Swatching the stash

[RuthieK]

I think I would like to index my stash with swatches. Its mostly in large cardboard moving boxes in the garage (which I can access by internal door), I thought I might cut a swatch off staple it to an index card and keep them in a shoebox. The card would give the size of the piece, its location, and any other stuff I recall about it.

Does this seem a sensible approach? Has anyone got a variation on this they could share with me. I have 10 boxes of fabric, but this includes scraps, remnants and home dec as well which I won't be swatching (well maybe the home dec later).

[sdBev]

It's a great idea.... that didn't work for me.  Or maybe I didn't work with it.  I kept moving the fabric around putting it back in a diffferent place; used some without updating my card to show how much was left, etc etc.  I read some people use a swatching system and wouldn't sew without one. 

[Lisanne]

Some people prefer adding swatches to sheets of paper in a ring binder, but I'm like you and find index cards more usable.

I also like to add the fibre content, care information, plus price and where and when it was bought (that's interesting information later  even if you don't go in for stash contests !).

[vtmartha]

I'm hoping this will work for me as I've going through my stash and cataloging it.  It's a boring job which I don't relish. 

[NancyDaQ]

This is what I do. I'm at work, so can't go into detail right now. But I'd be happy to fill you in later.

[srna]

I use a photo storage box and index cards.  On each card I staple a swatch, list the fiber content, purchase source and price, washing instructions, any notes regarding whether I've washed it, and storage location.  Then when I use some or all of it, I note the pattern number, view & size, and date completed.  That info often comes in handy later for coordinates or size choices.  I've tried to file in groups but haven't hit on a set of groupings I like, as there is overlap between categories.

[andib]

I use index cards also.  THe big trick is making cards as you acquire yardage.  I have WAY more than you(not meant to sound snotty)and the system works well, as long as you put the fabric back where you got it when you take it out to play!

[LauraS.]

I also use index cards.  I do the same as others by listing all pertinent info on the card.  I also list whether it's been pretreated.  When the fabric is used I list the pattern, and when gone mark it with an "x".  Oh, I also mark if I've done a burn test.  You do need to do this when you bring the fabric home otherwise you forget.  I put a small scrap of fabric into the patterns when I use them and note on index cards info on the construction of the item.  Sometimes it seems you do more paperwork than sewing come to think about it.   

laura

[RuthieK]

Sounds like its a workable approach then.
I will give it a go and let you know how I get on.....

RuthieK

[miranda]

I think it's a great idea.  I'd definitely put in info on fibre content, because by the time it's been in my stash for a little while I'm unlikely to remember.
Miranda

[kaaren]

I think those stashes just grow and eventually get out of control.  Envision nearly 50 years of buying, acquiring, and squirreling.  It is far too late for me to start that index card thing!  BUT I do have several dozen paper boxes, at least a dozen of those very large indigo storage containers, drawers and filing cabinets.  It is serious and I was at Britex yesterday! 

But to the point, I have all boxes numbered and stacked in an invisible closet.  The indigo containers are also numbered and mentally all of the filing cabinets and drawers are numbered.  These are all listed in a word spread sheet then I have listed the fabrics, yardage, and width. And often where I bought it. And if washed, W, and if removed temporarily, O, and on rare occasions, I delete a fabric I used!  Because I buy mostly naturals, I never got in the habit of indicating fiber content.  Probably time unifies the boxes!  But some would be identified by a country.

And in the last five years, when I go shopping the stash containers, I cut a small piece and put it in a plastic snack bag.  On the outside  of the bag I indicate the box or drawer.  And all of the little bags are stored in a plastic shoe box.  All  very low tech for this Silicon Valley shopper!  However, when I do shop a stash container, I try to double check the contents, even add new friends when there is a space.  And on my spread sheet I put the year the box was updated. 

That is the best I can do at this stage!  Beginning collectors, find a system that works and use it.  Maybe then I would not have  miles  of navies!  Kaaren

[NancyDaQ]

OK, I found the information! This is on my blog and I will post links at the end.

I have a lot of sewing stuff, since I've been sewing since the early 1970's and began seriously pursuing it again since finishing grad school in the (cough!) early 1980's. I keep index cards in a box I found at JoAnn's (the box on my blog got too small   This box is an index card file I bought at Staples. I originally started with a little recipe style card box, but obviously, that became too small a while ago.

