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Quilt Studio Tips

Practical Sewing Room Organization Tips for May

May 1, 2020May 1, 2020 2 comments

Hi friends!

Did you enjoy the Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop last month? I really enjoyed seeing all the spaces quilters have to work in. They were all so different!

As I read each of the posts, I kept looking for sewing room organization tips that I could use to improve my space. 

As part of the blog hop, in my post, I talked about project storage. You can read that here. But project storage was only a small portion of my storage issues!

Spring Cleaning: How to Declutter Your Sewing Studio, featured by top quilting blog, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs, where Kate shows how she decluttered her sewing studio!

Over the last few years, I have made a lot of quilts. I hesitate to count, but between quilts for multiple magazines, Bluprint, Quilting Daily, fabric companies, my own pattern line plus class step outs…. It is well over 100 quilts. That many quilts generates a LOT of leftover fabric. 

Sewing Room Organization Tips: How to Organize your Leftover Fabric

So the other really big issue for me is leftover fabric!

To manage the leftovers, I have done a few “Shop my Stash” sales, I put the fabric I really love into my stash for future scrap quilts and I use some of the fabric to test a block or a setting to make sure things will work.

But I generate way to many leftovers!!! What about the rest???

Well this past weekend I reached a breaking point! I went into my studio and cleaned out. Fabric in my bins by color were dumped out and sorted thru. Fabric that were leftover bits and pieces from projects- HSTs, FG units, squares and strips all went into kitchen trash bags.

When I was done, I had 1 bag that I put into the trash and 9 bags, some rulers and a bin of yardage that was donated.

Practical Sewing Room Organization Tips for May featured by top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs

I felt so good being able to give the fabric to someone who will use it and it opened up my space to really see what I have that I could use!

Practical Sewing Room Organization Tips for May featured by top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs

I am so happy. I was holding onto fabric because I did not want it to go into the trash. But I knew I was not going to use it all, or turn them into more dog beds… I have more work quilts to make and so it was just going to pile up even more.

Practical Sewing Room Organization Tips for May featured by top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs

The fabric was taking up more than just physical space; it was taking up headspace, it was weighing me down and it was not bringing me joy. I now have both more physical space and more headspace to create!

Practical Sewing Room Organization Tips for May featured by top US quilting blog and shop, Seams Like a Dream Quilt Designs

So here it is, my sewing room organization tip for today: go through your fabric, tools and supplies and keep what makes you smile, what makes you feel good , what inspires you and giveaway what no longer serves you.

You will feel so much lighter!!!

Happy quilting!

Kate

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About Kate

About Kate

Hi! I'm Kate Colleran, a designer who creates quilt patterns, fabric and surface designs. I lecture and teach about quilting. Welcome to my online home!

Related Posts

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Spring Cleaning Tips: How to Declutter Your Sewing Studio
Spring Cleaning Tips: How to Declutter Your Sewing Studio
What to do with leftover fabrics?
What to do with leftover fabrics?

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Spring Cleaning Tips: How to Declutter Your Sewing Studio
Fun and Functional Sewing Room Decor Ideas!

2 comments

  1. Sue Poet says:
    May 4, 2020 at 9:47 am

    If any of those 100s of quilts don’t have a home, I have a donation outlet for them. Last week, I contacted Hope & Home, a foster agency in Colorado Springs/Metro-Denver about donating quilts for them to give to kids entering the foster system. I would gladly collect them from you and deliver them, or put you in contact with the appropriate person at Hope & Home.

    Reply
    1. Kate Colleran says:
      May 5, 2020 at 10:13 am

      Sue,
      Thank you for that information. I do plan to donate some of the quilts and then sell some of the quilts. I will be in touch!

      Reply

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