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The Hard-working Mother by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, 1740 |
Fabrics: My one and only organizational triumph. I found this system somewhere online some seven years ago and spent quite some time putting it together. But it works! For seven years I have known exactly what I have and where it is. Nowadays when I don’t have room for my fabrics in the apartment it is even more useful. Here’s how to do it:
It is a card system so you need a box and cards + big boxes with lids. Number the big boxes so that the number is easy to see. Take a fabric and iron it if you need to. Then measure it, both length and width. On the card you pin a fabric sample, write down what kind of fabric it is, the measurement. If you have an idea or have earmarked the fabric for a special project, write that down as well. Fold the fabric and put it in a big box and then write down the numberof the box on the card. Continue until all your fabric has been processed.
The beauty of this system is that you don’t have to sort your fabrics or have them visible to have an overview. When I need something or just see inspiration I go to my cards, find what I need and go to the right box and get it. No more digging through boxes and shelves, leaving most of it on the floor. After the first time when I sorted all my fabrics I have only need to keep up when I buy something new and remove the card (I use a pencil so I can erase and re-use them) when I have used up something for a project.
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| Sewing Girl by Antonio Amorosi, ca 1720 |
I made four categories: 18th century costumes, historical costumes from any other period, the 40’s wardrobe project and then one for everything else. That made four lists and on every list I assigned every project an A, B or C. A is for projects have started and need to finish ASAP. B is for projects I have started but can wait a little and C is for projects planned but not started.
They looked like this (they are in Swedish, sorry)
Then I took the A’s from all the lists and made a new one, giving them the same treatment, A, B or C. Voila, a list with all my most urgent projects, listed after urgency. The plan is to work through the A’s and then elevate just one project on each list to A status. Wish me luck!
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| Women Working On Pillow Lace by Giacomo Ceruti ca 1720 |
That mess is cleared now, but most of the rest of the room looks like this as well. A large part is due to sewing notions without a home. A massive de-cluttering is really due here.
4 comments:
I'm in awe of your planning! I am in the process of rearranging my sewing and craft and art stuff as I now have a work room. It's small but it's mine!!!
Well, I'm not halfway though yet. :) It's nice to have a craft room on your own, isn't it?
I love your system! Both of them actually! :)
I had exactly the same problem with my notions and tools, and the solution was a bunch of plastic baskets, smaller than a shoebox. Into these I throw my bits and pieces in some kind of taxonomy that moves and alters all the time, but it is easy to do this as they are easy to see into, get into and they can stack too if the things in them are not crushable.
What doesn't live in a basket, lives in a small craft tote bag, in which I keep all my necessaries like small scissors, hand needles, bobbin holder, that kind of thing. I can take it with me around the apartment or out and about, so easy. Apart fromt hese systems, I also have four plastic boxes with dividers for my threads. One each for synthetic threads in cool shades and warm, one for cotton and silk threads, and the last for variegates and other quilting threads. They stack on a shelf and are easy to maintain.
I am a very messy person, and even these measures don't contain my need to spread stuff everywhere, but they have most certainly helped a great deal! most live in tall cupboards, on my sewing table, or on shelves we put up about 35cm from the ceiling, so they are out of the way. I hope that gives you some ideas! :)
Maryanne: Plastic boxes, that's really smart! So is shelves close to the ceiling! :)
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