Barb in Louisiana

I need some advice on how to keep up with the fabric I have in my stash so that I know what to buy for a project. My thought was to sort all the fabrics... blues, reds, stripes, etc, then get a zippered binder & tape a small sample or picture in the notebook along with how yardage I have of each fabric. I would have different sections by color or theme. I could get quite a few fabrics on 1 piece of paper in the binder. Perhaps they need to be on a notecard, so that when I move them to a project, the yardage & fabric stay together. Maybe post-its?

I was thinking that fabrics I could designate for a project would be moved to that project page so I would know what else I needed to buy. The zippered notebook could go with me to the store. Forgot to mention...got quite a lot of stash. About half of it is in 4 or 5 yard increments. The rest is fat quarters, 1 yarders & all kind of in betweens.

Does anyone have a way that is working for them that they would care to share? I did buy the iPhone FabricStash program, but don't think it will do what I need.

grann of 6

Your idea sounds like a good one. But I know me; I would never be able to keep up with it. That would take too much time. When I get an idea and a focus fabric, I just go through my stash according to what colors I think may work, take snips of those and go to the store to get what will go with that. I have so much fabric that I usually have most of what I need. But sometimes I get an idea that I have none of the right fabric.

Prism99

When I want to start a project, I just go through my unorganized stash and pull out any fabrics I think might work. Once I have that pile, I go though and eliminate fabrics. That smaller pile of fabrics becomes my project pile, at which point I could take swatches with me to the store if I think I need something else. However, usually what I end up needing to buy is just border fabric and/or backing fabric and/or binding fabric -- all of which do not need to be purchased until the top is basically finished; I can take the top to the store with me to get exactly the right fabric for the borders, etc.

I have a large stash and the hours I would need to organize it perfectly, and then the additional hours I would need to keep it organized after project "pulls" just isn't worth it to me. I just roughly box my fabrics according to style (batiks together) or color or light fabrics or dark fabrics or long lengths suitable for backings or fat quarters or Oriental fabrics, and leave it at that.

Grama Lehr

After all that............................I would be too pooped to quilt!! :oops:

ghostrider

Here's a way to make sure you fill in color gaps in your stash. Do a "stash inventory" by making a 12 step color wheel with three concentric rings. The rings will be for value; light, medium, and dark. On the outside of the largest circle, put the colors (or abreviations) red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, violet, and red-violet.

Now go through your stash and put a hash mark for each yard (or FQ or whatever measurement you decide on) in the wedge and ring that represents the color and value of that piece of fabric. If you decide to count half yards and you have a two yard piece of dark red, put four marks in the outer ring of the red wedge, one for each half yard of it. Use the dominant color and don't worry about what someone else would call it. As long as you are consistent, this will work.

When you are all done, not only will all your fabric feel loved because of the attention it got, but you will have a chart that shows exactly what you have on hand, and more importantly, you will be able to see where the gaps are in your color palette. And we all know what that means...time to go shopping!!! :D

Sadiemae

You have some really nice ideas, but I would never keep up with it. I just know me so well. LOL

candi

OK, people, your stash must be huge!!I can remember almost every piece in my stash,lol.

Jim's Gem

I have too much to do that.
I do have most of it stored by color/type etc. I just have to open the cabinet doors and take a look. Ok, well I may have to get into the rubbermaid in the garage, or in the drawer, or on top of the drawers.....
But most of it is very organized

luvTooQuilt

Great Idea I really like the idea of knowing what I have on hand but... OMG!!! It would take me years to get my fabrics in order like that!!!! Id never get time to quilt..

pocoellie

It sounds like you're really a organized person, so try it. I know that for myself I would never even begin to attempt such an endeavor, sorry I can't be of any help.