Finish: Storage System
Man it’s good to have this one finished, because it will help on all future projects! Although I suppose it’s not technically finished as I’m still dealing with scraps and how I want to organize the lower half.
Back in January, Eli and I made a trip to IKEA for my birthday to pick out a storage solution for my fabric. I knew I wanted something that had glass doors (so I could see the fabric but it would help protect the fabrics from dust and some UV) and the ability to add drawers would be nice. I went there with the HEMNES system in mind, but when we got there, those units didn’t feel as sturdy as I wanted.
After many, many hours, we came home with the BESTÅ system. It offered the most extensibility and felt pretty sturdy. I’m going to be honest, once we were back, the boxes of furniture stayed in the van until the weekend before QuiltCon when I finally cleaned enough stuff out of our front bedroom (which was being used as storage) to move the boxes in. The weekend after I returned, we put the furniture together, and then I have been ironing and boarding all the fabric since then. This weekend In was finally able to color sort it. So all told, this project took almost two months.
I was am incredibly embarrassed about the before pictures, but I took them and am posting them here to show the reality of the situation, and to show that I don’t have some über house in which my fabrics magically look amazing. We basically put stuff in this room to store it and would keep the door closed and pretend the room didn’t exist. So the first step was obviously cleaning all this up to make room for the cabinet (this picture was actually taken after I’d removed a bunch of boxes that were sitting where that clear patch of floor is.) The cabinet is now along the right wall. And no, I still haven’t decided on a paint color. 
But with the cabinets, I was able to go from this “sorting method”, to this:
So much better, and worth the effort!!!
I’ve received a lot of questions about all this as I have been posting pictures on Instagram and flickr, and I wanted to try to answer them all here in one place, for other people interested in organizing their fabric.
Cost – I went with IKEA because cost was definitely an issue. I ended up with something that was pretty tricked out, but because you can modify it to your own needs, you can get off for fairly cheap. The shelves were on sale while we were there (15% off, yay!) so that helped as well. The shelves themselves are $89, and this is three shelving units set next to each other. The drawers add a lot of cost (around $50/drawer I think), especially because I got the kind that open all the way out so that I don’t have to worry about losing things in the back. The feet added a surprising amount because there are only 2 per pack at $11, so I needed 6 packs which was another $66. The system comes with little pads for feet, so if you don’t want a raised unit, you can skip this cost. And then of course the doors which I can’t find the price on now. The knobs were pretty negligible at $4/2. However, you need some sort of knob because the drawers are almost impossible to open without them. As you can see above, there’s very little room to catch the drawer front.
The total cost was in the range of $550-$600 if I recall correctly. Without the drawers, that would have dropped significantly. The nice part is that you can buy the base shelving units and add functionality as you go. However, do note that adding doors does take up shelving holes and so one of my shelves couldn’t go where I wanted it to because of that. I ended up using that section as a little display area, but it was a tad frustrating at the time.
Stability – This is IKEA, so this stuff is basically veneered cardboard, but it still felt pretty sturdy. However, the doors I got are real glass, not plastic, which means the doors are way heavier than the base cabinet which means without shelves, the cabinet would tip forward when the door was open. Obviously this is REALLY bad. I’m planning to add earthquake straps for extra protection (and because we get earthquakes) but once the shelves and fabric were in, they’re much more stable. I also modified the feet a bit so that the cabinet leans backwards ever so slightly. The feet I got came with built in raisers so you could do this.
Sun/light damage issues – Weeks Ringle mentioned on Facebook that she lost a lot of fabric to not just sun damage, but overhead lighting damage. So this is something to definitely be aware of! Glass does offer some inherent protection, but if you get direct sunlight or have your overhead lighting on a lot, I’d still strongly consider getting wood doors or curtaining off your fabric. I don’t have the lights on much in that room if at all (I currently sew elsewhere) and the room gets only muted indirect light, so I’m fairly confident it should be okay, but it’s something I am keeping an eye on.
