I came across this ladies blog thru my grace machine quilters group. She has some awesome purses & bags for sale. Very pretty indeed. Here is a link to her blog http://www.bagsnrags.blogspot.com/ Here is a link to her etsy shop where you can buy them. www.gin1906.etsy.com A little bit of eye candy this morning, since it is 6:30 am here is windy ohio.
Okay first thing we are going to do, you got a whole week to dive into it and try to get it done!!start with your stash, clean them out GF's. keep those fabrics that make your heart sing, bring a tear to your eyes, you just want to pet them, you love the look of them together, and so on. The ones you could do with out, this is the hard part. you can do a few things with them.
1) sew them together and use them for backings of quilts. I've seen some just as pretty as the front. Just put them in a certain spot just for your backing fabrics.
2) measure them out and sell them in yardages, fat quarters, 1/2 yards etc. Use this money from the sell to buy new fabric, storage items, or put it back for an upcomigng retreat you want to attend.
3) donate it to a place that make charity quilts or to your own guild if they do that. Knowing that someone will fall in love with that fabric you no longer love is a great feeling.
4) make some rag quilts or rugs from them. The rag quilts could be kept in your ( or a family members car) to be used if you get stuck in your car, take to a game to keep warm or maybe someone might need one you can give it to as well.
5) make some "blankets" for your local animal shelter, check with them for the requirements.
6) Do a barter system with your quilty friends, make a party out of it, do some trading, never know what your friends might want to barter for to have that fabric.
Anyone else have more ideas. Next week we will talk about storing that gorgeous fabric in various ways, this way it will give you some time to go thru it all, sort it. keep in mind, just because you bought it and no longer love it there is nothing wrong with us women changing our minds or preferences. Think of the sheer pleasure of unloading all of the stress it has on you. Have fun. Have some gals over to help you out. Remember once it is in the " don't love" anymore don't bring it back out UNLESS you put in the backing only pile!!!
okay ladies we are going to hit up fat quarters ( 18x22" fabric) and 1/2 yardsThese are such yummy little pieces of fabrics that are so hard to resist. So lets start by going thru them. Get rid of the ones that don't appeal to you put them in a seperate pile. Now your Keeper pile, made sure they are all folded up nice and neat. you can seperate them by color or style or whatever suites your taste/needs.
Here are several options to store them babies.
cd towers/holders. These are great to use to store them in, stack them, heck you can hang them on the wall also.
Canvas Shoe Bag that goes into closets. great to use.
Sweater boxes/bags great to store under the bed or stack them.
Shoe Rack holder, cubby holder. aka grid cubes
Fat quarters and 1/2 yards can be folded into 1/4th's then 1/4th's again, which fit nicely into the Sterlite CD boxes on end, so you can see all the fabric in the box
Fat Quilter tote http://store. quilting- warehouse. com/083423. html
Fat Quarter organizer http://store. quilting- warehouse. com/084472. html
cabinet with drawers, placing them upright, way to fit a bunch in one drawer.
baskets you can roll them up secure with yarn or rubber bands
photo boxes, label the outside the colors/style inside
rolling plastic cart with wheels Look in your office supply store for a rolling cabinet. Often, the drawers are the perfect size for these cuts, plus you can pull it over to your sewing area when you're selecting your fabrics.
look for orphan drawers when you're shopping. You can stack your fabric in them and then stand them on a shelf or table. old sewing drawers are cool. make sure to label on the outside what is in the inside as in color, type ( nature, plaids etc)
This eliminates your time searching for that perfect piece. Give you more sewing time.Keep them organized
Avoid really large, deep bins as they are harder to sort through and can get heavy if overloaded
Think outside of the box, get creative and fun with it.Take your pile of i don't love anymore, sell them to buy your storage organizers, take them to your next quilt retreat to play fat quarter bingo ( cause someone might just love your i don't love anymore fabric), give them to someone who makes charity quilts, used them to line the inside of a purse or tote, or at your next quilt guild meeting do a fabric swap. Just don't let them mix with your keeper fabric.
anyone have any other ideas?? Pictures???
Sorry for the delay but been without power for 4 days due to ice storm here in southern ohio.
Okay you ladies lets start on another part of your sewing room. Hopefully you all are finished with the magazines or atleast near the end.
Books and Patterns~~~Lets's start with patterns. I go thru my patterns every 3-6 months and dish out the ones that no longer "wow" me or inspire me. I've got mine in a square basket so when it get's filled up I go and get rid of the ones that i no long have an interest in. As women you all know our taste change along with our mind, which is what is so great about us. I also have some patterns that I keep in a hanging folder(s) in a file box that is labeled quilt patterns, doll patterns, rug hooking, purse patterns, and so on. You label them to what suites your taste. another idea for those patterns that has those applique pieces that you need to use over and over. I put those in a manilla envelope with the pattern taped on the front so I know what is inside. .
Places to store your patterns:file cabinet or file box ( the plastic kind that holds hanging folders)an accordian type file box,basket, plastic container, cardboard box just the size for those patterns, Mailing boxes , Binders with the sleeves
You can put your items for sale ( here on fridays), ebay, etsy, and so on, give to a fellow quilter or do an exchange with other quilters ( trade patterns) , put on local freecycle, give to senior citizen place where they have recreation director, or give to your guild as a giveaway. The main thing is purging, asking your self how many is a good number to keep on hand & stick to it. Are you really going to make it? Do I like it that much? How long have i had this? (i mean if you haven't made it 5-10 yrs since you bought it most likely you won't)Keep it simple and fun.
Books: This is going to be the hard one. That is why I'm starting it now and you all until this coming sunday to get them done. I really don't keep a lot of books I have maybe around 50 books. The reason is because I don't buy a book unless It has 2-3 quilts or items I want to make out of it, I just can't justify the price. Go thru your books, get three piles going, one that you are definely keeping ( prying it out of your cold dead hands keeping), ones why did I spend my money on this pile, and not sure of pile. After you go thru them all, place the keeping ones back on a shelf. the ones not sure of, go thru them, figure out why do you like them, is it worth keeping, can I do without them. If there is only one project or two in there, make copies of them and put in with your binders/sleeves. No sense of keeping them and taking up space you need. I keep a few reference books, I have 4 total. I don't keep that many because most have the same information in them.
You can make a spreadsheet if you'd like on certain things you want to beable to find quickly as in a reference to making 1/2 square triangles, flying geese or something like that. books you can resale, trade, giveaway, and so on. Just get them out and make some room for new things.
Okay girls lets get to purging. Show us some before & after pictures. Love seeing them
