Organizing the Sewing Stuff - Part I "Before"

Recently, I was inspired to finally, finally organize my sewing supplies. The incident that prompted this was when I was looking for a tiny thing, a tucker kit for my Civil War ballgown. I looked all over the place in every bin (although, as it turned out, I hadn't looked hard enough), but I simply couldn't find it. I knew I still had it though. I ended up ordering a new one from Mrs. Christen's Miscellanea where I had gotten it before. Although it was inexpensive, it really bothered me that I had to spend good money on a duplicate item, simply because I was so disorganized.

So I decided it was time to get it all organized. This included everything. I used the organizing plan that Peter Walsh (from Enough Already!) uses. I took everything up to my parlor so everything I had was all in the same place; it was an enormous stash. Then I envisioned how I wanted it to look once organized. I mainly wanted to have similar things together, in easy access bins, where I could find anything I need at a moment's notice. I also wanted to be able to see exactly what I did have. And I didn't want my stash to be encroaching on other areas of the house. Basically, I just wanted my stash and the way it was stored to be my servant, not my master.

The next task is to sort through everything and divide all into piles, those things to keep and those to sell, donate, or trash/recycle. It looked overwhelming when I first had everything all together:

I made up some labels for the various piles. I just printed out a big list, then cut them apart and laid them along the walls of the parlor:

Next, I sorted things into the piles, including my piles for things to be thrown away, recycled, given away, or sold. This was difficult! There are many things I had a hard time delegating into the sale/donate pile. The things I wanted to keep were then organized into bins and drawers. I had my trusty label-maker at hand, large and extra large Ziploc bags for oversized patterns, etc. and file folders.

I was up extremely late when I did this, but by the time I finished I had most of it done. I spent the next week putting the finishing touches on my stash.

Stayed tuned for the next episode: Organizing the Sewing Stuff - Part II "After".