How do I keep my fabric organized? Well, first, I try to never to buy fabric unless I have a project in mind for it.
Okay, I can't even type that with a straight face.
The real answer is I don't. Keep my fabric organized, I mean. I buy it, I pet it, I wash it, and then I fold it and try to find a place for it to fit. Those pretty sewing rooms you see with shelves of fabric organized by color? Yeah, that's not my sewing room.
But, since I do have a bit of a fabric stash (by which I mean, a lot of fabric), I do at least try to keep it nicely folded. Folded small, so I can fit more into my boxes and on my shelves.
This method works for just about any size of fabric, even fabric with wonky parts cut out of it. It does work better if you have a place where you can lay out your fabric completely flat.
I also like to start with my fabric wrong side up, so I can tell what it is when I'm digging through my fabric. I tend to store my fabric in boxes or drawers or closed cupboards, i.e., away from the light, so I don't worry too much about light fading and leaving weird lines. If your fabric is stored out in the open, you may want to fold it wrong side out.
Then fold it in thirds, so it's nice and long. If I have any cut outs on just one side, I like to fold that side to the inside, just because it makes the next step easier, but it doesn't really matter.
Bring the bottom short edge almost to the top. Not quite all the way, because next you want to...
Flip the top edge in, to keep all the raw edges tucked in neatly. Where they can't get caught on anything.
(That was a nice dramatic pause, wasn't it?)
Once you've flipped that top edge down, you can just keep folding until you end up with a nice, neat little packed of fabric.
I like to fold them in half from this little packet. They fit better in my bins when they're folded in half.
Olaf goes in my Disney bin.
Okay, Olaf goes in *one of* my Disney bins.
And that's it! Quick and simple, works for almost any size and shape of fabric you have. I love this folding method, because I can store the pieces anywhere, and then quickly see what fabric I have when I'm actually looking to use something from my stash.
Do you have a folding method you like to use? Let me know in the comments!