In it are index cards with swatches of my stash fabric, well 99% of it. There are always a few pieces that slip through inventory. Each card has:

• A small swatch of the fabric
• The date (month/year) of purchase
• Length
• Width
• Fiber content and washing instructions, if known
• Where purchased and cost, if known

I've found that index cards give me the greatest flexibility in selecting and rearranging my collection. Plus, this system has been ongoing for a while and it would be a pain to change at this point. The cards are grouped by rings.  I started by arranging the cards by colors. Remember Roy G. Biv, that mnemonic for remembering the colors of the rainbow? That's how several of the rings are set up. Then I decided to keep knits, polarfleece, flannel, and cotton prints separately because that's how I was looking for them. They're arranged by color within each ring. The set of cards in front of the box contains the fabrics that I've chosen for the Getaway so far.

I don't know how many yards I have. A lot.

Although I probably should have the location of the fabric noted on each card, I haven't done that yet. Maybe I'll get around to it someday.

After I've finished with the fabric, I note the pattern used and the date it was completed. Then the card goes into a second box with the most current items filed in front.

Here's a link to the original blog post:
http://sewwest.blogspot.com/2007/09/organizational-tricks-part-one.html

[LindaE]

I have swatched my stash by put it in boxes cutting a swatch writing on a piece of paper the fabric content and how much place these in notebooks using baseball card plastic sheets ( which hold 9 in each sheet). I then labedl each box with fabric content then cross reference it to a layout sheet showing where these boxes are located. in my storage area. here is a picture of one of the notebooks showing the plastic sheets.

examples of the storage boxes.

[Diane P.]

Nanflan -- how inspirational!  Bless your heart if all your fabric cards fit into one file index box.  Mine might look like the old catalog files from the library -- hmmm wonder if there are any of those floating about?  That would be a great storage unit for those of us with more fabric than sense.

I once saw a stylish, gorgeous woman at Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon who had a 3-ring binder open in her shopping cart.  She had her pattern envelopes in plastic file sleeves and multiple fabrics on rings similar to yours that she was able to flip through to have at her fingertips all the information and swatches she needed.  I liked the fact that she had an organized way to shop for everything she needed for a pattern and wasn't pulling out pieces of this and that from her purse.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful system.

[andib]

I once saw a stylish, gorgeous woman at Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon who had a 3-ring binder open in her shopping cart.  She had her pattern envelopes in plastic file sleeves and multiple fabrics on rings similar to yours that she was able to flip through to have at her fingertips all the information and swatches she needed.  I liked the fact that she had an organized way to shop for everything she needed for a pattern and wasn't pulling out pieces of this and that from her purse.

This would assume you would shop for a particular reason, not just when the urge hit you!

[karent]

She had her pattern envelopes in plastic file sleeves and multiple fabrics on rings similar to yours that she was able to flip through to have at her fingertips all the information and swatches she needed.

For some reason, this all frightens me!  I'm afraid if I tried to organize it all, I would surface fifteen years from now with shopping bags full of index cards and colored coded marker stains on my fingertips.  If anybody wants to start a business in stash-organization, I would be willing to guinea pig as your first client.  Unfortunately, my management style is pretty random.  I have the black/grey closet, which is sad when you think that one might have so much black and grey fabric as to fill an entire closet.  Then there is the "color" closet, obviously full of non-black/non-grey.  Then, the Rubbermaid shelves for the overflow, and the overflow-overflow shelves.  And, of course, newest purchases on the ironing board.  Perhaps I should just take a seam ripper to my throat and get it over with!  

Seriously, those of you that have "retro-fitted" an organization system, how time consuming was it, really, and did you find it helpful?  I'm thinking it would be nice for future purchases, but not certain it would be worth the time spent to go backwards.  After all, some of these fabrics have been living here for a long time, and I really do have a pretty good idea where they are and what they are made of.  Remembering where I bought them is less easy, and frankly, remembering what I paid is often best ignored.  I have a pretty good color memory, so I don't often take things with me to match unless it is an odd shade, and so much of my shopping is online that having swatches of fabric to match wouldn't do any good anyway.  I waffle between thinking I should spend the time to catalog it all (for posterity, potentially) and just let it alone.  Thoughts from any other non-organized souls?  Are there any more out there?  K

[marciae]

 Thoughts from any other non-organized souls?  Are there any more out there?  K

Here I am - I have mine organized by - good wools, pants fabric, knit top fabric, silk lining, home dec.  That is until I start pilfering thru the whole mess!!      But, I can "usually" find what I want.  Oh, and I have the coat fabric, jacket fabric, cottons, fuzzy for stuffed animals, stuffing for animals, old jeans to do a jacket, 2 tubs of sweat shirts and T;s to embroidery - and the list goes on and on and on and on.........!  Oh, and I have the 'current' pile - that's the fabric I bring up to the 'cutting' room.  If it gets too deep it goes to the sewing closet to wait it's turn!!  I know it sounds like mass confusion but it works for me and in the final end that's all that's important.

