Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 7

As per Vicki's request in a comment to my last sewing room post (which was approximately 1000 years ago - I'm obedient, but really slow), let's check out the fabric closet.

So, c'mon in, the door's open...

FABRIC
I have two large shelving units that hold most of my fabrics.  The metal unit contains all the wovens, while the wooden unit holds the knits, flannels, fleeces and home dec textiles.

Metal Unit
I organize the fabric on this unit a few different ways.  By season, by fabric type/fiber content and in wardrobe groupings. 

Sometimes if a group of fabrics looks right together, I will kept them near one another on the shelf in a wardrobe collection.  Then, when I am sewing a SWAP-style group of garments, I already have pre-made collections of fabric.

Wooden Unit
I organize this unit completely by fabric type.  You can see stacks of knits, ordered by fiber content (cotton, bamboo, polyester, etc).  I also keep flannels, fleeces, home dec and corduroy here.  Beside this unit, I line up some of my linings on bolts.

But, wait...there's more...

Guest Bedroom Closet
I have too much fabric to fit in the sewing room fabric closet, so the guest bedroom closet houses the overflow.  Arranged on hangers, I have the slippery silks, laces and all the fabrics that don't take well to folding (faux suede and laminated fabrics for instance).

MAGAZINES & PATTERN ENVELOPES
I have a large collection of Threads magazines (top shelf).  I have almost every copy of the magazine ever sold, but I am missing a few of the earlier ones.  I can't decide if it's worth stalking eBay for the few issues I need to complete my collection or if I should just buy the Threads Archive DVDs.  Decisions, decisions.

I have quite a few issues of Vogue pattern magazine and to a lesser extent, the now defunct Butterick pattern magazines, mainly from the last few years (bottom shelf).  I could kick my self for tossing out all the copies I had from the 1980s and 1990s.

I have a number of issues of Australian Stitches (also, bottom shelf).  I used to love the wardrobing (SWAP) articles.  Alas, the steep price and finding that I wasn't as interested in the other articles combined to force me to let my subscription lapse two years ago.

I store all envelope patterns in a similar fashion.  The guts (tissue and instructions) are placed in large manilla envelopes, which are kept in my cutting table (the patterns can be seen in their drawers in this post) .  The pattern covers are placed inside page protectors and organized in three-ring binders (middle shelf) by category (active wear, dresses, skirts, tops, jackets, wardrobe patterns, etc) and then by pattern company.  This makes it easy to browse through my patterns without having to root through the pattern drawers.  If I grab a cup of tea and a binder and I can spend many a happy hour dreaming and plotting my next big sewing adventure.


THREAD
I love this cabinet and it's serendipitous acquisition.  I was lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time.  A few years ago, the librarian at my school was disposing of this metal film cabinet (moving forward with the times, I guess) and I happened to walk by.  I asked if I could have it and he said yes.  The poor man even single-handedly loaded it into the bed of my truck for me.  Chivalry is most certainly not dead! (I just realized something - he has been off for the last month recovering from a major hernia operation - oh man, I think my sewing obsession may have finally injured someone.  Yikes!)

The cabinet has several shallow drawers that have dividers in them.  The dividers have round holes that were meant to hold projector film canisters.  Now, however, they are perfectly designed for spools of thread.  All my Guterman thread is organized by number in the same order as can be found on the thread sample chart.  This way, it's easy to reorder any thread that I am low on, not to mention that it looks really pretty when I open the drawer!

The other drawers hold more thread (like embroidery thread and the serger thread shown below), as well as dyes.

At the bottom, is a cabinet with a swinging door.  Inside, there are vertical dividers that are just perfect for organizing my interfacings. 

So, there you have it.  The HZC Fabric Closet of Joy & Wonder.  Feel free to stand back and bask in its warm glow.