Folding – I used the tutorial available on Smashed Peas and Carrots in which the fabric is folded around comic book board backers. These are about $10/100 and available at your local comic book store (or on Amazon, but it was cheaper at my local store). I used a little over 900 boards. This is a time consuming process and some people find that they don’t like it once they’ve done it. So if you are considering this method, I’d suggest just doing a few fabrics and seeing if you like working with it. This is the fourth folding system I’ve tried, and so far I like it the best. I find putting the fabric around the backing boards to be fun, so it’s easy for me to put them back on when I’m done using a fabric. If you find it arduous, it’s really unlikely you will keep it up, and you should probably find another system.
Another complaint I’ve heard is that the cardboard backing boards do bend and they don’t stand up straight if there aren’t enough fabrics. I’m encountering this, and I’m going to try getting some book ends to keep everything upright. I’ll let you know how that goes.
Organizing – I organize by color because if I organize by collection, the fabrics never get used. I end up feeling like the fabric has to be used together but I don’t actually like doing one-collection quilts, so it just goes unused. I realized this was happening when I bought some Architextures for a project, even though I had a full collection of it that I had never cut into. By breaking it all out into colors (which is how I design) it breaks that behavior pattern for me.
For organizing your own fabrics, don’t just follow someone else’s plan without considering your own needs. Here’s a few questions to ask when making your own plan.
1. Consider how you use fabric. Do you care about what line it is in? Do you care about some lines but not others? Think about how you look for fabric (be honest, no one else needs to know or care), and sort it to fit the criteria you care about. I have a friend who sorts her fabrics into cool and warm and it works great for her. Some people have some designers they care about so they put those in one area, and the rest are color sorted.
2. Do you have a pile of fabric that needs to be sorted but you haven’t gotten to it? What’s keeping you from doing it? Does it not have a place to go? If so, you need to de-stash or get more storage! Do you hate the process required to get it ready for storage? Then you should consider a different folding or storage method. If you don’t want to to do it, you’ll never keep up on it.
3. Do you feel overwhelmed by too many choices? Or have fabrics you never use? I just read a great post by Amy at Badskirt about how she has a very small stash because it helps her creatively. Perhaps de-stashing will help. Yah, I’m still working on that one, too.
I hope that helps! This post is way long enough as it is, so if you still have any questions, please feel free to ask and I’ll happily answer them!
-Anne
This. Is. Incredible. I am having serious organization envy right now. I actually used a similar method a few years back by cutting poster board into smallish rectangles, but then I had this crazy idea of laundering my whole stash… Whhhhy?!? So I pretty much traded my tidy shelves for piles of laundry – tear! I am hoping this post motivates me to do some ironing and (re)folding
You can do it!
I had a rule for a while that any fabrics I pulled for a project had to be ironed/boarded. That got me started. 
Unfortunately I got to a point where I was only using the boarded fabrics in projects so I had to force myself to go through the lot of it after that. lol I’d love to see pictures when you’re done, if you want to share. 
I have been following your “storage story” and have to say that I am so jealous! I don’t need quite that much storage(yet)but it would be so nice not to have to dig in plastic totes to try and find a fabric. So hard to be creative that way and it takes time trying to find what you have. Your creativity will really be bursting at the seams now
I did the plastic totes for quite a while, and I just kept losing things, which is why I switched to this method.
I’ve seen people do something similar to this over hanging files in a filing cabinet, as well. That seems nice for a smaller space! Hopefully my creativity will come back, I’ve been in a real lull for the last couple of weeks!
Is it wrong that I am really happy that this room was a mess?? That prior to “the system” it was all over the table? It means you’re just like me!! That the little table with the mountain of fabric was completely normal!! And now you have the promised land of fabric storage.
I have my space set up and sorted, but need to do the ironing, folding part. Less fun, so it can just wait. I also want to do the comic book boards, but haven’t ordered them yet. I will!! Give me time. It’s only been three months…
I hope you plan to move your sewing in here. Nothing nicer than staring at the pretty, perfect fabric while stitching.