ETC: quotation tags--Lisa

[Zoubida]

I couldn't keep up with organizing my stash and keep it organized. And having an organized stash would anihilate some weird habits of mine. I take great pleasure in spending few hours every now and then to empty a trunk or two on my bed and go through it, changing my mind on what to make with such and such fabric and remembering that I have that one and how nice it would be done in such or such pattern. Can you see some OC symptoms in that behaviour? DH sees it clearly but I don't care since he's not a psychiatrist.

The only organizing I did last year was to pin a post-it note on the cuts with the width and lenght written on it. I did that because it was too time consuming to check if I had enough yardage for a given project. But I didn't keep up with this and I bought several fabrics since so there's some work to do if I want to have this "system" on my new purchases.

DH promised me a large, well lit, well thought-off sewing room in the basement when he finishes that part of the house. He intends to make a full wall of shelves for my stash (to protect from light and lint, I'm supposed to make sheers mounted on rods in shower-curtain style for easy pulling aside). This way I could see the fabric at all time without messing with it. He got this picture for me as an exemple.


Photo: Clara Anatoli

He said he will make the shelves closer one to an other so the piles of fabric are not that high. This way I wouldn't mess up too much cuts in one of my "crazy OC perusing of the stash" sessions.

I can't wait.

But I won't be organising the existing stash more than separating cool weather type from hot weather type.

[vtmartha]

Karen, I am just moving forward with the 'stuff on my ironing board' and the 'stuff which just keeps coming in'.  Very rarely, I'll pick out a box in the barn and go through that.  I am making a concerted effort to empty my sewing room of any distractions such as unsewn fabrics which, while pretty to look at, are stifling my productivity.  While in my wildest dreams I'm a 'filer', in reality I seem to be a 'piler'. 

[BeeBee]

karent, I tackled the room, but I'm not sure I'm up to the stash!  It's a little scary!  And we both might disappear beneath mountains of swatches, glue sticks, and markers.  Can we train your dogs to rescue us? Or at least bring us pizza and wine - and a cell phone?  AND GET THAT STUFF OFF THE IRONING BOARD!  PUT IT AWAY, THAT'S HOW YOU GOT INTO THAT MESS!

My experience last week, when I found stuff I forgot I had, tells me I need to do something.  I've only been at it a year  and I'm already lost.  Of course I do have an entire web-site of enablers and a BFF that pops in from time to time to supervise in person.  We'll be moving in the spring, so maybe I'll work on mine when I unpack.  I also have a box - banker's size - of "what was I thinking?/got it for free from FM but WTH?"  I may try to unload that before I move.  It would free up a "cubby" on my shelf.  I'm thinking along the lines of a file box, though the tidiness of a binder appeals to me    As for organizing on the shelves, I can never decide how I want it done:  by season, by color, by how much I like it, by where it fits  , by what it goes with.  So many choices  .  Ah, well, I won't think about that now, after all, tomorrow is another day.

[LauraS.]

Zoubida, I'm thinking most or all of us do this.  It usually begins with me going thru the patterns then excitedly pulling fabrics down as I make new matches.  Of course, that brings on thoughts of this has got to be sewn now! and moving fabrics and patterns to the staging area which is now taking over most of my cutting table.  From there I'm putting fabrics back onto the shelves to make ready for the next time.  And I don't care whether I know for sure how many yards I have to a fabric, I still have to unfold it and measure it out.  It takes discipline not to unfold them all.  And, Heaven, help me when I start pulling patterns out.  I have stacks everywhere and go thru them just about everyday it seems.  There is always activity in the sewing room whether I'm sewing or not.  I also have a box of lost pattern pieces.  This box has been growing for the last 30"+ years.  That is a job I do not want to do and have put it off forever.  Even with a pattern org system, it would be a chore.

laura

[Sew Inspired]

I use the index card system with much of the afore mentioned info. My contribution is that I get the protective plastic sheets baseball card collectors use for large cards - 4/page - and the index cards fit perfectly, then I store it in a 3 ring binder. I gave up the location recording strategy and now store by color, multi print, plaid, wool, knit. It is easier to keep storing things that way.

[Lisanne]

We can all find a lot of lovely ways to enjoy ourselves with fabric apart from actually sewing it can't we   

[LisaB]

I've enjoyed reading how all of you deal with this (or don't). Until recently, I had no designated storage space, so my stash consisted of a few boxes and a shelf piled high in the guest bedroom. In the last year DH finished a sewing room for me with a large closet, so I've slowly been moving fabric into it. I also somehow managed to acquire a large volume of new fabric in the same timeframe. Now the closet doesn't look nearly big enough!

