Have you ever watched TLC station’s show “The Hoarders, Buried Alive”? The other day the show was about a woman who’s hoarding passion was fabric. She had mountains and mountains of it. It was everywhere. And she used it. She sewed every day but there was just so much she couldn’t possibly use it up. And every other kind of housework and activity took a back seat to the FABRIC. Her fabric fondling sure went to new heights. Sometimes I worry that might be what others see me like. I couldn’t possible use up all the fabrics on my shelves.
How about you….what does your stash and your work area [studio if you are lucky enough to have one] look like? Is it completely organized so that anyone could come in, pull colors and start stitching? Or is it like mine, I know where the organized mess will lead me, I have a general idea of color locations, threads, beads and where the textile paints, watercolors and inks are located. But, I might have to move stuff to find a surface to work on.
That’s sort of where I’m at today. I wish it was clean, neat and organized all the time….really!! I’m just happy that there are doors that can be closed if someone knocks on the door.
So tell…..what kind of organizer are you?
Janice Paine Dawes, Artist 
semi-organized/organized chaos. Lots of little bags with portable projects and miscellaneous supplies jumbled together, cubbie shelf w/ fabrics vaguely by color, pullout drawers for supplies: bead drawer, ribbon drawer, paint drawer. but a major mess 'cause I had to downsize when the hubby dared move his office into the basement and I was demoted to one room!
I do use a lot of plastic bins, since I still amke a lot of traditional quilts. I "kit" them, with all the fabric, thread and sketch. My art quilt supplies, though, are all over, and are my scraps, stash, beading supplies, etc, etc, ETC! And I'm just starting to organize them by function. It's a start…. I am lucky, though, because I do have my own workroom, and the door is closed most of the time–to keep the cat and dog and snoopy friends and family out!
Having to move stuff to clear a surface is, amazingly, a thing of the past for me – I'm forming the habit of keeping the work surface clear by (a) having a stopping time and (b) putting things away 5 mins before that stopping time. The first time I went into the studio to find a nice clear surface, it made me so happy that it's not been a problem to do that cleanup ever since!The rest of the room is quite chaotic, heaps of fabric on the floor etc — but as long as the work surface, the sewing machine table, and the ironing board are clear, I can work and ignore the rest.
I wonder which episode it was. I love Hoarders! I could never live like that though. My fabric is on nice shelves or behind closed closet doors. There is a great book on organizing fabric by Deloa Jones with excellent ideas on how to deal with a large stash.
OMG I love that show – reminds me of DH – although he says that it reminds him of me. I intensely dislike being as disorganized as my lack of space sometimes causes me to be! My fabric though, has always been rather a jumble – but sometimes that allows me to see some really unique combinations that I would never have thought of using if everything had been tidy! Now there is some fine rationalization don't you think!
My daughter and 2 grandsons are about to come stay for a while. to make space for them, I'll be moving a sewing cabinet, 3 more machines and an ironing board into the studio, which is already tight on space (but pretty organized). I'm sure that it will look a 'hoarder' room…sigh.