In the hopper

Fabric... I LOVE IT... but I've never had it organized the way I want it. In a perfect world I would have a room dedicated to sewing... I would have open shelves all over the place with perfectly stacked fabric towers... my sewing machine would be ready to use at a second's notice... and I would have everything I need right at my finger tips!

I DO NOT LIVE IN A PERFECT WORLD :-)... Instead I live in a great world... I live in a cute little house that is filled with many wonderful people and all the rooms are spoken for... so ALL of my crafting wonderfulness is stored in bins... here, there, and anywhere one might be able to stack a bin!

I've wanted to do something about my fabric situation for quite some time, but because I wasn't able to see past the awesomeness in my head of a perfect room... 'throw it in the bin' was my how I dealt with it. Well, yesterday I set to work on making behind the seat hanging organizers (that would go in front of each of the boys for our vacation)... I needed to pull out my fabric bin and sewing machine. I knew I had plenty of fabric to make what I wanted, but getting my fingers on all of it was a frustration. So I decided NO MORE (well... actually I told myself that once I finish the organizers I would deal with it once and for all... or until in a miraculous event this house suddenly has more stories and more rooms :-).

I was able to cut all of what I needed yesterday for the organizers, and finished one completely before it was time to retire for the evening... this morning I woke up with a dozy of a headache (thanks allergies... stupid wind keeps blowing EVERYTHING FROM EVERYWHERE TO RIGHT HERE!)... and sitting at my machine was really not an option... so I thought... I planned... and decided that I could fold and iron with a headache.

It started out a little like this (this wasn't all of it, I already had started the sorting process when I decided to photograph it):

I worked on getting everything to my room where I could fold and sort in relative darkness (just using the light from outside, thank goodness it wasn't sunny or this would not have happened). After folding and ironing, each fabric was put into a bag. If I knew the info for the fabric I made a little card to put in with it (just in case I ever decide I really need more, I might be able locate it online with those details).Once it was all done, it was put back into the bin it never all fit into before... it's amazing what a little ironing can do!


I'm really happy with how well it all worked out. In the very near future I will be getting a real sewing cabinet, and having everything organized will make my dream of sewing whenever the mood strikes me (which is ALL THE TIME REALLY) a reality!