Hello, 2014! And boy was it a New Year to remember. My brother got married and I got two trips to urgent care. But, before all that fun stuff I made a New Year's Resolution; organize all of my scraps. Turns out, this might take all year to accomplish, but it's really needs to be addressed. I mean...just look:
Oh boy. And this -
Yikes! Years and years of memories are in these piles. I have about 3 bags and 2 tubs full of scraps. Some big, some small...some microscopic. I know I'm not the only one who thinks, "I might need this at some point". However, my pile is so crazy, I can't tell which fabric is which. Not exactly productive.
I browsed Google and interest to see how other sewists were getting organized. Eventually, you just have to take bits and pieces from what other people do to create a system that works best for you. The biggest "Aha" moments was when someone mentioned to iron all the scraps before storing. Brilliant! It looks nicer and stores better. Seems so obvious, but I'd never thought of it. Thank goodness I have my heat press, or this would take forever!
First, dump all your scraps on the floor. Next, jump into your pile and pretend they're fall leaves.
Okay, enough of that, goofball.
Separate your scraps by color, holiday themed, vinyl/leather, and multicolored and place into their own bags. This task will take most of us days, so by having them sorted into bags, you can just pick up where you left off.
As I was pressing the scraps, I had to do some damage control. Anything smaller than 2 inches by 2 inches got tossed. And I tried to trim the pieces into somewhat geometrical shapes, so they would be easier to fold.
But where to store the scraps after you've organized them? They need to be easily accessible. At first I was just going to use these shelves, but they're too narrow.
I found these awesome hanging storage shelves at IKEA. Super cheap and they come in multiple colors. Instead of hanging them in the closet, I used two strips of trim and a craft stick to hang it from my ceiling.
Pardon my half finished painting job - that's my Crafter's ADD.
I still don't feel like this is 100% ideal, because I have to look through a stack of fabric without really knowing what is inside. However, at least a system is in place. I'm sure I'll change something again as I add more scraps. I don't want it to feel cluttered, but not sure there is any way to get around that. If you have any ideas, please share!!!
More pictures to come as this New Year's Resolution is fulfilled. Now, back to my heat press and Netflix binge.
