How to Organize Your Fabric Stash

How much fabric is too much to have on hand?! Asking for a friend – ha 😉! If you sew or quilt, then the likelihood of you accumulating a fabric stash is pretty much inevitable. That’s not necessarily a problem, provided your collection doesn’t overwhelm you. To help you wrangle your textiles, I thought I’d pop in and share some tips on how to organize your fabric stash!

Feeling overwhelmed by your scraps? Take the free 7-Day Scrap Sorting Challenge to tame your scraps and feel inspired to stitch!

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Every stash is unique

Let me start by saying no matter how big or small your fabric collection is, there’s no right or wrong, it just comes back to personal preference. Everyone’s stash is unique and represents what captivates you (or, at least it should!).

• You might prefer fat quarters.
• You might prefer yardage.
• You might prefer prints.
• You might prefer fabric scraps.

It doesn’t matter what you have, the key is to be aware of what you have and know how to organize it so you can see and use those pretty textiles!

Since my fabric collection will probably look different than yours, I thought the easiest way to share some organization tips is to walk you through how I store mine. I’m hoping this gives you ideas on how you can adapt these solutions to fit your needs 😊

My fabric philosophy

You know how selective I am on the notions and tools I bring into the studio. I’m open to gizmos and gadgets, provided they make a real difference in the enjoyment or the outcome of my quilting adventures. When it comes to fabric, I’m a little more open to having stock on hand.

The reason for this is that I love shopping my stash first! I’ve come to realize that I often get sparks of creative ideas that I don’t want to pass on. Having the freedom to come up with an idea and then find inspiration for that project in my fabric stash keeps the project’s momentum going and keeps me in the creative zone. This is why I love having fabric on hand.

That said, I don’t want to feel overwhelmed by my textiles and recognize that it’s just me around here using that stash, so I want to be mindful of what I’ll actually use.

So, how do I find that balance between having stock on hand, but not having too much?

When I noticed my fabric collection growing from a small pile to a box, to multiple boxes and bags, I finally succumbed and bought myself a cabinet I could dedicate to my stash and notions. It didn’t take me long to fill her up, and I had to put my foot down, reign myself in, and limit myself to the one cabinet.

Nothing like having pep talks with yourself about what you will and will not tolerate – ha!

There are so many pretty prints and colours out there, that it can be tempting to bring in all the fabric! I get it, but that’s where things can go from fun to no longer joyful, and we want to avoid that!

So, my max is one fabric cabinet. Yours might be a box or two cabinets, or several drawers. We all have different tolerances, so this will be unique to each of us. What’s important is that you feel good about the stash you have and that you feel on top of managing all those fibers!

Ok, now that you know my fabric philosophy, let’s dive in and see how I break it down and store it all 😊

How I Organize My Fabric

There are a few solutions that I’ve set up for myself that help me wrangle my fabrics and keep on top of what I have on hand.

Fabric Cabinet

This is where the bulk of my fabric resides. It’s a Billy bookcase that I picked up from Ikea and then added some doors on. Last time I checked, they were no longer available, but they have different options for you to consider.

I specifically opted for non-windowed doors for a couple of reasons:

• To keep the sunlight out. Direct sun is a no-no for your fabric. It will cause it to fade and will break down the fibers. So, best to keep it out of the sun.
• To keep dust and fur out. I seem to be on a forever-losing battle of trying to keep dust and Pips’ fur to a minimum. I sometimes get discouraged when I’ve just finished dusting and vacuuming and then I find another fur ball floating around – ugh. The doors help give me peace of mind and minimize the dust and fur accumulation on my fabric.

What is stored on each shelf

When I shared my cabinet with you on Instagram for IG Quilt Fest, I got so many comments about how organized I was. I thought I’d explain my system a little more by breaking down what’s stored on each shelf.

Top shelf

This is reserved for all my threads. I’ve accumulated quite a bit over the years, and figuring out how to store the different-sized spools took me a minute!

Here you’ll find all of my Aurifil Thread Cones sitting nicely on the shelf. I have them organized by colour and thread weight.

Next to that, I have my Bonne Maman jars filled with basting pins and small binder clips (for binding). There’s also a jar at the very back with my Aurifloss collection. You saw me dip into that most recently for my visible mending adventures!

In the very center, I have my stacks of Ferrero Rocher boxes that fit my small and large thread spools perfectly. I also have one dedicated to my embroidery floss collection. The clear acrylic containers make it super easy to see what I’ve got stored in each. Again, I have them broken down by thread weight and spool size.

At the very end, I have some Aurifil Thread Storage Boxes filled with spools and they’re sitting on top of my original sewing kit. Oh, how far I’ve come – ha!

