Fabric fabric and even more fabric....

I found a cool a cool way to organize my fabric - it totally makes sense too! It seems many quilters know of this trick to fabric organization but I would have never known and been cutting up uneven cardboard pieces forever!

Use comic book backboards - who woulda' thunk it eh? I saw the idea here and if you read reviews on amazon apparently I am behind the times - in case you are behind with me here is your update in to 21st century sewing....

(It's only fitting I store comic book fabric on comic book boards right?)

You just fold your fabric in half (like most come off the large bolt at the store already) and then fold in top fold to center of fabric then selvage to center also. The boards are roughly 7x10" - I measured my folded fabric to between 9" and 9 1/4" so you'd see to board's ends once rolled.

Storing 1 to 6 or 7 meters is your range for these boards (they are like a thicker card-stock), and lower that end number if its a thicker fabric - I only used this storage method for my thinner fabrics and my baby quilting flannels - it just seemed to work the best.

 Because I do should but don't have time my share of quilting also, I have many beautiful fabrics with 1/2 a meter or less (some fat quarters also) and I wanted to be able to store them all together, but less than a 3/4 meter just doesnt wrap around as well. I took my trusty quilting ruler and cut some in half lengthwise, it worked perfectly!

I then folded in the raw end and pinned in place as above. I stood my mini fabric bolts up on a shelf... if that's how you will be storing them I suggest poking the pin in to the card also, it keeps the fabric from sliding down the board and bunching.

Don't they look oh so pretty and organized, much better than before. My "super mini" bolts are at the top to the left - they could be organized better (colour wise) but some of them are in order of quilt projects.

.....and just to keep it real, here is the rest of the shelves, they are in need of a mass organization too... all in time - as my in-laws always say "Home wasn't built in a day".

Happy Organizing!

-Courtney Soleil

   

Project Organization, Kitchen Pantry

I have had so much on the go lately (as usual), sometimes I feel like I work-eat-sleep, so little time for creativity - and with "Project Organization" on the go in my house, it's a little difficult to get everything done that I want to do... included in those things is sewing and posting projects more regularily.

Today since I have been cleaning instead of crafting, I wanted to share my first organizational hurdle with you, the kitchen pantry:

Sorry, I didn't get a "before" picture - by the time I decided I would post about it was when I was done. It turned out so much better than I expected - but just so you know it used to look sorta like this:

(photo source)

Ok, maybe not EXACTLY like that, but when I opened the pantry something always seemed to fall out. Basically the OLD pantry set up had only shelves and they were spaced wayyyyy too far apart.

It's no magazine piece, and I did it very inexpensively, but I am happy with it.

Kevin was great, he moved all the shelves up for me and changed the spacing so it would be more functional.

I bought this wire drawer caddy from Ikea (they had the same one at JYSK also) for around 30$, and for me that is kinda expensive (well, I can afford it, but I don't like to spend more than I need to). The caddy was pricey, but It just was the best choice for the application, and believe me I looked and LOOKED!

I just love to be able to see everything through the wire drawers from the front and be able to pull them open for quick access to all the goodies! I store potatoes in the bottom, then next up misc mixes, soups, bread crumbs etc, then baking supplies and finally on top ziploc bags, plastic wrap, parchment paper etc.

I am a firm believer that buying something for slightly less cost that doesn't work half as well is a waste, I would rather spend a little extra to have something that works perfectly for me (within reason of course, I am a frugal girl after all!), and this works perfect. 

Just as a Bonus, here is a peek at my beautiful kitchen window ledge:

Kevin put new windows and doors in our house last winter (he is SO AMAZING!) and I had always wanted a boxed out kitchen window - when I came home one night he had built it for me! I am so thrilled with it, every time I'm at my sink I am reminded how lucky I am.

My mum gave me these beautiful canisters, I love blue and yellow plus they match my kitchen.

Love it!!

Happy Organizing!

-Courtney Soleil

Ribbon Organizing and Pattern Weights

You may remember my post about my Sewing Room where I showed off the pants hanger ribbon storage idea - but since I couldn't find a hanger with rungs spaces far enough apart, I couldn't fit all my ribbon! While my Mum was here, she suggested we get a wooden dowel and hang them on there some how between a shelf of in the closet.... we were brainstorming what we could do that would be functional in my room. and TADA!

I had this shelf up already (Kevin's handy work!) above my cutting/crafting table, and I picked up 2 inexpensive tension curtain rods from Walmart to fit between the braces under the shelf, perfect size for all my sewing ribbon (and room for many more...). It Also makes a great place to hang my tape measure (I am constantly losing that thing!) and my extension chord for my glue gun.

