The Purge - Along

One of my favorite quilting blogs is by Rachel of Stitched In Color. She recently posted about purging unloved fabrics and getting organized.

It was a very persuasive post and after considering the concept for a few days, I finally decided to take the plunge! Here are the sad "Before" pictures.

The Mess

I can actually blame this on my cat.

I can't blame this on my cat.

Remarkably, my yarn stash looked pretty good.

I have a work bench in my room where I tinker with various crafts, and some of my supplies share space with fabrics and yarns in the closet, so I started with craft supplies. I also straightened and organized my doilies, laces, and embroidery supplies, as well as separately packaging my yarn and embroidery Christmas projects.

I counted yarn skeins and recorded brands, fibers, and colors on a spreadsheet. I had the brilliant idea of keeping a skein of each yarn on the shelf while storing the remainder in a plastic bin on an upper shelf.

Organized yarns.

I have fairly well organized upholstery fabrics on the top shelf, so I just pulled all my quilt fabrics to separate into color stacks and then fold them using my 6-1/2 inch quilt ruler.

The folding area.

Here are the "After" shots.

Katy was glad to have her bed back.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

Neat and easy to see.

Bundles, "theme" fabrics, and yardage on fabric organizers.

Charms, layer cakes, and my pitiful selection of solids.

I still need to go through my scraps!

The best thing about this Purge was creating the ability to see not only what I have but also what I need. My obsessive love of darker valued prints and teal colors has left a dearth of solids and lighter values, so I have vowed to take inventory next time I order fabric. I also love knowing exactly what yarn I have and being able to see at a glance if I have enough for a project. Organizing was very satisfying, and I feel such a lift every time I look in my closet.

Rachel has many suggestions for what to do with unloved fabrics, but I decided to donate mine to Goodwill. I may dislike them, but hopefully someone else will love them and put them to good use.

Here is the link to Rachel's Purge-Along.