If you’re wondering how I came to have so much thread, a large part of it is from being an Aurifil Artisan in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Plus, I just love experimenting and having options on hand.

Second shelf

This is where I store most of my Improv Fabric Storage Bins. I shared these with you when I first made them and you can find the pattern in Sunday Morning Quilts book. Originally, I was using them for scraps, but then switched that, and I now store my Art Gallery Fabric remnants in one, some pretty coral FQs in another, and the pink one has my Tamara Kate Design scraps and some charm squares.

I then have a stack of Kona Cotton FQs.

Third shelf

This is where I store most of my fat quarters. Most of these were picked up when I first started sewing. FQs were my jam for making sewing bags. I started to gravitate towards yardage when I got caught by the quilting bug 😉

In front of my fat quarters, you’ll notice there’re a couple of stacks of binding made and ready to go. To keep projects going forward, I like to have the binding done before I get the quilt quilted.

Why?

Once I’ve finished quilting a quilt, my machine is already set up with the walking foot and correct presser foot pressure, and having to switch everything back to my regular presser foot and settings sometimes feels like a burden/extra step.

Having the binding already prepared means I can simply walk to my cabinet, grab the binding I need, head back to my machine, and settle in for the first round of stitching.

This little trick has kept so many of my projects moving forward joyfully!

Fourth shelf

This is where I store my printed yardage. The second stack from the left is actually trimmings from squaring up my quilts. There’re large ‘scraps’ that I haven’t found a better place to store, and they fit here.

Fifth shelf

This shelf is dedicated to my yardage of solids, linen collection, and other fabric substrates. There’s also a double stack of fat quarters that didn’t fit on shelf 3 😉

Sixth shelf

I have my bolt of fabric stored here and quilts that are in the queue. This is also where I store my Art Gallery Fabric solids. I try and keep my fabrics by manufacturer so that I can remember who makes them. It gets tricky once the selvage is removed.

Bottom shelf

This shelf is dedicated to all my notions and tools. My serger is stored here, as is my steamer (read my review here), and my bottles of Flatter. I also have some containers with dried lavender and crushed walnuts for making lavender sachets and pin cushions respectively. You’ll also find my roll of painter’s tape for basting, zippers, and bias tape.

Fabric Scraps

I’m swimming in fabric scraps! I always joke that I feel like I’m dealing with the never-ending scrap pile – ha! To help keep things tidy, I currently have them stored in two baskets that I keep tucked under my pink storage bench. They’re all sorted by colour. One basket is for my linen and solid scraps, and the other is primarily for prints.

They’re starting to overflow, so I’m due for another scrappy project. I’m just trying to decide if I want to make another scrappy Plus Infinity Quilt, or something new. TBD!

If you need help taming your fabric scraps, take the free 7-Day Scrap Sorting Challenge today!

Miscellaneous

I have some overflow that I’m currently trying to resolve.

This overflow includes:

• A bag full of fat quarters that I keep meaning to list or donate.
• A couple of ziplock bags with project remnants. I need to decide whether I want to make them or donate them. Again, TBD.
• I also have another bin where I store my batting scraps.
• Next to my fabric cabinet, I have my interfacing, and pattern tracing paper tucked out of sight.

Whew, I think that covers it!

Fabric Organization Tips

Here are some of my top tips as you work on your fabric stash organization:

Keep it simple

You don’t need a fancy inventory system (unless that’s your jam, then by all means pull up an Excel spreadsheet and start documenting!).

Keep the overwhelm at bay

You know yourself best, and you know what will take something from fun to floundering. So, I encourage you to think about how you want your fabric collection to feel, how large you want it to be, and where you want these textiles to reside.

Consider your space

Once you know the size of the stash you want to manage, think about the space you have to store it in. What would make the best use of the space?

Make it easy

Having a stash is amazing, but you need to be able to see them to use them. So, make it easy to access and put back your fabric. Nothing kills my sewjo more than having to sift through endless piles in search of ‘that’ one fabric I know I have. I like to be able to ‘see’ what I have on hand at a glance.

Clearly, I’m not lacking fibers and tools, but what I am happy with is how I’ve managed to get a handle on everything and ensure that I know what I have on hand and where it’s stored. That’s the key for me which ensures that I continue making joyfully!

I hope this shelf-by-shelf deep dive has given you insight into how I store my goodies and hopefully, it’s given you some ideas on how to organize your fabric stash, too.

Now that I’ve given you a full overview of my fabric collection, it’s your turn!

I’d love to know how you store your fabrics or what your favourite tip is for corralling your textiles. Share in the comments below so we can all get in on the fiber storage fun!

Happy quilting! 

xo

Shannon 

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