Sewing organisation: Fabric and Patterns

When I started sewing I was gifted with my husbands Grandmothers stash. It has some beautiful fabric and when she bought fabric she always got matching lining and buttons! But it was all kept in plastic bags that when they had moved was shoved into boxes with mothballs. Plus I have built up a bit of a stash myself since.

So I wanted to organise it all a bit better, and to help stop me buying more fabric that I already had. I searched a lot for different organising ideas, tried a digital storage method and a sewing app for my iphone but they didn't really work that well and the app was a PITB. I came across this from Gigi Sews blog and since its such a fantastic idea I went and got some binders and typed up a fabric cataloguing sheet and since then each time I buy fabric I wash it, dry it and write it up.

Index of fabric


Catalogue sheets



I did try stapling the swatches in, but then I found kids glue sticks work really well (I use Tarzans grip, but any glue stick is good)

I follow Gigi's pattern organisation ideas as well, keeping all the pattern envelopes in a binder sectioned off into catagories like jackets, dresses, etc and all the pattern pieces in a large manila envelope with the pattern number wirtten on it and kept in numerical order. I trace all my patterns so its great to have a big envelope that it can all fit into.



I keep the binders in my bedroom (my sewing room is in my back shed) and its nice to get an idea for a project and then be able to check for a pattern and see how much fabric I have.

Sewing organisation: Sewing room

I used to sew inside the house, set up on the kitchen table. It drove me nuts having to pack away everything everytime we wanted to eat dinner so I commandeered our back shed, lol. It get freezing in winter and boiling hot in summer, but its lots of space and it feels separate to the house so its a bit of a getaway to head out there.

I lined the walls years ago with timber and painted it, plus used some old carpet and a rug we had to line the floors.


I use a trestle table for my cutting space


I got this cabinet at an auction for my sewing machine


This cabinet and my overlocker was from my husbands Grandmother


Also from his Grandmother was a massive box of patterns, unfortunately they are pretty much all 1980's and not exactly my style. She did buy a lot of Vogue though and had all these original labels in a bag


This is the wardrobe I stand in front of for photos, I installed shelving in it and labled everything. I make sure I wash everything and catalogue it before it goes in the wardrobe


This is the other side, I keep my interfacing, buttons and zippers in it


I won this on ebay from a closing down craft shop (best score ever!), I can't remember what I paid for it exactly but I think it worked out to around 40c each spool of thread.


I always enjoy a look through someones sewing room so I hope you liked it!