Organization: Containing The Fabric

Fabric...you love it, you hate it...but mostly you love it.  So, how do you store fabric?  There are so many options, so many ideas and I am sure you can look up so many articles on how to organize fabric.  I chose a couple of ways to store fabric, and I will only show you one way because the other way is not that exciting (like plastic bins under the bed not exciting).

When I first set up this particular sewing area, all of the fabric was folded nice and neatly on this bookcase.  (This book case use to house our DVD's, but then I decided that it would work well for fabric storage.  I When Hubs got home, I said "Oh by the way I moved the bookcase out of the media room and I am now using it to store all of my fabric.  And, can you build me some shelves so that I don't have to look at stacks of DVD's on the floor?...thanks."  Yeah right, that never happened.  I asked, but I still don't have shelves.  Honey Do Lists simply do not work in my world.)

Everything was nice and neat and in its place.  I would lay in bed and night and just stare at all of the colors on the shelves, and then dream about all of the colors while I slept...just kidding...about the dreaming part, I am not that weird.  Surprisingly it never really seemed cluttered to me.  But then eight months flew by and I ended up with this:

I managed to keep most of the fabric folded, but whenever I took a piece out the others would shift and then then topple over.  Then with the approaching holidays I started piling everything on the table.  Confession:  I actually used my sewing machine with everything on that table...pathetic. 

I didn't want a completely cohesive look with the same type of baskets on each shelf.  So I bought different types of baskets and different colors of baskets...which means I still get to see bright colors on the shelves everyday.  All of the fabric that was folded on the shelves actually fit inside the baskets.  The only exceptions were the fabrics I donated and the eye blinding safety orange fabric (I hid that piece).  I like that there is now space between the baskets and the overhead shelves...the look is clean and airy.  The top and bottom shelves are still a little messy, but I will take care of those shelves in the next few weeks.

How do you like to store your fabric?  Are you the type of person that buys fabric only when you need fabric for a project?  Are you a hoarder?  Or do you like to keep a bit of fabric on hand?  No matter what type of fabric personality you are, it always helps to be organized.

PS - I found the baskets at World Market.

~Leslie