A Sewists Biggest Dilema

As sewists (ie. people who sew - I can't quite come at sewers, especially when I see it written down!), we have a few shared problems that just won't seem to go away.  Things like:

• A growing fabric stash that we don't seem to use;
• Organisation of said fabric stash so we remember what we have, how much of it we bought, and if we've already washed it;
• Keeping our sewing rooms or areas neat;
• UFOs (otherswise known as Unfinished Objects);

And the one I had a go at sorting out during the break:

• Organising our patterns!

I was storing my patterns randomly in a lovely two drawer bedside table, which worked sort of okay until I tried to find something I vaguely remembered I owned.  Then this would happen:

I would pull everything out until I found what I wanted, and if I wasn't in a hurry I would put them back in the same haphazard manner.  If I was in a hurry they would stay in a pile on the floor.

And if you've been reading my blog for a little while you will know that I have been in a bit of a hurry recently, so pretty much all my patterns were in a pile on the floor.  Obviously this is not ideal for me or the patterns...  So I put my thinking cap on and came up with an idea.

I went and purchased 40 of these:

I think I was kidding myself when I thought 40 would be enough...

Your new word for today, readers, is Doculope.  A doculope is a sturdy plastic envelope that closes with a press stud, in which you can store documents.  Document + Envelope = Doculope!

The good thing about these babies is:

• I can store the adjusted pattern pieces I make in with the original pieces
• I don't have to fold things up tiny again to attempt to get them back into the pattern envelope
• If I buy buttons or zips or something that I particularly want to use with a pattern I can put it in the doculope too
• They are a uniform size so sit together neatly.

So I got busy on the floor putting all my patterns in doculopes.  I wrote the make and number on the left, and the style on the right - like this:

So organised!

Oh, and while I was at it I photographed (with my fancy new ipad!) the back and the front of the pattern envelope so I can make an record of what I own so I don't buy it twice!  This also gives me the added benefit of giving me easy access to the amount of fabric and what notions etc I need when I'm out and about.

Then I put them into two plastic document filing tubs that I purchased.  So my new pattern storage system looks like this:

Ta-da!!!

My next little job is to sort them into styles - so all the wiggle dresses together, all the skirts together etc.

Then I just need to find somewhere in my sewing room to store the tubs.  Hmmmmm...

So - what do you think of my storage solution?  Is it similar to yours?  How do you store your patterns?

Beccie
xxx