craft organizing 101: the stash

Posted on February 29, 2012 by mari

If you craft, you probably have a stash. It’s all the crap we use to make stuff. I have two: yarn and fabric.

If you don’t craft, but live with a crafter, you probably know how to spot a stash: it’s all the crap that’s taking over your living space. David is sympathetic to your plight, dear non-crafter.

I’ve only been sewing for a few months, but already the fabric was threatening to overrun the second bedroom, which we share as an office/studio/closet.

David gets full credit for this organizing solution. A few months ago (when the stash was still slightly manageable) he suggested hanging the fabric over hanging file folders and sorting it like a filing system. What an excellent idea! Which I proceeded to do nothing about for… a while.

Until this weekend! Aided by a spring cleaning bug and an office organizing sale at the Container Store, I finally managed to wrangle my stash into something that looks like order.

To start: I pulled ALL of my fabric that was bigger than a 4″ scrap and organized it by color.

You can’t tell, but there’s just as much fabric sitting to the right of the frame.

Note: I pretty much only have quilting cotton, but you could also sort by fabric type if you have a larger selection.

Here’s my storage system, ready for action. I originally bought 4 of these open top file boxes at the Container Store and 2 boxes of hanging file folders:

Note: Thinking I could fit this many file folders was optimistic at best.

Then I started draping fabric over the tops of the file folders:

Most of my fabric is half a yard or less. If a piece was larger, I let the most of the fabric fall into the folder with little hanging over the other side. I doubled up fat quarters on a side and overlapped scraps on larger/solid pieces. And I worked with the existing folds in the fabric, rather than ironing and refolding.

So, it’s not an anal-retentive dream come true, but it worked for me.

Altogether, I filled up 6 medium file boxes (not pictured here: two boxes of white, brown and black fabrics). I fit 6 hanging file folders in each box, but in some cases the fabrics are a little crammed in there. Not sure yet how annoying that will be in actual use but we’ll see.

So, the benefits as I see it are that it’s easier to see everything and find a particular color and I won’t topple a stack of fabric when I go digging in deep stash. Because it’s (somewhat) expandable/adjustable, I can quickly find a place for new stash as I add material.

Drawbacks: this could end up taking up a lot of space. (Which is in short supply in our townhouse). We’ve got a wall of EXPEDIT shelving units and 6 boxes took up 3 cubbies.

(For perspective, my previous storage “solution” only took two, but mainly consisted of me throwing fabric haphazardly into a box, with scraps littering the top of the bookshelves).

Two medium file boxes fit an EXPEDIT cubby with an inch or so to spare. I’ve got a few more free cubbies, so I might go back and get some more boxes in anticipation of stash growth.

David is shaking his head right now.

I also haven’t dealt with my scrap box and how that fits into this new system yet. That might be a Craft Organizing 201 post.

Update: We thought we were so original!! But via Pinterest, I found this post about using hanging file folders to organize. Karen at Sew Many Ways cut her folders in half and wrapped larger pieces all the way around her file folders. I might have to give that a try.

that’s pinteresting no. 2

Posted on February 28, 2012 by mari

This week’s round up of things I found while Pinteresting… (as always, click image for original source).

I make felt flowers for craft shows and this one is beautiful! It looks a little labor intensive to sell, but I definitely want to make a few for myself.

This is such a cute print. It makes me think of David. It’s so cozy looking.

I haven’t admitted this on the blog yet, but I am a huge Dr. Who fan. My dad got me hooked last winter. While I have significant love for David Tennant, I think Matt Smith and Karen Gillian are my favorite doctor/companion duo.

No one I know likes Dr. Who, so if there are any other Who fans, please please please sound off in the comments! I need someone to geek out with before the next series starts!

Such a beautiful cabin. David and I are going away in a few weekends for a belated anniversary trip to the mountains. The awesome cabin we’re staying at might just gives this one a run for its money. But maybe we’ll have to take a trip to Montana to try this one out :) Going to Montana is on my sort of life list.

The eternal challenge of my young life. I’m trying, I’m trying…

I have been on a total biscotti binge lately. I never realized how delicious it is dipped in coffee! After an ill-gotten experiment with biscotti several years ago, I used this recipe to give it another go. I would label it an unqualified success!

I might need to get this to hang in our living room. Aww, so sweet!

This weekend resulted in some major sewing stash reorganization… but I might have to look into this for reigning in the fiber stash next.

What have you been pinning this week?

getting to know me

Posted on February 23, 2012 by mari

Hey new friends from The Nearsighted Owl! Thanks for stopping by and giving me a good opportunity to tell you a little more about myself.

Here are a random smattering of facts and tidbits about my life.

My boyfriend David and I just celebrated our two year anniversary on Valentine’s day. We met online via OKCupid and talked for a week before we met in person.

Every time I logged in to write him back, OKCupid had a little robot dude on the page that said, “I think you both like Johnny Cash.” True enough, we did.

I have a 5 year old black lab mix named, appropriately, Cash. He is the Dog in Black. Although he is actually sort of brown. Anyways. We call him Johnny Cashius Clay.

He spazzes out when you say the words “dog park” and is generally a good dog. He needs a brother or sister to play with, but not until we get a house with a yard.

I grew up in Michigan but I’m pretty firmly rooted in North Carolina for the foreseeable future.

I want to get a tattoo of the outline of Michigan (don’t worry Mom and Dad, not the one above), because it will always be home . I love going on vacation to the Upper Peninsula and look forward to dragging David up there someday.

I’m an only child and an introvert. All my hobbies are things I like to do by myself – reading, knitting, sewing, baking.

Well, knitting is something I like to do with other people. I convinced 4 friends to let me teach them to knit. I don’t know that they’re truly converted, but they have made a scarf, a coffee cozy, two hats, fingerless gloves, and half a sock. Two of them have humored me by patiently following me around the Southeast Fiber Festival.

I count that all a success. Want to be knitting friends? I’m on Ravelry!

When I was in grad school, I dyed my hair turquoise, pink, red, and purple. I’m pretty quiet, so I think I shocked everyone.

I felt like it was my best chance to do something a little crazy before I had to go out and be a grown up. I want to do it again. For now, I’m settling with a pixie cut.

I’m trying to break my lifelong habit of biting my nails. I can do almost anything for 2 months, but then I fall off the wagon. I did awesome for December and January but had to start cutting them down to avoid temptation.

Long nails may not be for me.

Like Rachele, I believe strongly in fat/size/body acceptance and Health at Every Size. That image (click for original source) pretty much sums up my body philosophy.

I have good body days and bad body days, like everyone. I have too much to say to be succinct here, but I’m always interested in talking about it if you want to hear more.

Finally, I have an etsy shop that I’m still trying to figure out. I knit, I sew, I make felt flowers.

I don’t really know what I want it to be yet, but in the meantime, I’m making things I like (like knitting bags and pillow covers) and putting them up there. I like custom orders so if you see something you like but want it a little different, let me know.

In the meantime, I’m taking the Indie Business Course to narrow in a bit on my real business plan.

Anything else you want to know? Leave me a comment and I’ll put together another one of these posts soon. Thanks for stopping by!