CAJAMK

I am taking the next few days to sort out quilting fabric, templates, threads, books, etc. I truly have no less that 9
huge totes filled with fabric alone that needs to be re-organized. I live in a tiny house and my sewing room is the dining room table. I am first getting all the totes unloaded and sorting by color except for Christmas, novelty, large backing fabric, scraps & childrens fabric. Then all others will just be sorted by color.
Anyway, any ideas on sorting are most welcome.
I have waaay too much fabric. Some is going to be donated to a local shelter or something.

bj

My sewing room is small and has glass doors that look into my living room. For me, too much is when it won't fit into the closet in there. I don't like for the room to look messy from the other parts of the house. But that's just me.

Favorite Fabrics

If you have so much "stuff" that looking at it makes you vaguely unhappy... then you probably have too much.

So then, the key is... do you know a place to give it to, where it will be used and appreciated?

If so... let it go!

This year I decided that I wanted to "travel through the world a little lighter" and gave away all of my crafty patterns and a whole lot of fabric. And... the people I gave them to were very happy to get the stuff and I feel a lot lighter for having done so.

It's been several months since I did that, and I don't regret having done it.

Bottom line... if it doesn't make you happy, why have it around?

Holice

I have somewhat the same problem. This is what I am doing.
I received two jelly rolls recently in a fabric swap. They contain all kinds of colors and patterns. True scrap jelly rolls. I have been doing some tube quilts recently so I started sorting them into reasonable combinations and making tube blocks. Amazing how good they look. So my plan is to start cutting those smaller pieces into 2.5" strips and making tube blocks and give them to the guild for their Chairity projects. It keeps me occupied and produces worthwhile pieces that someone can use. It is also a good exercise in creativity as the excitement builds as the blocks come together into very pleasing designs working with fabrics tht I didn't know what to do with.
So sort those that you might not use and start "stripping"

littlehud

I love my stash but if it was too much for me to enjoy I would start giving away some. I only have so much room and I don't want to be overwhelmed by fabric. I have a lot of totes too, but so far it works for me.

lovequiltedstars

If any of you has any to give away, I would gladly take them. I'm still using clothing instead of fabric. I don't have money to spend for fabric.

cabbagepatchkid

Here is a good article from Quiltville on this same subject.
http://quiltville.com/stashing.shtml

Annaquilts

I think it is too much if you look at it and feel uninspired and all the stuff makes you unhappy.

Sounds like you are on the right track with sorting, organizing and clearing some stuff out.

Right now I have an awesome studio but 1 1/2 yrs ago I was in a mobile home with lots of people and also sewed on the dining table. I did the bin thing too and it worked fairly well. Maybe keep the number of bins to what you feel you can manage/store comfortably and clear stuff out of bins in order to fit it in the bins that you really want.

CAJAMK

I thank all of you for your wonderful suggestions. Yes, I am going to really just take the whole weekend and get my "quilting life" in order. I will be on & off all weekend if anyone has more suggestions. thanks

hcarpanini

Why don't you take some of your larger pieces and piece some backs together? I just used my 12 1/2" ruler and cut squares and pieced them into a scrappy back for a scrap quilt. Now the quilt is two sided. A great way to use what you have and not buy new. You can always cut smaller squares if you have smaller pieces.