Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Conquering the Fabric Pile

I’m not sure what came over me, but last week and I randomly just emptied out ALL of my fabric, and all of my scrap stashes onto my guest bed. Fabric-Hoard
Well it might have had something to do with this mess:Fabric-Mess-in-the-Closet
Fabric-in-closet-2


























 I couldn't even shut this door anymore!

Something had to be done so I guess I just got fed up with it and threw it ALL onto the guest bed.  I had tons of scrap stashes, too.   A drawer full, a bin, and an old scrapbook carrier full.scrap-stash-1

Oh wait there was this little basket, too.  scrap-stash-2

Then I started organizing all the larger pieces by color.  This was fun, actually. Fabric-Sorted

But the not so fun part was folding it all again.  It took me several days of going back to work on it since Sam {The Destroyer} couldn’t be near by to ruin my hard work.  I just measured the shelve and cut a piece of cardboard about that same size to use to fold my fabric with.  cardboard

Here’s some of the progress. Fabric-folded

Then I also got started on the shelf itself.  It’s nice that it fits perfectly in the odd nook part of my craft closet, but I felt like it needed to be white to match the rest of the closet innards.  Being white also makes it less distracting from the fabric itself.  Getting-started

I used Zinsser Bulls Eye 123 Primer because I already had a quart of it in the garage.  I’m not sure why I bought it originally, but I used it as a primer for these shelves.  They are just crappy Ikea shelves from an old entertainment unit we took apart, so it wouldn’t matter if I screwed them up somehow.  It took 3 coats of primer and then 3 coats of white paint to get these shelves to be somewhat decent looking.  I wish I’d just kept the shelves themselves on the unit, because the paint got scraped off pretty easily when I put them back in.  I just took a can of spray paint to the messed up spots.  Priming-the-shelves

I drilled and screwed in 4 wheels into the bottom—all by myself.  My first attempt at using the drill!!  DSC_2541-2

I also drilled and screwed in handles. And here it is in the closet!DSC_2545-2 DSC_2546-2







































I put a board on the floor to help the shelves easily roll in and out and it works perfectly!! 

I bet you are wondering what happened to all those scraps, too?  They were separated into color families and put into Ziploc bags which were then put into a smaller bin.  Smaller to allow for the roll-out shelf to do it’s thing.  If my scraps outgrow this bin, then it’s time to purge again.  No reason to hold on to tons of scraps that won’t get used!  The large yardage, denim, sweater material and large pieces of felt and flannel got organized and put into the big bin.  Fabric Storage

Phew!  Overall it took two weeks, but so worth it!
I actually kinda feel like sewing something now…

12 comments:

  1. I love color coordination! :-) So Pretty. Here's a link to the site where I got the patterns for the paper piecing gifts I did. http://www.fandominstitches.com/
    (In case you didn't already have a sewing project in mind ;-))

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  2. I read all 3 of your articles on craft room organization. They are great. I like that you show the process of making the shelves. This is a great working space. I forwarded this to dh so he can build it.

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  3. I read all 3 of your articles on craft room organization. They are great. I like that you show the process of making the shelves. This is a great working space. I forwarded this to dh so he can build it.

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  4. What a great idea...now if my closets ( any closet!) were just a bit deeper. What a smart move you made, Katie. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. What a fantabulous idea! Love the shelf on wheels. I've always wanted to do something like this and you made it so easy. Thanks for showing the details. :-)

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  6. I saw this on pinterest and thought it is a great idea, not only for fabric scarps but sweaters or t-shirts! then you won't have to hog the dresser for the more important stuff.

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  7. Where did you get the shelf from that you used?

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  8. Where did you get your shelf from that rolls out?

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  9. The original shelf was from IKEA. I modified it to roll out for the awkward space in my closet :)

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  10. I love this, thanks for the idea of addings wheels to things to make them roll out, I really like the touch of putting handles to make it easier. It ended up looking fabulous.

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  11. Love it! but I have an awkward nook in my clothes closet and I am going to steal your idea to put my pants and such on

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  12. Love it.. I just might try to make one, shelf included.

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