Now that we’ve toured most of my small storage, I thought I’d give you a look at some of my bigger storage features.  I will confess that Ikea is pretty much my furnisher of choice, mainly because it’s within my budget and nice and easy to construct (although in a couple of weeks you’ll see my other supplier of choice!)  Alas, I’m not sponsored by them, but wouldn’t that be nice?  Maybe they need someone to set up a sewing room for their catalogue or something ;o)

My larger cuts of fabric, plus a few bundles, live in what is now called the Kallax system (previously the Expedit).  I started with a 2×4 version and, as you can see, ran out of space, so I added a 2×2 on top.  I’ve split the fabric as I tend to use them, so for example all the coloured solids are in one area, with the solid-like fabrics next to them, grouped by fabric manufacturer/line.  There’s also a hole with general use fabrics that I use in quilts and bags/pouches as required, which are next to my LV fabrics.  Another hole holds my text fabrics, split into coloured and neutrals.  The bottom 4 holes are just for fabrics from specific designers, each designer getting 1 stack (half a hole).  Some are big cuts for bags, some are small cuts for quilts, but that area is the one that I tend to get most paralysed delving into – I did manage it recently with my Mustang quilt though, and there’s plans for more…  On the very top of it all is my backing and binding fabric in a pile that’s less precarious than it looks, honestly!

For my smaller cuts of fabric, as you can see to the right hand side of the photo above and in the photo below, I used old CD/DVD towers.  The holes are a handy size for rolled up FQs (and smaller), as well as for fitting ziplock bags with scraps in.  In the photo below are my rainbow prints, most of which I got from colour clubs from a couple of shops about 3 years ago (with random singles added since), and above in the smaller tower are my multicolour prints, along with special little hoards of things and smaller cuts of non-quilting cottons, including linen, oakshott and minky.

This is my quilt WIP trolley, that recently had a clearout – the bag on top contains scraps from a WIP that can still be used.  Actually, only the top 2 trays are WIPs, on the bottom is my KLT stash, both from her handprinted club that I was in for a year, and her recent Blueberry Park line.  We have a running joke that I never cut into the fabric, but I do honestly, cross my heart, have a plan for this…

Move a little further round I have a little catch-all unit which holds Big Brother’s accessories in the bottom (he came with a ridiculous number of extra bits and pieces), and then other wee things that I use for bag making.

Above that is the shelf that my ribbons hang from, which has things like basting glue, fabric glue (and all kinds of other craft glue), masking tape, magic tape, washi tape, button makes, spare rotary cutter blades, space pens, lint rollers, ink pads and batting tape.  On the top is a teeny drawer unit with very thin ribbon, a sewing kit and pincushion (with the 4th rate pins in the rating system!), a ruler clamp, embroidery hoops and spare hanging sleeves (whew!):

Below is my most commonly used thread storage, which is actually a couple of tie racks from Dunelm that I picked up for about £1 each.  The spools fit over the offset pegs that are meant to hold the ties.  They’re hanging off hooks screwed into the side of the drawers supporting one end of my cutting table:

Then there’s my project unit.  I bought this 2×2 Expedit unit initially with a specific project elsewhere in the house in mind, however that didn’t happen for various reasons, so I repurposed it for my sewing area.  The top is a good area for keeping things like bobbins and sewing machine tools/feet, WIPs that have to be temporarily moved off my cutting board (the further away pile) and also piles of fabric for projects for shops and magazines that I’m contemplating (the nearer pile)  It’s also home to Jack’s throne, as you can see!  In the drawers I have some bags in progress for independent patterns, some in progress for magazines, some patterns that are still to be bags, and finally there’s a drawer with lots of embellishments.  What you can’t see is that underneath I have my Sizzix dies, and obviously a bucket of coloured pencils that didn’t ought to be there!

Finally I have my side table/storage trays that live between my sofa and desk.  Ask you can see the top of it works as a bookshelf and plane hangar, and then the trays contain mostly bagmaking bits and pieces such as purse frames, piping cord, velcro, buttons etc  The biggest tray has leather handles and straps.

I don’t have the biggest space in the world, but by making myself organise I can fit in a lot of things!