My name is Jen and I have a problem. This is my fabric stash.
Ok, well it's part of my fabric stash. It's a giant mess. Pieces of fabric are everywhere, and I hope you're not expecting me to have everything in alphabetical order by designer, color, and pattern because that's pretty much never happening.
I feel like a crafting failure sometimes when I see pictures of peoples' gorgeous sewing rooms. Everything is in its proper, labeled place, and heaven forbid there be anything in the room that doesn't match the color scheme. There's no mess, no half-finished projects laying on the ground. And definitely no toys scattered on the floor.
I'm convinced these people don't have children. They borrow neighbor kids for photo shoots.
There's a reason I didn't show you the rest of my sewing space. I share it with a bin of toys that belong to my kids, and the bin stays organized for about 5.4 seconds before it looks like a hurricane hit the room. I love having the toys in the room because I can still craft and play with the kids simultaneously, but my pieces of fabric everywhere doesn't help the mess.
But I wanted to do what I can to organize the room because, let's admit it, I can't pin the blame for that messy fabric pile above on my kids. I saw this tip on The Little Green Bean for using foam board to make mini fabric bolts. It's a great idea, but I wanted to use something I had on hand. Then it came to me - cereal boxes! Cereal is something I eat a LOT of, so why not re-purpose the boxes rather than throwing them away?
First, cut your cereal boxes so you have a pile of just the front and backs of your boxes.
Next, use hot glue around the perimeter of one of the front sides of your panels.
Place the other panel on top of it and voila, instant mini bolt! It may not look like anything special, but just wrap your fabric around that baby, and your stash will stay organized!
Ahhh, much better.
So much better than the messy pile right? Too bad I have 4 times more fabric in the drawers below. I have a lot of cereal to eat.
Note: Since cereal boxes are small, you may need to fold your fabric in half length-wise (possibly more than once) to be able to fit them around your cereal box bolt.
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Very clever and so much more inspiring seeing it all neat like that :)
ReplyDeleteYou eat such healthy cereal!
ReplyDeleteMy room looks much worse than your before photo, and I don't have kids at home to blame it on :)
Great idea! I am featuring this at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a great system~ much better. Organizing my sewing area is on my summer to do list.
ReplyDeleteSuch a smart idea! Thanks so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteMy sewing room is 200 sq.ft. and I still don't have enough room to keep everything organized. My advise, to heck with organization..enjoy those precious children while they are still home. Sewing and playing with children are both very rewarding, organizing is something for another day.
ReplyDeleteOh believe me I do! It's just nice not to be tripping over bits of fabric everywhere while we're playing :)
DeleteThis is brilliant! As I was reading the begining of your post I had to stop and make sure I didn't write it. All my fabric is in a HUGE box full of grocery bags. I already have some cereal boxes in my recycle bin to use! Thanks for sharing. Now I can get a bit more organized without spending any $$!
ReplyDeletethis is such a great idea! I don't have kids and I still wonder how those crazy ladies keep their craft room so darn perfect! My fabric is everywhere so I definitely need to do something like this!
ReplyDeleteGenius! Much better than the large totes my fabric stash is in!
ReplyDeleteFlash of brilliance! I try so hard to keep my Craft Workshop nice, but ... This may help! Then the Grandies invade and it's chaotic again! They love to "help" Granny! At 4 and 2 guess who ends up helping who! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! I've seen and loved those foam board bolts for over a year now, but I just couldn't justify the expense. (You think you have problems - you should see my stash of vintage sheets that I use for fabric!) I love your idea to use the cereal boxes, especially because you thought to glue them together to give them strength.
ReplyDeleteNicely done!I used comic book cardstock when I did my fabric organizing...love the use of cereal boxes!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea. I would have glued the colored sides of the cardboard together so that the ink doesn't rub off on the fabric.
ReplyDeleteWhat a GREAT idea!!!
ReplyDeleteI totally do this with my fabric, too! Great minds! :) I'll be featuring them on my blog on Saturday!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sumossweetstuff.com
Thanks for linking up!
Sumo:)
That's a great idea! My fabric is stacked up in an organizer box so I have to dig through it each time I need something. The cereal box idea is so much better. I also have kids who have a bunch of toys and craft supplies spread across my craft room floor. My craft room only seems to look neat at the end of the day when the kids are in bed and I am finished crafting. I would love it if you would link this up to my linky party at http://www.firehousecrafts.com/whats-hot-in-the-firehouse-linky-party-1/. Hope to see you there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to use those empty boxes. Wonderful idea!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea! I would love to feature this on Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle. Feel free to stop by and grab a featured button. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea also. May have to fight my 10 y/o grandson for the boxes, he uses them for his magazines and papers that won't stand up.
ReplyDeleteLove this idea also. May have to fight my 10 y/o grandson for the boxes, he uses them for his magazines and papers that won't stand up.
ReplyDeleteOr just buy comic book board.
ReplyDeletelove your genius!
ReplyDelete