"It takes ages to finish a quilt you're not working on!"

Monday, May 29, 2017

Decluttering.

It is nice to have my missing mojo back.  When I was so indecisive about what to do with the Japanese materials, everything else went on hold too.  One of the things that was really bugging me was the mess my little craft room had got into.  It is only a small bedroom, but I have four bookcases, a filing cabinet, a cabinet holding art stuff, a desk and a cutting table crammed into it, along with boxes of fabric and other craft on the floor because the wardrobe (which has shelves added into it) is crammed with fabrics and sewing notions.

Fabric was spilling out of boxes and the cupboard bulged.  I completely lost track of what I had, and instead of searching for a suitable material for a project, I would simply buy more (great for the Quilt Shop, not so good for my credit card...).  So I decided it was time to declutter.  When surfing Pinterest one day I found a great way of folding any size fabric so it all ended up the same size and could be stacked into a neat pile.  You just cut a template out of cardboard, the size of the box or shelf where you store your fabric, and wind each piece of fabric around it until it fits the template.  I spent nearly a week unfolding, ironing, and trimming boxes of fabrics, and refolding them, and what a difference!  I think I've deleted the "before"photos, but this is what two of  my boxes look like now.
The reason the first lot are in plastic bags is because they are different 'themed' fabrics, ie chooks, cats, teacups, Australiana, etc. and I want to keep them separated so I can pull out a collection without disturbing the rest.


I am so pleased to have my solid colours sorted out!  I didn't realise how many different colours I had, they were in such a mess!

I have two more tidy boxes as well as these, but still have the wardrobe stash to sort out, which is going to be a big job, as the fabrics in there are yardage, not small pieces like fat quarters or half yards.

3 comments:

Linda Steele said...

It feels so good to tidy up doesn't? I did it at the start of the year and its working really well for me so far.

Jane said...

it's amazing what a good clearout does for you, it can be quite refreshing

Alexa-asimplelife said...

What a clever yet simple idea of making all the materials morph into one size for easy and organised storage :)