Get Sew Organized!
Sewing Declutter Success
by Cynthia Townley Ewer, Editor
OrganizedHome.Com
Clean It Out, Clean It Up
As I wipe down the dusty shelves and vacuum closet floor and baseboards, I think about
what should be stored in the newly emptied closet. A high, inaccessible shelf will
serve for records boxes holding seldom used craft supplies. A central shelf unit
will hold folded fabrics too big to live happily in records boxes. Delicate fabrics
will be hung from hangers, and fabric rolls can be stacked in hanging space, too.
Assess The Stash
Now that we've covered the rules for digging out, I review the rules for assessing my
fabric stash. All fabric will be evaluated against the following factors:
- Quality - is the length a pure, natural fiber--or a stiff, low quality blend or
synthetic? If it doesn't feel good next to my skin, OUT IT GOES!
- Fashion Forward - is the fabric dated? Prints are the first to cycle out of
fashion, so be careful with them. Is it a denim or chambray more suited for the
country look '80's than the sleek, streamlined '90's?
- Image - Which CEO bought this length of fabric? The single mom? The
new bride in a big city? The long-suffering urbanite stranded in the provincial
South? Does this fabric reflect who I am now? If not, find a new owner who
matches the fabric's image more closely!
- Color - Even if the length passes all the above tests, if it's a color outside my
palette, out it goes. Again, find somebody who can wear pink and move on!
- Length - The mom of young children is long gone from CEO's house, but numerous
short lengths of fabric remain behind. Golf shorts require 1 5/8ths of 45"
fabric. Anything shorter should be handed off to seamstresses with shorter people to
dress.
- Love Affair - The last test. Yes, when I bought it, each one of these
fabric lengths tugged at my heart in some way. But like old lovers, has the magic
moved on? Recycle everything that doesn't make my heart pound. Why waste
precious time and energy sewing something I don't absolutely love? Find that poor
reject a new owner, and we'll both benefit.
After a snack and some mineral water, we're ready to go. Time to
move some fabric!
Fabric Storage Savvy
As each surviving length passes the tests and is stored away, I note the
amount, type and width of the length. Eventually, this information will be fed to a
computer database, but for now, I just gather the data on the computer as I
declutter.
First lengths to pass all the tests: two dress lengths of velvet,
red and green. The lengths are hung from wire hangers with safety pins to avoid
creasing. The closet looks brighter already!
Next additions are no-brainers: rolls of dark and light fusible
interfacing. I add other rolled lengths of drapery lining. The rolled fabrics
have a separate closet bay from the hanging lengths. I consider buying a large
garbage can to corral the rolls--and mark "garbage can" on my to-buy list.
Here comes a bolt of upholstery/home dec fabric for an upcoming bedroom
project--passed and slid into place. Rolled upholstery lengths join the other rolled
fabrics in their bay.
As I stash the "big" items away, I decide that this closet
can hold the non-clothing items incident to my sewing room. Thanking myself for an
earlier spurt of organization, I stack neatly labeled boxes of craft supplies next to the
central closet shelves. Doll, bear and Santa-making supplies, plastic canvas
materials, beading and dried floral craft supplies each have a separate records box.
I stow dried floral stems in long plastic crafts storage boxes, and they fit nicely onto
the high shelves. We're cooking with gas, now!
On to the "big" fabrics--woolen suit lengths, flannel cuts and
jacket lengths of polar fleece. Most pass the six point fabric retention test.
I'm surprised to see how many nice suitings emerge from the piles and boxes and
bags. Dr. DH will have an appointment with a good tailor, soon!
Wool suitings are hung. Tweeds, flannel lengths and polar fleece
jacket lengths are folded and stacked on the shelves. Rejected, old-fashioned
lengths of stiff wool blends join the "donate" boxes at Clutter Central.
Home dec fabrics, next. We're in a new house and I've been buying
for scheduled projects, so again, most home dec fabrics make the cut. I fold and
stack by "room", and am pleased to see that I have most of what I need to
decorate a bedroom and the downstairs playroom.
This is heartening news, even if I do cull several pretty but tiny lengths
of tapestry. Tapestry purses have come and gone and the millennium will be here
before I stitch them up--so out they go!
 I
stand back and admire my clean and finished closet. Moving the designated fabrics
into their new home has tumbled and tossed the remaining closet, but I'm resolute:
I'm focusing on what I've achieved. One large bag and one back seat full of donated
clothing, a start on the clothing archive boxes, a box of fabric to donate, and a large
black garbage bag of trash have come out. A sleek, streamlined and efficient storage
closet has emerged.
Success breeds success! The second sewing area closet is emptied,
cleaned and re-filled. Now there's room to declutter the sewing room proper.
Stripped down for action, the CEO is ready to sew!
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