I have my fabric mostly sorted by colors, except that I have a separate "section" of civil war repros, which are also sorted by colors. I'm not talking about the separate sections for batiks, kids' fabrics, polka dots, stripes, homespuns, florals, asian, flannels, lights...
My question is whether I should be combining my, say, blues with the blues from the civil war repro section. I'm thinking I'd like to keep them separate but now I'm not so sure.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
This is today's mess...I'm on the last large cabinet. Next will be to move the design wall into my new space and hang the quilts and pictures. Painter is coming tomorrow to paint the new kids' room --- bunk beds are being delivered on Tuesday! WOOHOO..
My daughter took this picture of Emma and Max looking out the picture window. I think it's fabulous, especially in black and white!!
Hope you have a great Thursday. Love to you all,
Randy
I keep my civil war repros separate. Don't want to have to wade through everything to find them when I want to make something with the vintage look. : )
ReplyDeleteGreat B/W shot!
I like to keep my CW repro fabrics separate from my older, regular stash since most of my quilts now are very scrappy. I do dig into the older fabrics once in a while, sometimes there is just the right piece of fabric needed to complete a CW quilt. I also keep my 30's fabrics in two clear Rubbermaid containers, then when I want to make a 30's repro quilt, everything is altogether. I also keep the CW, 30's and regular fabric scraps separate. I don't have a very big sewing room, but with a little creative organizing, everything has its place.
ReplyDeleteI think you have to decide how you use your fabrics, if you mix them all together in one quilt then sort them all together If your looking to reproduce antique quilts or make civil war style quilts you may want to keep the CW fabrics separate easier to sort thru in mho.
ReplyDeleteI love that B and W photo just how cute is she! wonder if shes talking to Max!
Kathie
WE do need more B/W photos, they are special, the photos that is, However you know I do love to follow the "darlings" as I have been since Master was tiny. They are indeed darlings and look so much alike.
ReplyDeleteThe Heartsdesire gal has the right idea in my way of thinking.
I agree with Kathie - it depends on how you use them all. 99% of my stash is repros - and they are all out on the shelves, sorted by color (with the exception of a couple of bundles that I just can't stand to separate!). My non-repro fabrics are in totes and a drawer.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is just adorable!
I keep most of my fabric in their collection by name. Then I have them also in "some of everything" random purchases. I have "Civil War" in color groups, "Black and White", "Christmas", "Japanese", "Solids", "Silk", "BIG Pieces", 30's Reproductions, "White and Lights", "Pink" "Green" "Red". Other than that I sorted my Kaffe into groups by color. It's a massive job to go searching through my fabrics. I wish for them to be in bins that I could easily just pull forward. they are in totes with lids, so I have to pull them down and it takes alot of energy because the are stacked so high. Crazy Fabric Collector and Sometimes Quilter...that is me!
ReplyDeleteI keep my CW's separate too. Love the photo in BW too! Have a happy day!
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the fabric sorting, but I *love* your cabinets! Any suggestion where to find more of those? :D
ReplyDeleteExcept for my brights and homespuns (and my backings, my bolts, my cute little bundled packages, etc...etc....) all my fabric is sorted by color. I cannot remember who suggested it, but I like it a lot better. It makes it easier to find what I'm looking for!
ReplyDeleteMy fabric was arranged like yours. A couple months ago I rearranged it (which I've done so very many times!) so all the colors are together. I did keep it in separate stacks, and on separate shelves when appropriate. This way I can access both stacks of blues (for example) when the fabrics don't all have to be reproductions. I did this because I wasn't using any of my older fabrics at all, and many of them look just fine with the reproductions because they are still quite traditional looking. I'm now finding I'm pulling from both repros and non repros for many quilts - as long as I'm not going for a truly authentic reproduction - and thus the older fabrics are getting used again. You can read all about this latest organization on my blog. I did it during March and April this year (if I remember correctly.)
ReplyDeleteI keep my repros seperate from my other stash. I also keep my holiday fabrics seperate. Helps me find what I am looking for. Well, it did before I moved and my fabric is in 3 different locations.
ReplyDeleteI keep CW, Christmas, Kaffe, 30s and very specific designs in groups by themselves. Then I have a section where "the others" reside ... often times those can be worked into the specific groups. MY quandary is when you purchase a set of FQs for a specific line (40-42 of them), do you keep that entire set together or break it apart and sort by color? Example: Jo Morton CW group, 42 FQs ... do you keep them stored together or break the set apart and put the browns with the browns, etc. all WITHIN the CW section ... but then you'll not remember which assortment it was part of if you break them up. Ohhhhhh, I just cause more confusion than help, I know!! But that's my 2 cents ..... Linda
ReplyDeleteMost of my stash is reproduction fabrics so my question was whether to sort out the modern (aka, batik) fabrics. That's what I've done for now since most of what I make is reproduction. However, I am currently combining fabrics so I am mixing them in my "working" stash which is the fabric I've pulled out and piled everywhere. Your stash looks delicious no matter how you decide to organize it. I love your photo. My old golden used to sit the same way to gaze out the window. Don't you love those dogs?
ReplyDeleteI'm not a 'matchy-match' kind of person. I like to mix everything I have and try to use it up, so I keep ALL of my fabric together by color family and that works best for me.
ReplyDeleteI keep my reproduction fabrics separate and by color. I do sometimes mix them in with other fabrics for applique parts if they look right. I like to keep them separated from my regular stash so that, if doing something I want to look "old" they are all right there together. Saves me time.
ReplyDeleteI love your stash, first of all! I had a very tiny stash at first...one box. Then I had several bins, so I separated all the fabrics by colors. Then I discovered reproductions, so I have a bin for those...then 1930's...they are all together...then batics, a smallish box for them. So I guess I separate by colors mostly, and by fabric type. And the homespuns just took over everything! So how is this for a ramble, LOL!!
ReplyDeletepersonally i like to keep my civil wars and repros all together; i also separate christmas, plaids, solids, batiks and then backgrounds/shirtings. trouble is, i'm out of room to store them all in one place so now have stacks of fabric along with chock full elfa drawers, shoeboxes, etc. nothing is going to change until i have more room...or use it all up. my chances of either are better getting struck by lightning...but i try anyway...
ReplyDelete