***Ohhhh and see that picture frame up there? I know you didn't even notice it until now were wondering "what is that???" There will be more on that tomorrow!!!***

I still use the pant hanger for all my craft ribbon (wired ribbon for flower arranging etc.) but I like to have these ones where I always have easy access to them. I can take each spool off one by one if need be, but I like to just roll off how ever much I need from where they are.

Every person has different needs of a ribbon organizer, and different space restrictions to consider. Some crafters need portability, others need to be able to grab each spool individually without any hassle. Some ribbon storage ideas are a little harder to duplicate because they are so unique, but if you know the right people.... You have to really think about what is going to work for YOU.

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Pattern Weights

I've had this project waiting to be posted since christmas for a while, but never got around to it... So here they are!! I wrapped the washers in dollar store ribbon (oh look at all the pretty colours!) and you can't lose these babies, no matter how cluttered your sewing room may be (heehee).

I originally saw the idea for this type of home made pattern weights  HERE, but I have been rediscovering similar ideas all over blog land. 

HERE and HERE are two more examples of the same Idea, except they also used nuts for their versions (I'll be making some of those soon too), where as the ones shown above are doubled up washers - cost me a whole 30 cents each from the hardware store. These are great, no more pinning! Definitely one of the most used items in my sewing room.

Happy Organizing!

-Courtney Soleil

Sewing Room

Today I am going to show off a couple things in my sewing room, my Mum has been here and has helped me organize!

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Sewing Machine

Just before christmas I moved the sewing room from the smallest room in the house to the spare room (double the size!). I figured my sewing gets used a heck of a lot more than the spare bed (people stay over maybe 2-3 times a year?) so why waste all that space, well Kevy agreed. Not long after the room swap, my sweetie bought me a beautiful new sewing machine, so far I am just enamored by it...

I kept the old Janome for emergencies, but I am a Brother follower for life now. I did a lot of research on sewing machines before we bought this one, I knew I wanted something to do basic embroidery, mainly monogramming, and this one just fit the bill - It does everything I want and more. The only problem is being in Canada, we get overcharged for EVERYTHING, a basic Babylock (same company as Brother) with less features was over 1000$ on sale here and this machine was under 400$ new off ebay with shipping from Alabama! I have to say, apart from duties, ordering from the states is the way to go! Thank you Ken's Sewing & Vacuum Center!

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Sewing Table

I got many things for christmas this year from my sweetie pie, some weren't wrapped and he doesn't see them as gifts, but to me the little things he does for me are the greatest gifts of all. One thing in paticular just made my year... He works hard all day then comes home and builds me a sewing table in the perfect height... 

Kevin even painted the feet blue (my favorite colour!)

 He took our old kitchen table (it was the pereft size, even has a leaf for bigger projects) and added an 8 3/4" base so it's the right height for cutting.

 The base acts as a great shelf for my rubbermaid containers - I keeps extra fabric, batting, clothing to repurposed and other misc. sewing things. Now I fit my scraps bin and garbage can there too. I am so fortunate to have such a sweet and supportive man.

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A Little Bit of Organization....

 My sewing station - Machine, dollar store drawer unit with machine essentials (feet, bobbins, tools, etc.),   sewing caddy with pin cusion and thread bag (more on that later), but I found that idea on Craftiness Is Not Optional (I love Jess' blog) and she used This Tutorial from Sew Mama Sew!. Ok so I didn't actually use the tutorial I just guessed and I think it turned out pretty good! I swapped sides for the thread bag because it just worked better for me.

 I like to have my fabrics out where I can see them for inspiration, the really pretty ones anyways...

I found the original Idea for this ribbon organizer over at The Cottage Mama's blog. It would have been better if I could have found a pant hanger as widely spaced as Cottage Mama's hanger, but this is as close I could get, still works, just have to space them a rung apart (darn it).

 Here are my buttons, some more ribbon and my beautiful Sewing encyclopedias (my Mum is the best, she got them for me from a used bookstore in BC)

The button and ribbon jars were also inspired by The Cottage Mama's great organizing ideas. I bought a 1lb button bag from Wal Mart ans sorted them by colour and size (and sets) in small baggies then put them in jars, and from Fabricland my Mum and I got super cheap ribbon spools, too small for my ribbon hanger so I put them in a small jar so you can see all the colours. These jars were a set and were 5$ at Wal Mart (STEAL!!)

I will post more intermittently on my great room, promise - until then...

Happy Sewing! 

-Courtney Soleil