You probably have a lot more than I do, but this is what I do. These shelves are in a closet, so no sun and little dust.

When we moved here, I switched the direction of the piles. I ironed and refolded each fat quarter so the folds would be facing out.

They are all prewashed and precisely sorted by color and type: plaids, polka dots, florals, 1930s prints, Civil War, etc. It makes it easy to locate a fabric for a project.

I have a “wish list” on the Fat Quarter Shop, but truthfully, there isn’t any room left!

Looks very well organized. I am envious!

Theresa

The shelves are adjustable, so I shift them as my stash evolves.

I went from bins to folded on shelves last spring, too. I can get a lot more fabric in my closet that way. :)

Donna

WOW, I guess I'm a slob. I could get my fabric looking like that but after one project it would be a disaster! Sorry, Theresa, I'm not any help. All my fabric is grouped together by color or theme.......Orientals, batiks, solids, flowers, novelty, Christmas, QOVs and stored in see through plastic containers until small enough to cut into strips/squares.

Sharon, glad you said that. I thought I was the only slob around. I organize fabric by color too but some pieces sometimes visit other colors. Not sure how they move around :-)

I mix up themes while storing and in my quilts - solid with batiks,, flowers with geometric, etc.

i also “find” fabric in my bins that I don‘t remember buying at all. Time to reorganize but that’s time away from sewing.

vasu

Just wondering if there is a support group for what I am experiencing...stash envy. I have a lot of fabric, but it is mainly donated small pieces stored by color in plastic boxes, a little bigger than shoe boxes, in the basement. Any larger pieces are in a cabinet in my family room where I sew. I must admit right now, they are a bit of a mess. Like Vasu, I look at it and decide I would rather be sewing. At some point it will get to me and I'll pull it all out and refold and organize by color.

My motivation for reorganizing was when we had to pull a lot of stuff out of my closet to install the new bamboo flooring. I decided since it was halfway torn up already I would reorganize. It didn't really take that long, but my stash is nothing like Latifolia's!

Donna

Thank you friends for your answers.

I do not have a closet, the shelves are open, 12" deep. So I am dealing with dust and light, not sunlight so much as LED ceiling fixtures. So I am still figuring out the best (read that as easiest) way to go.

"We shall overcome"

Theresa

That photo is just unbelievably neat and tidy. And it is much better for the fabric not to be in plastic bins. My bigger yardage is on open shelving in the closet, sorted by color. The smaller cuts including fat quarters are in plastic bins, sorted the same. But I also have several bins of scraps. I try and try to get that used up but it's just growing somehow. It's divided by colors also. Maybe when I ever get this current project done I'll just start sewing string blocks and keep sewing for about a hundred years. I've been saving phone books so I have the foundation papers to do it. But I have to finish this top first. I'm at almost a standstill because I've acquired the upper respiratory infection that's been going around here, I've been sick for 12 days now. It's definitely not the flu - no fever or body aches with it at all but oh, my what a miserable sinus and bronchial mess this is! I have gone through five boxes of 120-count Kleenexes. I'm not so sick that I CAN'T do anything I just don't WANT to do anything.

Rita, I hope you feel better soon! And it's a good thing you saved those phone books - I bet you can't even get one any more.

Theresa, you could hang a curtain over your shelving. Something simple that can easily be pushed out of the way when needed.

Donna

Rita, hope you feel better soon. My sister and her husband have been fighting it since the end of Sept. How is that possible? As soon as they start feeling better, it knocks them down again. Hopefully you have something different.

Hope you are back on your feet soon, Rita. Respiratory illness can really knock you out!

I think I rank in the "slob" category as far as fabric organization is concerned. Mine are all in clear plastic bins, but I do keep them stacked inside so I can see the edges of all of them. I still end up pulling them out when I'm looking for coordinating fabrics for a project though. I don't have a closet in my sewing area, but after seeing Latifolia's picture, I wish I did!

I have a closet, but the bedroom I sew in is very small. The closet doors were bi-folds, and they took up so much room open and hid the ends of the closet, that I took them off. Now I have an open shelving and hanging area that, like Theresa's space, is open to dust and LED lighting. I have noticed that several of the solids have faded on the folded edges. I think a curtain might be in order, but of course that would also be in the way. I think I'll have to do it though. My small cuts are arranged by color, but not folded neatly like Latifolia's - just folded. I don't have nearly the size stash that so many of you have either, so storage is not such a problem. My less than fat quarter size pieces are either in storage drawers by color or cut into strips and squares.