Anyway, I decided to use a combination of the index card system along with a database I made. I wanted to have swatches on cards so that I could pull out some that might work together when the mood strikes yet still have most of the info recorded in the db where I can search for keywords, etc.

I haven't finished getting everything cataloged yet. It really is time-consuming. My rule is that I will not put anything into the closet that isn't cataloged first. I'm trying to implement the rule that it must also be preshrunk, but if I stick to that one, it will REALLY slow down the process.

My closet is organized by fabric type...shirtings, woolens, cotton bottom weights, silks, rayons, linings, knits. I figure that's a good enough start. When I get the last of the stash in there and if there's any energy/desire left, then I can decide to also organize by color or something else.

[CarolynB]

Martha, Like you, I'm trying to empty my sewing room of all the 'distractions', because it is so chaotic at the moment that I don't even want to be in there - an unheard of situation 

As for swatches, I staple mine to business cards which I printed up with Description, Width, Yardage, Fibre content, Care, Pretreated or not, Where purchased and how much.  I try to fill in the blanks whenever I bring fabric into the house.  I then punch a hole in these and put them on a clip-ring, sorted by colour.  I can then take them with me wherever, or sit and play with various combinations. 

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to store the fabrics once I get them out of the sewing room, so will keep reading hoping fo the final solution.

Caro

[andib]

I am not an organized person, but I have most my fabric swatched, or else I would never be able to find what I was looking for.  If your stash it too big, you definitely either need to toss or organize!

[marciae]

I am not an organized person, but I have most my fabric swatched, or else I would never be able to find what I was looking for.  If your stash it too big, you definitely either need to toss or organize!

I don't plan on doing either!!   I'm trying to sew it all!!   My biggest dilema is pulling out a piece and realizing you'll have a bit more than a yard left - and what would I do with a yard!!

[RuthieK]

I am hoping to have a go this weekend, though its below freezing and the garage where the fabric is stored is unheated, so maybe not!

Some years ago I did a version of this, except I only pinned the fabric onto paper and had it in a ring binder.
I didn't keep it going though, but I think that was because I had a large shelved cupboard in the sewing room to store all the fabric.

[Sassy]

I'm soooo glad you girlies are here!! I am soaking up as much information as I possibly can...

Ms. LindeA - I've seen the plastic sheets with the four "slots".. can you tell me about the ones you get with the 9?? I really like that!

Considering I have 6 "pieces" of fabric ... and yup that's my "stash"... starting this now would be a good idea huh? And if anyone is cleaning out stashes, I'm definitely open to stash hand-me-downs. LOL!

Sweet!

(and if I had some freaking thread I'd be learning my new machine, but alas.. I'm learning how to stash the stash I don't have as of yet)

Sas

[LindaE]

Sassy,
The plastic sheets with 9 slots in them are design for baseball card collections.,  I purchased them at Wal-Mart you can probably get them at Wal-Mart, Target and similar type stores.

 

[Sassy]

Thank you Ms. LindaE!!

[cmarie12]

We'll be moving in the spring, so maybe I'll work on mine when I unpack.

Beebee - when I moved that's when I upgraded my organization for my fabric...while I don't use the index system, I do place a small piece of paper on each piece when it's bought and shoved into the fabric closet.  My piece of paper contains the same information that's been discussed for the index cards.  However, since I now have the closet and stock the shelves by color, I don't need location...I just need to know how much is on hand.

But I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to this discussion, you have brought a smile to my face and several hearty guffaws! 

[Stephie]

 I am like Karet in that I have no system and as a lot of it has been there a long time feel that "why start now"
However I am going immediately to the ironing board and commence to make pajamas for the 2 littleDGD's

Hopefully guilt will be erased. Although I must say that I haven't any fabric in the barn yet Martha. My husband has enough unnecessary stuff in there as it is!

Terry

[zora]

I don't see the need to swatch my stash. My stash is on shelves and I look at it daily, not to forget I pet it daily too 

[Sew Inspired]

My son is an avid baseball card collector. We have found that if we purchase the plastic sheets (4or9) at a hobby shop in a larger quantity box they are much cheaper and heavier quality than those found at WalMart. Smaller quantities are similarly priced but the hobby shop ones are still better quality. They tend to be very clear plastic also. While you are at the hobby shop you will probably find something to buy for one of your hobbys also. Stashing over more than one collection. Priceless. We are an obsessed lot.