E xx
Hahaha I should do a follow up post after using this for 6 months so you all can see what disarray it ends up dissolving into.
Man that mountain of fabric was so frustrating, because I’d keep getting fabric avalanches. So annoying!
I hope to move the sewing into there and off the kitchen table, but because it’s going to be combined with a guest room, it’s going to require some creativity to get everything fit in there.
Wow, that is a fantastic post. I am really impressed with your organisation and especially after seeing the “before” pictures.
I have my fabric organised by colour, with solids together. I have them folded into squares and put into plastic storage bins. I had my fabrics a bit all over the place, so I was really happy when I got them all sorted out!
I never even thought about sun damage, this might be an issue in the room I store fabric in. Food for thought!
Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
It sounds like we have a similar system of organizing, and I had plastic storage bins before this. (But they got full, hence the mountain of fabric) The plastic bins will help protect your fabric to some degree. It’s really the fabric that sits out on a table or on a shelf that can get really sun damaged over time. But definitely check and see if something can be changed to protect it even more! 
so, remember when you absolutely, completely agreed you would come to London and do that to my fabric too? Excellent!
You buy the plane ticket, and I will totally come help you with yours!
Thanks for a great post. I am currently struggling with stash storage in a very small (8×8 foot) room with 4 doorways. Not much room for 5 sewing machines and all the supplies and stash. After reading your post, I’m thinking perhaps (one of) those cabinets might be just the ticket. Love the look of the fabric sorted by color, but I just recently realized I had lost some fabric due to sunlight, so it’s definitely something to be aware of.
Thanks again for a very helpful post!
You’re welcome, and thank you for the nice comments! I have seen storage solutions that use filing cabinets instead of shelving to store the boarded fabric. It protects completely from the sun and might fit in a smaller space, although it means you can’t see the pretty as easily. Four doorways sounds like a pain to deal with!
I love your storage and this post was just so helpful – I have just inherited a dresser and put my fabric in it, but it still doesn’t look tidy! Yours looks fabulous! Have fun creating….
Thank you!! Keeping it tidy is of course the really hard part… lol What folding method are you using? I found that the one that Jeni (@ In Color Order) used ended up keeping my folded fabrics looking fairly neat and compact so they were less likely to splorch out. If that makes any sense. I will look up the tutorial if you’re interested, but perhaps you’re already using that!
Love this! All your fabrics are so pretty in those cabinets. Definitely worth the investment. I do the comic boards too, with moderate success. I have outgrown my space they are in, and until I can rearrange some things, I have a few “piles” of new fabric that is wrapped around the boards but not color sorted yet. I do keep my solids separate, and my fat quarters as well. I do find I use things much more with it out on the boards and easily visible. Nw what’s this I hear about you being willing to travel and help organize fabric?? Sign me up-nc is lovely this time of year:)
I ended up putting my fat quarters around the boards, which is why there are so very many of them.
I love pulling fabrics for projects now because it’s just so simple to carry the fabric and it doesn’t get messed up when I’m auditioning. I have also changed to a different scrap sorting procedure and it is working okay. I think it might be harder to maintain, though. :/
Buy me tickets and I will come help you sort! lol Although where in NC are you? I may be in Raleigh in the next month or two for work.
Really helpful blog post! I just love what you’ve done for your fabric storage – it looks fantastic!
Thanks so much! It has been so much nicer to deal with when I’m working on projects! Of course, I should do a follow up post in 6 months and we can see how it looks then. lol
Thank you so much for sharing the before pictures. You give me hope! Your progress is amazing. Love your style and strategy! It turned out beautifully!
You can definitely do it!! I spent a long time hovering over the “Publish” button because I was so embarrassed about the before picture. So I’m really relieved and happy that it has helped someone!
Now onto the scraps and the rest of the room… lol