HOW I ORGANIZE MY FABRIC SCRAPS

In November 2023 I moved my studio into our bonus room. But the bonus room lacks a closet. So I needed to get a little creative with storage. 

I especially wanted to come up with a new system for organizing my fabric scraps. If you know me, you know I sew with them a lot. 

Years ago, my husband made these wonderful divided wood trays for my 2½" left-over strips. And it worked perfectly for a number of years. But the trays are a bit heavy and a little cumbersome to move around. In the room I previously had my studio in, these trays were in a closet. 

The trays now serve a new purpose in our kitchen, helping keep our kitchen drawers organized! 

I have had another idea in my head for a while now, but I didn't have the space in the previous bedroom I was using as my studio. I measured a few different areas in the new studio and landed upon this rolling cart with drawers from Amazon. (CLICK HERE) 

It fits perfectly in three different places in my studio. And that has come in very handy depending on what project I'm working on. It's especially nice that it has wheels. 

This is where I store the majority of my fabric scraps, and I'm totally loving it. 

All the containers you will see inside the drawers came from our local dollar store. Eventually I hope to have our son laser cut some dividers for me that will be a better fit for the drawers. But for now, the organizers I was able to find at the dollar store work! 

I have a system for saving and cutting my fabric scraps into usable sizes. It's worked well for me for many years. I'll be posting about that tomorrow! But for now, here is how I organize my usable size scraps. 

The top drawer has my 2½" scrappy squares. The organizing trays have 3 squares in one tray. There are 5 trays in this drawer. 

The next two drawers house my 2½" scrappy strips. Silverware-type drawer organizers fit perfectly, and I keep the scraps by color. 

Next up are my 3½" squares. The drawer organizer found at the dollar store is made up of 3 squares in one tray. There are 3 trays in the drawer. 

Then I have my 5" squares. Three stacks fit perfectly across a drawer. I have a couple colors stacked together, but it's super easy to grab a stack and sort through them when needed. 

There are two drawers left that I didn't photograph. One has scraps from the projects I make with vintage material and linens. The last drawer is where I put all my vacuum and rechargeable "canned air" attachments. 

All my yardage (anything 1/4 yard up to 1-2 yards), including fat quarters, are stored in bins on a nine-cubby shelf. The bins came from Target years ago. But I found some that are similar on Amazon. (CLICK HERE) 

Just make sure you look at the measurements and that they will fit on your shelf! My bins aren't square, so they do hang off the end of the shelf just a bit. 

The bins on the shelf on top of the dresser are organized by color and contain all quilting cotton. 

The bins on the shelf that are part of my "work bench," aka cutting table and ironing board, hold various fabrics, including: solids, Christmas, flannels, vintage, baby quilt backings, etc. 

For larger cuts and backings, I have totes under my longarm. I'll share those in another post. 

P.S. The rolling cart will fit behind and under my workbench and at the end of the long arm.