Inside the Quilt Cabinet: How I Organized Every Shelf

Welcome Back!

After sharing the mindset shifts and guiding principles that shaped my approach in Part 1, I thought it would be fun to bring you right into the heart of the transformation. Now that you know why I organized my quilt cabinet the way I did, let’s take a closer look at how it all came together. Consider this your personal tour — a peek behind the doors, the shelves, and the little decisions that turned a chaotic catch‑all into a calm, inspiring hub for my quilting practice.

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The Quilt Gallery Shelf 🧵

The main shelf you see when I open the mirrored cabinet doors is the display shelf. The intent behind this shelf is to showcase some of my favourite pretty notions, quilty trinkets and small finishes.

It’s not meant to be static. In fact, it’s already had multiple displays since we completed the build in early December.

So far, I’ve been loving how this shelf keeps me organized, while still looking cute. I have my glass jar of pin cushions, which instantly make me smile and remind me of so many quilt adventures I’ve been on.

There’s a little plate I picked up during my travels in Japan, which corral a pair of bee earrings my mum gifted me. And that little coffee key holder? That’s from a fun trip I took to Ottawa to meet up with Ange, who gifted me the cutest little notions and handmade goodies. Ange is super talented EPPer and, if you haven’t already, you can sneak a peek inside her adorable sewing kit.

Suffice to say, I’m very happy that I carved out this little nook of joy 😉

Quilt Storage Shelves

My main quilt storage rule was to organize them by size. That’s how I started loading them into the empty cabinet. I started by folding the large quilts and placing them on the bottom shelf. And then worked my way up.

It worked out beautifully!

Note – since the Pax wardrobe is quite wide and deep, I folded the quilts so that they took up the full depth of the cabinet. This allowed me to stack more quilts, despite some being quite large.

As I got closer to the top, the size of my quilt projects got smaller, meaning I could sneak more onto a shelf!

Now I can easily find my baby quilts, my quilted wall hangings, along with my larger quilts. I even managed to get all my Block of the Month Quilts stored together.

My Stacking Rule

I have the backings sticking out so that I protect the interior fabrics. Probably overkill seeing as how I have the glass doors protecting them from sun and light, but thought ‘why chance it’ 😉.

My stacking rule is: first by size, then by quilt type (e.g. shelf 5 on the right houses my throw-sized Modern Aztec and Irish Vortex quilts), then by colour.

Tip – since I take my quilts out quite regularly, I know I’ll refold these often enough. But if you’re not taking yours out as often, I encourage you to rotate and re-fold a couple of times a year. And definitely avoid sun exposure.

The Mini, Pillowcases + Teaching Drawer

I have a few ways that I store my works-in-progress but, for this drawer, I wanted to create a dedicated spot for my teaching samples and the WIP that go along with teaching.

To avoid having to fold them, I also opted to store my quilted pillowcases and mini wall hangings. I even managed to tuck my garment paper patterns underneath the stack, which keeps them laying flat and crinkle-free!

There was even enough space to pop my quilted capelet on top 😊

The next time I need to teach, all I need to do is pull open my drawer and select the stack of samples that I need. Easy peasy!

The Pillow + WIP Drawer

I love pillows which explains why I have too many in the apartment – ha! So, I needed a place to tuck away the extra stuffed pillows. Those go on the left of the mesh drawer, and the right side contains WIPs that are in the queue. These are mainly backings that have been prepped and ready for basting action. There’s also a couple of bolts of fabric tucked underneath.

Between the pillowcases stored in the solid drawer, I can easily swap out the quilted covers and switch up my pillow décor (which I tend to do seasonally).

Battling the Batting 🧺

In part 1, I shared that I was drowning in batting scraps. I really was. I had them in bags, in stacks, on shelves. It was…overwhelming.

To calm the chaos, I picked up one of the Scrub bins and said whatever doesn’t fit is getting donated or tossed.

It’s filled to the max, and I have to squeeeeeeze and shimmy the bin to get in to fit into that top shelf, but it fits, and I couldn’t be happier with this storage solution.

Inside the bin, it’s all organized by size, type and colour. This should make finding the right sized batting for my next project so much easier.

By the way, in case you’re wondering why I hang on to the smaller batting trimmings, it’s because you can join batting bits with this tape (or using a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine, which I don’t have on my Juki). The trimmings are also perfect for making DIY Pincushions.

Tip – I encourage you to set up a similar system for your batting scraps before they start to overwhelm you, too!

Baskets + Boxes for Extras

I have a few boxes and baskets that I’ve tucked on the display shelf or in between quilt stacks. These house my tools, notions and my overflow of thread (I have quite a bit of the stringy stuff!)

There are two baskets just for my spools of pearl cotton thread. One for my cool colours and another for my warm thread colours. You have no idea how fun it is to grab a basket and dig through to find just the right thread colour.

Studio Flow Benefits 🌿

It might just be a cabinet, but I can’t tell you how this addition has transformed my space and also made the process of prep so much smoother.

There’s less shifting, moving and shuffling things around to get to what I need, resulting in easier prep, less clutter, more joy.

The best part?

Opening the doors feels like a celebration, not a chore.

Stepping back now, it’s amazing to see how a few thoughtful choices can completely shift the feel of a space. What started as a jumble of projects and good intentions has become a calm, inspiring corner that genuinely supports my creative flow. I hope this little tour sparks ideas for your own studio — not as a pressure to overhaul everything at once, but as an invitation to notice what’s working, what’s not, and what tiny changes might bring more ease to your making. In Part 3, we’ll dive into the practical tips and personal rules that helped me keep this cabinet functional and joyful, so you can adapt them to your own quilting home.

xo

Shannon

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