Saturday 24 April 2010

Swanky Stash Storage

On Tuesday Eleanor and I went furniture shopping, and bought two of these.They were delivered on Wednesday morning, and Simon and I put them together on Wednesday night. I've been so sick of dealing with stacks of tubs all over the room, and repeatedly unstacking and restacking them.
Since then I've been sorting my stash into them and giving my sewing room a good clear-out while I'm at it.
The room seems so much bigger, plus I think it looks great, and it's much more organised. There's no telling how long they'll stay so neatly stocked, but I expect to start will I'll be good, then will have to resort to major tidy-ups every few months.

Several people have asked me about how I sort my stash, so here you go. First up is the left-hand cupboard:
And a guide to the contents:

Then the right-hand cupboard
And a guide to its contents:

I did a lot of sorting as I went, but there are still a number of piles of miscellaneous prints; some I sorted by colour, others are in small groupsins from certain fabric ranges. I do have a very good idea of what I have and where it is, and there weren't any surprises in the stash.

There are a couple of shelves which don't have quilt fabric, but I'm not sure how long that will last. It's not full to bursting, but the only real spaces are where a pile isn't quite as high as it could be; there's really no room for more piles. Several piles are fabrics sorted ready for specific quilts, and once they're done, the remainder will be sorted back into the rest fo the stash. I do hope that by being able to access everything so much mroe easily, I might actually use it a bit more.

On top are various notions, a couple of bolts and rolls of fabric, steam-a-seam and foundations, a tub of tthreads, some empty boxes, and magazine holders which hold various quilty papers, and will soon hold magazines, as my current shelves are overflowing.

I decided that as I was moving and sorting the whole lot, ti was a good time to measure my stash again. Like last time, I did it by weight. Want to know how much there is? Stay tuned for a GIVEAWAY on this theme in the next week or so...

For now, I'm going back to gaze at my wall of fabric again!

13 comments:

What Comes Next? said...

Wow! Those are fabulous cabinets - I love the glass shelves and glass doors. Really make sit easy to see what you've got. Gorgeous selection of fabrics and colours in there.

AJ said...

Well Done Emma!! Looks great!

Unknown said...

Looks great. Want to come and do mine?

Lily Mulholland said...

Okay, I think that's pretty much a quilter's dream, right there. Looks fab! Will make finding the right fabric so much easier. Well done and to Eleanor for helping with the shopping!

sosarahsew said...

I love the glass front cabinets!! I finally have almost all of my fabric sorted and stacked in cabinets (well it all WAS until I bought more). I have been pulling out to cut into what I have so I am very proud of my start at organization. Yes, gaze at your achievement, but don't get hurt patting yourself on your back! Sarah

MY SPACE said...

Are they from ikea? They look awesome, and I am a touch envious of both your stash and the storage!

Karen said...

Oh my - I am green with envy!
I found you through the EB thread on stashes and storage.
That Farmers Market pile is amazing.

Nancy said...

I am so inspired. Now to find the time to do my own.

Helen said...

Looks great! You won't know yourself without those tubs.

Xena said...

looks great and so much easier than tubs, I'm beginning to hate my tubs.

Car said...

Feeling serious stash and storage envy :) I could just sit in front of those doors and dream all day ;)

Joan said...

I love your neat and tidy cupboards...Wish mine could stay as tidy. Great work and I love the way you have sorted them

Ann Marie said...

Your usage of the shelving units is brilliant. It's very pretty to look at and I can appreciate all the work that went into sorting and storing. This is really like MAKING something happen! It just wines and dines one's imagination. Sweet!

Ann Marie, Chicago, USA