I just measure the fabric after I get home from the store because sometimes it is either too short or too long from what I wanted {orderes}
and then I write the exact amount on a piece of paper and then staple it to the fabric. I do not have mine in any type of order, just piled all over the place. When I want to mke something, I go through the fabric, find the amount on the paper and go from there. I staple right in the selvage of the fabric and it don't leave any marks of any kind.
That's my way of marking my fabric........................
Bev

I recently went through a number of boxes, washed, ironed measured folded and stored fabric from those. I cut squares from index cards and pinned to yardages, even large scraps were measured and tagged. I have 1 yard lengths on one shelf, 1/2 yd on another and over 1 yard on big bottom shelf. I had a couple of pieces that were 6 and 8 yards. 1/4 yards are in small plastic boxes and smaller bits in a little bin. It works well until my "quilt inspectors" decide to romp through and knock stuff about.
Now I've found some more "stashed stash" in the garage.. here I go again!!!

i actually wash and dry everything as it arrives home. then i fold selvedge to selvedge and selvedges to fold, all the way down the length. then i accordian fold at between 8 - 9" (eyeballed). i can usually tell at a glance approximately what i have. if anything, i tend to underestimate, which is fine with me. the scrappy stash grows. i do this with all my quilt fabrics, but not my garment fabrics. the garment fabrics often are too slidey to stay well-folded. they often end up in plastic zip bags or in a lump. i just have to measure them when needed. often i work the other way around. how much do i have and what can i use it for? i buy on spec.

also, i separate my quilt fabric by color, but i don't separate garment fabric at all. i know exactly where every piece is, as hard as that is to believe.

I wish I had my stash labeled but it is very fun to pull pieces from the drawers. I know most of mine is 1 yard because I buy a lot of clearance or fabric shop closing fabric. If I have longer pieces I usually bought for backing and I put that in a seperate area. those pieces are usually 3-6 yards long. I seperate by color.

thanks everyone. i am getting lots of advice. will shortly start organizing using these ideas.

Hi Everyone,

I keep my new unwashed fabrics in a stack. When I wash, starch, dry, and iron them I hang them up on plastic coat hangers with a small stick'em note pinned to it stating the size at which i purchased it, like 2 yards, etc. Then I hang them in a closet based on the main color of the fabric.

When I have used one and still have a yard or more left I stick a new note on it and hang it back up. If it is less than yard it gets folded and put on the shelf below my fat quarters.

I like to stay organized that way I get to get more sewing and quilting done.

Pam

Several of you have said that you store your fabrics on hangers. I would think that would stretch them out, no? Unsewn fabrics, especially the crosswise grain, is really quite elastic and if it's pulling down on both sides of a hanger, it just seems to me like it's going to stretch. Mine is stored in clear bins, by color...no measurements, no labels, no pins, no worries. :D

Some pins can rust over time.

me too :mrgreen:

I'm not rusty - and we aren't going to discuss saggy.