How Organized is Over Organized?

Summer is here.  Your finishing up random projects that you’ve started.  Getting all the quilt tops off to the long armers.  You have a bit of spare time so why not clean out your sewing space.  You’ve always wanted to get it organized.  Perhaps, you moved into a new or upgraded space.  Such is the case with me.  I received the opportunity to move from a 10’ x 12’ room, which I thought was great, to a 20’ x 21’ space, yes, almost double the size!  With everything in boxes, I had the opportunity to start from scratch.  I got to choose the everything, from lighting right down to the placement of everything.  The sheer excitement was uncontrollable. 

During the renovations, I read a lot online, watched countless videos, bought a few different items, some of which I returned, and planned every inch of space carefully and thoughtfully.   I chose fabric storage, thread storage, notion storage, and UFO storage even because let’s not fool ourselves we all know we have them. 

The day came finally, the room was complete!  Oh, happy day!  I started with the big furniture items, moved them into position, tweaked it a bit.  Moved it again and was finally happy with all my choices.  Let the organizing begin.  First let’s start with the fabric.  Before I stored it neatly folded in bins.  This was great but I just knew I could do better.   In one of the many videos I watched I saw many quilters, wrapping their fabric around comic book boards, standing it up on bookcases and then everything is on display.  This idea was very appealing to me.  I purchased some of the boards and began wrapping fabric.  These are great but only if you wrap at least ¾ of a yard up but no more than 3 yards.  It gets a bit weak with more.  Don’t get me wrong I loved the idea but just knew there had to be a stronger board out there that didn’t break the bank.  I was at my local quilt shop one afternoon and saw all the empty fabric bolts they had.  I asked what they were going to do with them, and they informed me that typically they just recycled them or disposed of them.  I got a brainstorm idea.  Their cardboard right, surely, I could cut them down to the size I needed and store my larger cuts on them.  Perfect.  I took a couple of them home and low and behold they are perfect for those larger cuts that just didn’t work on the comic book boards.  This is my first of organizing the already organized.  I finally got all the larger cuts done, on to the remnants.  Clear bins are wonderful.  I refolded all the remnants, keeping all the good sizes, pitching the ones that I knew that I would never use.  I’m making progress!  Finally, everything was in the right spots.  I was looking at everything, I thought to myself if I just put a divider of some sort right here, I can keep the stripes with the stripes and dots with the dots.  Here is my second trip in to over organized!  I caught myself!  Why?  Why would something like that matter?  I can clearly see what I have.  I’m not overcrowded any longer.  Why do I need to micro organize?  I was falling down the rabbit hole.  We all know that type of micro organizing will not last.  You grab a fabric, lay it on the table, decide that you like the other one better and then put the first one back in the first available spot, out of sheer excitement of starting a new project!  At least that is what happens in my world.  Fabric finished, on to notions!

Drawers!!   I cannot tell you how wonderful they are!  Invest in a good set of drawers!  The size and type of drawer system is totally up to you.  What do you have room for, what size, how many drawers do you actually need?  Third and final trip in to over organized.  I purchased a 3-drawer chest for my larger cones of thread.  I have the traditional standing thread racks that I use for my small spools.  Perfect, finally my thread is all in one spot, I can see what I have and got rid of the thread that was not good any longer.  Perfect, moving on, nope not yet, what if I made some sort of peg system to put in the bottom of the drawers to hold my cones perfectly?  I saw that on a video also!  Again, why?  Had to stop again and say is that really necessary?  Do I really have so much thread that I have to micro organize it also?  I can’t possibly use it all before it goes bad.  Yes folks, thread does go bad!  Bad thread is the root of a lot of tension, bird nesting and stitching issues.  Thread and needles, the least expensive part about quilting/sewing and these two little items have the largest impact on your project!  Always use good thread and change that needle!  My new sewing cabinet came with drawers as well.  I used just your typical plastic drawer organizers for them.  Perfect, everything that I need is now at my fingertips!  No over organizing here!  I am ready to sit in my chair and sew!  Totally over the clean out!

Is my room perfectly laid out?  No, is it totally functionable for me and the way I sew, yes!  I still find myself tweaking the spaces here and there, but I am actually using the space now, not looking at it on a piece of paper.  I have added things to the walls mainly my thread racks.  Command tape!! Best thing ever!  Small peg board by my cutting table for my scissors and rotary cutter, perfect.  Shelf above the ironing board for the hot hemmer, starch, best press!  Wonderful everything has a home!  Is it what a professional organizer would like?  Probably not.  But it works for me!

In the end, if your blessed with a larger sewing room, renovating your existing space, or just doing your annual spring clean-up do what works for you.  Don’t go down the rabbit hole of over organizing the already organized.  It’s very easy to do and is a very slippery slope.  There are a lot of great ideas out there you can pick up from your local quilt shop, the dollar stores or even your local hardware store!  Ton’s of videos to watch as well!  Watch them, jot down the ideas you like and then put them into use!  There are no hard-fast rules for putting your sewing space together.  No two quilters use their spaces the same.  Do what works for you, if you like your seam rippers and your measuring tape in the same drawer good for you!  Makes perfect sense to me!