Many of us enjoy hobbies that involve a significant amount of stuff - accessories, tools, etc. The challenge is how to keep the stuff from becoming clutter and creating chaos in our homes. Crafters and quilters are notorious for holding onto every single scrap of fabric that might be needed for a future project. My mother and my grandmother were both avid quilters and each had spaces dedicated to sewing and quilting. So... how can quilters and fabric crafters stay sane and keep an organized space?

First, you need to understand the difference between stuff and clutter. We all know that quilting and fabric crafting requires use of certain items – fabric, thread, tools, cutting boards, ironing board, etc. The point at which the item becomes a hindrance to your crafting ability (aka. an overstuffed room where you cannot find anything), it becomes clutter. If you have multiples of the same tool and only use one, the unused tools are clutter. Clutter is anything that keeps you from being able to achieve your intended purpose. If the purpose of your craft room is to be creative and have easy access to your sewing/crafting stuff, you should eliminate anything that is not useful, functional or loved. Getting organized is not only about purging clutter. If you are a fabric enthusiast, crafter or quilter – join us for this 3 part series specifically for you – to teach you:

1. How to get and keep your sewing room (craft space) organized
2. How to manage and organize your ongoing projects
3. How to stay organized when you travel to craft events

How to Get and Keep Your Sewing Room Organized

There is no one-size-fits-all organization system. You can scour the internet and come away with millions of ideas about how to organize your space. The challenge is to figure out what is going to work best for you. It is best to plan out your organizing strategy BEFORE purchasing any organizing tools. There are hundreds of fun, cool organizing tools – but even an organizing tool can become clutter!

Store “like” items together.

Treat your sewing space as if it’s a retail store. Create departments that you can “shop” from – thread, fabric, tools, etc.

Designate a “home” for everything & put everything back away

• Create a home for completed projects and projects in progress
• Schedule clean up times for your sewing space – whether it’s every night before bed, once per week or once per year

[box type=”info”] A friend of mine once had an entire bedroom that she used as her sewing room. She called it the “sweat shop” and she made the most amazing dress up clothing for little girls. Her sweat shop had every kind of sparkle, shimmer and feathery piece of goodness a little girl could ever want. My friend prided herself on the fact that she had never cleaned her sweat shop in 8 years. She had thread, glitter, scraps and more – covering the carpet. She loved every minute of it! {We don’t recommend this method of non-organizing… but it proves our point that there is no one-size-fits-all method of creating and organizing!}[/box]

Fabrics can be stored simply by color family… or by fabric value

• Some fabric lovers have “filed” fabric by cutting a hanging folder in half and folding fabric over the top of the folder
• We recommend stacking fabric on shelves or in baskets/bins

Create work “zones”

store all items needed for a particular activity in a zone

• Store cutting boards, rotary cutters, scissors and other cutting tools in a cutting zone
• Store the iron and ironing board in an ironing zone
• Have a “store” zone for extra supplies that you can shop from

Think about visual clutter

• anything that is visually distracting makes it more difficult to focus
• Room should be filled with things you love that inspire you, but not so filled that you cannot appreciate any of it – less is more
• Remember: If everything is important than nothing is important!

Look up!

• Think vertical – don’t forget about storage spaces that are up high
• If you have a very small crafting space, look for hidden spaces to utilize for storage

Label it

• Labeling helps you remember where the home you designated is and to put things back.
• As you look around, you can see a visual gap and your mind skips it, but if it’s labeled you recognize something is missing and the label tells you what it is.

Think creatively about storage

• Repurpose something that wasn’t intended for craft storage – use checkbook boxes as drawer dividers, use utensil caddies to store tools, use spice jars to store notions, use cardboard from cereal boxes to wrap fabric around.

Remember that your space should inspire you & you should not feel stressed out when you walk into your sewing room. Clear out the clutter, keep what you love and complete those unfinished projects!