Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio

I’m participating in an Instagram challenge #organizedsewingspace2017 conceived and facilitated by Stephanie Jacobson.   The challenge will run from January through June with two challenges/tasks per month and an approximate two-week window per task – a 12-step plan!  I didn’t actively participate in January due to other commitments, but now I’ve joined in.

The first assignment for February was Fabric Storage and Organization.  I’m happy with my basic fabric system, but it had gotten totally out of control! My fabric should all be in the 12 wire baskets, but as I’ve been working on projects, the fabric has migrated to the counter-top, and to boxes and bags on the floor. In order to get to the fabric, I first had to clean off the table. Then I moved it and the design wall out of the way.  The photo below was taken  just before I started re-organizing my fabric storage.

Over the next several days, I sorted and organized my fabric and pulled a lot out to give away – fabric that I bought years ago and my tastes have changed. Most of my fabric is fat quarter size or smaller – I only have one wire drawer with larger pieces, mainly used for quilt backs. The boxes on the right hold some of my scraps. The boxes and bins on the counter are intended to hold scraps, notions etc. as I continue to get organized.

The second assignment in February is Scrap Organization.  I love keeping scraps, but I find it very hard to keep them organized.  I’ve been through several phases of how I store my scraps.  A few years ago, I decided to store my scraps in zip-lock bags, sorted by color. I liked this solution because I could easily see what I had in each color family.  But then I had to find a place for the bags.  I stored them in boxes on the shelf behind the design wall.  In theory, the scraps would be out of the way, but still accessible when I needed them.

However, I didn’t find it easy to sort new scraps into color families, so I ended up with a few bags (and boxes) of unsorted scraps. Here you can see 3 boxes filled with scraps sorted by color, two boxes of unsorted scraps and a bag of solid scraps. Time for a new strategy.

So here’s my new scrap strategy.  I bought several 11″ black fabric storage cubes and labeled them with color cards from the paint store. Each cube holds 2 of the jumbo size zip-lock bags.  I LOVE ❤️ the way it looks!  And it works for me – after I got these set up, I sorted all the mixed scraps into their color bins, and it seemed really easy.

While I was at it, I discarded a LOT of too-small scraps. Below you can see my 18″ tall garbage container full of scraps that I never should have saved in the first place.

I’m really liking this 12-step plan, and I can’t wait to see what the assignments are for March.

Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.