCall's 7465 dress
Friday: No handmade clothes but I did wear my Minoru jacket (I wore the Minoru or B6244 everyday this week!)
Saturday: I spent the whole day in lounge clothes with the sorting job! Wearing Simplicity 8424 leggings and a RTW tee that was embeliished with my Cricut